If you are a business with between 2 and 50 employees you could benefit from a £1 million fund which has been set up by Sky Media. The SME100 fund will provide 100 businesses with a £10K TV advertising campaign via AdSmart to support them during the difficult times.
SME100 is open to companies that have been running for at least one year with up to 50 full time employees. Businesses can nominate themselves or be put forward by their own customers. Sky Media is encouraging people to highlight the businesses in their local area that need support during this time and who would benefit from accessing the power of TV advertising at a moment when TV consumption has significantly increased.
Sky Media wants to reward the businesses that are demonstrating true resolve and ingenuity. Businesses of all types are adapting to the current climate but can further thrive with the extra exposure TV can deliver.
The fund is open to all businesses but including local pubs, restaurants and hotels delivering food and supplies to their local communities and craft distillers and brewers.
“Businesses up and down the country are facing some of the hardest trading conditions in recent memory,” said David Sanderson, Director of AdSmart Local & Development at Sky Media. “We want to help our nation’s SMEs where possible by giving access to highly relevant audiences via AdSmart totally for free. SMEs are the lifeblood of our economy, making up 99.9% of all business in the UK. We know that although there are economic slowdowns, people are still spending money and we want to help brands connect to these audiences. This initiative is about giving businesses confidence in advertising and their ability to succeed no matter the situation.”
Creative execution of the ads will be supported by local creative agencies and through an exclusive partnership with Shutterstock. Shutterstock will assist the 100 businesses by providing complimentary access to high-quality images, video and music to aid the creative process and effectively tell their story with engaging content. In doing so, the SME100 and Shutterstock will enable local creative agencies to produce broadcast-ready, 30 second ads remotely and cost-effectively and will bring further investment into local and smaller creative industries.
The campaigns will be delivered via AdSmart from Sky, the market leading addressable TV platform, that easily enables brands to advertise on TV by focusing on the audiences that matter to them. This revolutionary technology means a brand can reach households by postcode area, within a designated distance of their store, or by household make-up or lifestyle attributes that best suit their service. In only targeting audiences that matter to the business, brands can be assured that their advertising will be relevant, accessible and drive business results.
Small Business Minister, Paul Scully said “This Government is fully committed to supporting SMEs through this challenging time, with £12.3 billion in grants and 100% government guaranteed loans of up to £50,000 through our Bounce Back Loans scheme. However, we all have a role to play in the national response to COVID-19, so I welcome Sky’s announcement today, releasing a £1 million AdSmart fund to provide SMEs with free TV advertising campaigns.”
Qualifying conditions:
· Business must have between 2 and 50 full time employees
· Businesses cannot replace money already booked/contracted with Sky Media
· Businesses need to be new to TV or haven’t been on air in 12 months
· Business must be prepared to produce a TV ad with assistance from Sky, locally approved agencies and Shutterstock content.
The offer:
· Sky Media will gift a campaign value of £10k comprised of TV advertising using Adsmart that uses geo-demographic targeting across the 100+ AdSmart enabled channels
· The maximum length of the TV advert is 30 seconds
· The campaigns must be completed by 31st July
· Sky Media will assist where required to provide the TVC. However, it may encourage businesses to use third party tools and service to complete its advert.
· Shutterstock will offer 100 businesses with complimentary access content for use in the 30 second AdSmart TV ad only. Businesses can choose from Shutterstock’s collection of more than 330 million images, 18 million video clips and thousands of music tracks.
About Sky Media
Sky Media is the advertising sales arm of Sky, offering businesses of all shapes and sizes an exciting array of opportunities on TV, online and on the go.
Reaching over 95% of the UK population, Sky Media represents all of Sky’s channels and sites including Sky Sports, Sky News, Sky One, Sky Cinema, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic and Sky Witness. Sky Media also sells on behalf of a range of renowned broadcasters and channels including; Channel 5, Discovery, National Geographic, HISTORY, MTV, FOX, Universal, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central.
Whether you’re new to TV or have been on the box before, there are numerous platforms and opportunities available for all budgets to reach the audience that matters to you most.
