Wickes and Sky Sports Strike Multi-Tournament Darts Deal

Brand to sponsor Sky Sports’ coverage of the Premier League Darts, World Matchplay, World Cup of Darts and World Darts Championship

Wickes and Sky Sports have signed a multi-tournament deal for the home improvement business to sponsor Sky Sports coverage of four darts tournaments in 2021 with its TradePro trade loyalty scheme.

This follows the successful sponsorship of Sky Sports’ coverage of the 2020 World Darts Championship, which saw Wickes TradePro idents play out across the broadcast of the December event, leading to increased traffic to the TradePro section of the retailer's website. The brand is back with 13 idents that portray a tradesperson taking on common jobs, with a darts based voiceover bringing levity to the everyday scenes being portrayed. At the start of each commercial broadcast break, the idents highlight signing up to the Wickes TradePro loyalty scheme.

The sponsorship of Sky Sports’ darts coverage also includes Wickes TradePro branding on the darts section of Skysports.com via a mix of digital placements. Further engagement will be activated through Sky AdVance, which will retarget the darts linear audience reinforcing the brands message online, together with additional Sky Sports social clip sponsorship across YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

The partnership, facilitated by dentsu agencies The Story Lab and Carat, goes live on 5th April during Night One of the Premier League Darts, running through until the tournament’s conclusion in May. Sponsorship of Sky Sports Darts coverage also includes the World Matchplay in July, the World Cup of Darts in September and the World Darts Championship in December.

Shelley Allison, Head of Marketing at Wickes said: ‘We’re really excited about this multi-tournament deal to sponsor Sky Sports’ darts coverage. Last December we saw a significant increase in sign-ups to our Wickes TradePro scheme which told us we were raising awareness with the right audience. This partnership helps us drive brand awareness of TradePro throughout the year and we’re looking forward to seeing the results in talking to this audience over a longer period of time.”

Natalie Flageul, Creation Director at The Story Lab said: 'We are thrilled to be building on the success of our sponsorship of the World Darts championship in 2020. Darts fans are renowned for their love and passion for the sport. We are hoping that our continued support will build a deeper connection between this audience and the Wickes TradePro brand and deliver further business results.'

Jo Osborne, Senior Producer at Sky Sports commented: “We are delighted to welcome Wickes back as a partner of Darts in 2021. With a packed schedule of tournaments to keep fans entertained throughout the course of the year, it’s a great time to be on board with Sky Sports Darts.”

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, added: “This is a truly integrated cross-platform partnership that will see Wickes sponsor the best of Sky Sports’ Darts coverage across linear TV, VoD, Sky Go and Sky Sports social platforms, and uses Sky’s unique AdVance targeting capabilities to reach Darts fans online. With the four tournaments all staged during key sales periods for Wickes, the partnership is a great example of how brands can align content and context; reaching the right audience at the right moments.”