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New York Bakery Co.,MediaCom and Sky Media

Friends and FriendsFest 2019 Partnership

To find a partnership with such a natural fit is not easy, but Friends absolutely delivered this for us as both brands stand for fun, quality, originality and being authentically New York. The campaign activation was a unique combination of TV Sponsorship to raise brand awareness and consideration, matched with being the proud partner of FriendsFest where all visitors were able to buy our bagels with the recipes showcased in the sponsorship idents. Feedback from FriendsFest visitors was hugely positive about this 360 activation.

With fantastic results from our sponsorship last year, when 11.5m people saw New York Bakery Co.’s partnership with Friends, I am delighted to announce that we have renewed the partnership for 2020 and are going to take things up a notch.

Christina Honigfort, Head of Marketing at New York Bakery Co.

The partnership is an absolutely brilliant natural fit and works effortlessly well with meaningful synergies across Comedy Central, Friends and New York Bakery Co. New York is known as a Mecca for food, and a hub of culture and carries with it connotations of significance and of being vibrant and diverse. The New York connection makes the partnership feel genuine and connects so well because of the cultural links. Sponsoring both the show and the FriendsFest event enabled a deeper integration of the partnership and allows people to engage with the sponsorship twice – seeing then experiencing. Results were fantastic and we look forward to another year of success!

Sarah Glassey, Director, Mediacom

New York Bakery Co., MediaCom and
Sky Media

Friends and FriendsFest 2019 Partnership

In partnership with Sky Media, New York Bakery Co. joined forces with Friends on Comedy Central to capitalise on the excellent brand fit of these two New York rooted brands. New York Bakery Co. wanted to cement their market leading position by reinforcing their association with New York and by reaching a diverse demographic audience. Friends was the perfect vehicle for this, and the partnership extended across TV sponsorship, events and social channels. Six-character themed bagel recipes were showcased on the sponsorship idents and sold at the fan-festival, FriendsFest. Research demonstrated the positive effect of the partnership.

viewers were reached an average of 26 times

in 10

Comedy Central viewers were likely to consider brand

improvement in average campaign and brand KPIs

Challenge

New York Bakery Co. are the market leaders in the bagels category. Currently, a quarter of all UK households enjoy bagels, so the headroom to grow and get more people to try bagels is still significant. Therefore, they wanted to increase brand awareness and consideration. Bagels are synonymous with New York so finding the right TV show that delivered a natural fit was important.

Insight

Set in New York, the TV show Friends is one of the most iconic sitcoms of all time and is continuously brought to UK fans via Comedy Central. New York Bakery Co. are the market leader for bagels, baking authentic, high quality bagels boiled and baked New York style. Both brands stand for fun, originality and quality; the natural and clear synergy between New York Bakery Co. and Friends made this a perfect partnership.

Idea

Through TV sponsorship, event activation and social content, the idea was for New York Bakery Co. to associate closely with the Friends’ name and content across touchpoints. The creative was planned to align across the partnership. With six sets of sponsorship idents each featuring bagel recipes inspired by the characters of the show, aptly named ‘The Big Eater’, ‘The Neat Freak’, ‘The Divorcee’, ‘The Shopaholic’, ‘The Free Spirit’ and ‘The Joker’. These six bagels were also to be sold at the touring celebration of Friends, FriendsFest, bringing the campaign from the screen to experiential and linking New York Bakery Co., Friends and Comedy Central in their USPs of being fun, reliable, comforting and of course American.

Activation

New York Bakery Co. sponsored Friends on Comedy Central for a 3-month period from July to September. This included Friends’ 25th Anniversary on the 22nd September. The six Friends’ character-based creatives were rotated throughout the TV sponsorship. At FriendsFest, which toured London, Manchester, Bristol and Milton Keynes in August and September, New York Bakery Co. sold their character-themed bagels from their airstream van. This was viewed by attendees as an extra part of the set and a photo opportunity for fans and bagel lovers alike. Branded social content was created at the event and seeded out from Comedy Central pages.

Results

11.5m viewers (1 in 5 individuals in the UK) were reached by the sponsorship campaign an average of 26 times.
The awareness of the sponsorship resulted in a significant improvement in average campaign and brand KPIs across key metrics (average of +10pp).
Comedy Central viewers were significantly more aware of New York Bakery Co. compared to other bagel brands (+10pp) with 50% spontaneous recall.
The advert recall was 42% which is the average for a sponsorship on air for 9-12 months, so a strong result after a 3-month sponsorship.
Viewers saw New York Bakery Co. extremely likeable with 96% claiming to like it (+6pp).
There was a significant increase in consideration for the brand. Over 9 in 10 Comedy Central viewers (who were aware of the sponsorship) were likely to consider New York Bakery Co. (+11pp).
Respondents felt Comedy Central, Friends and New York Bakery Co. were so well matched that the partnership could be deepened further.
There was also a 20% increase in viewers agreeing with the statement that New York Bakery Co. offers the real taste of New York, demonstrating the positive effect the sponsorship had and the authentic connection between the two brands.

Client Quote

“To find a partnership with such a natural fit is not easy, but Friends absolutely delivered this for us as both brands stand for fun, quality, originality and being authentically New York. The campaign activation was a unique combination of TV Sponsorship to raise brand awareness and consideration, matched with being the proud partner of FriendsFest where all visitors were able to buy our bagels with the recipes showcased in the sponsorship idents. Feedback from FriendsFest visitors was hugely positive about this 360 activation.

With fantastic results from our sponsorship last year, when 11.5m people saw New York Bakery Co.’s partnership with Friends, I am delighted to announce that we have renewed the partnership for 2020 and are going to take things up a notch.”

Christina Honigfort, Head of Marketing at New York Bakery Co.

Media Agency Quote

“The partnership is an absolutely brilliant natural fit and works effortlessly well with meaningful synergies across Comedy Central, Friends and New York Bakery Co. New York is known as a Mecca for food, and a hub of culture and carries with it connotations of significance and of being vibrant and diverse. The New York connection makes the partnership feel genuine and connects so well because of the cultural links. Sponsoring both the show and the FriendsFest event enabled a deeper integration of the partnership and allows people to engage with the sponsorship twice – seeing than experiencing. Results were fantastic and we look forward to another year of success.”

Sarah Glassey, Director, Mediacom

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