Background: 2007 is the 3rd year of John Smith's sponsorship of the Grand National. The Challenge: How can John Smith's build its sponsorship association, engage with customers & add value as a partner to the world's biggest horse race?

For John Smith's to build its sponsorship association with the Grand National, engage with customers & add value as a partner to the world's biggest horse race.

A simple but daring idea was formed: The John Smith's People's Race; a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Joe Public to ride real racehorses in a charity race at Aintree in front of 150,000 spectators on John Smith's Grand National day. Starcom briefed Mirror Group to be the media partner for the project. Daily Mirror sports editor Dean Morse & his team of journalists worked closely with the innovations team to produce a creative advertising campaign. Recruitment was launched via a four page pull out & followed up with a series of advertorials to build up to the race.

The launch resulted in more than 3,500 readers applying - a staggering response considering the time, commitment & effort that would be demanded. Tracking readers' attitudes to the project & the John Smith's brand through our newspaper's reader panel awareness of the "No Nonsense" brand rose by 28%, with spontaneous awareness of John Smith's sponsorship at 13%. An independent research study by Millwood Brown proved that 23% of the target audience are aware of the People's Race & that 12% followed the build up to the day.

John Smith's saw a 26% increase in brand share during the period of the campaign, and off trade sales increased at 41%, twice the rate of 2006. "It was a brilliant idea and a unique opportunity for Mirror readers to be a part of the greatest horse race in the world. We are already talking about how we can top the 2007 People's Race next year." Dean Morse, Daily Mirror Sport Editor.