Paddy Power - Oprah 2020

20 July 2018

CLIENT:
Paddy Power

BRIEF:
Create a fun, topical and newsworthy photo story for Paddy Power to coincide with Trump's London visit using an Oprah Winfrey wax figure, highlighting the odds of her becoming the next president

WHAT WE DID:

The Trump protests presented an opportunity where all the world's media would be watching. But to cut through the noise, we needed to do something loud, eye catching and funny.

To create a strong news hook we undertook a poll of the British public revealing 71% want to see Oprah run for President. Paddy Power then agreed to slash their odds of Oprah becoming the next President to 20/1, complementing our ‘Oprah 2020’ messaging and ensuring a solid news hook for the stunt ahead.

This began with a guerilla shoot, wheeling Oprah around key locations in a glass box marked IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS. Dropping her off at Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and the US Embassy we created an impactful moment gaining coverage in The Guardian, Metro, Evening Standard, Grazia and 20 other websites.

Then, for the protest itself, we worked with a gospel choir in full voice and green robes to bring a message of hope, delivering a potential saviour in the shape of Oprah Winfrey. Named ‘OPRAHTIC’, the 20 piece gospel choir were inspired by the US talk show host, and brought the noise to the protests singing Oprah and Trump twists on gospel classics including 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hands'.

Despite being forty among a crowd of over 100,000 we managed to secure live coverage on Sky News and other coverage highlights including Express online, AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Grazia, all running video content from our hero video

The total reach was 129,372,430 and the PR value was £440,679