BBC Worldwide Case Study – Launch of Kirstie and Phil's House Hunter iPhone App

“The launch has been a big success and the team has been amazing.”
-William Miller, Director of Talent and Brand Ventures, BBC Worldwide

What Acceleris was asked to do

Acceleris won a competitive pitch from BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC to launch the company’s first ever celebrity-based iPhone app Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer’s House Hunter. The app is the first to fuse together a property search function with a comprehensive handbook on buying a home, and is packed with video and audio tips from the king and queen of property.

Acceleris' brief was to launch the app, generating mainstream awareness, interest (and ultimately sales) from a broad target customer base including home buyers, property enthusiasts, Kirstie & Phil’s fans and the wider public.

What we did:

Acceleris devised a strategic approach designed to:

Generate interest prior to launch
Provide different news hooks for property, personal finance and tech journalists in-line with news agenda, tackling editorial cynicism
Create a ‘big bang’ on launch day through a multi-media approach
Maximise online buzz and offline word of mouth
Secure campaign longevity through video and social media material

The media launch itself consisted of five key elements designed to embrace all communication channels (broadcast, online, offline, etc) and target audiences – press activity, broadcast interviews, social networking / engagement, video guide and blogger engagement / app reviewers.

The results

The app launched on 29th June 2011. Over 22 radio interviews including Sky News, BBC Radio Scotland, BRMB and Magic FM were conducted on launch day reaching 2 million UK residents. Kirstie and Phil appeared on Loose Women at lunchtime talking about the app to an audience of 1.2 million, and launch day interviews were conducted with The Guardian, Independent, and BBC Home and Antiques.

In the three weeks after launch 177 pieces of press coverage have been secured including articles in The Daily Express, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Independent with 10 positive app blog reviews secured including iPhone AppCafe and Most Popular Apps for iPhone.

The app was The Guardian and iTune's ‘App of The Week’ during launch week and featured in Heat Magazine’s ‘What’s Hot’ list. The viral video shot on launch day has featured on 19 consumer websites including femalefirst.co.uk, GreatBritishLife.co.uk and supanet.com, securing over 20,000 views.

“A very well run and thought through campaign.”
-Alex Fulton, head of press and PR for Content & Production at BBC Worldwide