Sage is a global leader in accounting, payroll, and HR software, and serves millions of small and medium-sized businesses worldwide. Research showed Sage is seen by some as a heritage brand, so its challenges were to connect with Gen-Z/Millennial small business owners in an authentic and human way, and to drive brand perceptions, reputation, and fame with this audience, showing Sage as innovative, and as a champion of small businesses.
Sage knew their partnership with The Hundred could play a critical role to address these business needs. The innovative tournament is changing the narrative of cricket and Sage is additive to that by delivering insights bringing fans closer to the big decisions on and off the pitch. The synergy between what they do in sport as well as in business couldn’t be simpler; they just needed to identify who could deliver that message for maximum impact.
Enter Stuart Broad; renowned face of cricket, a small business owner and to top it off, a real-life Sage product user. Stuart was integrated into Sage’s 360⁰ activation plan; he humanised the new Sage Copilot TVC, captained the hugely successful Sage Small Business XI competition and fronted the in-ground experiential activations.
To say this tactical talent partnership delivered is an understatement; results across the board were up YoY with highlights being +14% of fans believing Sage supports small businesses, +9% perceiving Sage as innovative, and overall awareness of our new Sage AI assistant, Sage Copilot landing with our key target audience.
