The Background
The market for health & fitness wearables that track your key metrics is flourishing with lots of brands fighting for share. WHOOP is a challenger brand in this competitive industry, which is dominated by companies like Apple, Garmin and FitBit. In a category where product differentiation is hard to establish, WHOOP was challenged with finding a way to enhance its brand awareness through innovative advertising methods. WHOOP is also quite a nuanced product which requires a lot of product education, so the challenge is to build ‘Awareness with Understanding’.
In collaboration with Sky Media, WHOOP identified the perfect partnership opportunity using Sky’s technology which is used by customers to search for content either by talking directly to their Sky Glass TV or by pressing the microphone button on their Sky remote in Sky Q homes. The objective of the campaign was to increase brand awareness amongst younger fitness enthusiasts and drive positive brand perceptions around WHOOP as a leading wearable technology company. The goal for WHOOP was to leverage Sky’s technology to curate valuable educational content on a dedicated landing page, accessed via an TV advert.
The campaign marked a first for any Irish broadcaster in using voice activation advertising.
This campaign was shortlisted for the Best Use of Innovation award at the 2025 TAMI Awards
The Challenge
The smart wearables category is highly competitive, with brands using various tactics such as content marketing, digital campaigns, and influencer partnerships to differentiate themselves.TV has not traditionally been used to advertise smart wearables with Garmin the only brand to regularly advertise in 2024, buying 1,200 Adult TVRs across RTE & Virgin. Whilst WHOOP had dabbled in some lightweight, targeted TV advertising previously and had seen early positive results, with
limited budgets they had no plans to be active across Q4. Sky was preparing to launch voice ads in Ireland in Q4 and were actively looking for a pioneering partner to run a campaign.
They approached WHOOP who seized the opportunity, found a modest budget to fund this campaign and were very keen to be the first brand to run a Voice ad in Ireland. Two like-minded partners, both focused on tech innovation and creativity. The perfect partnership in many ways. Central to the campaign strategy was Voice ads technology, used in conjunction with Sky Media’s One Campaign Addressable to create a unique, interactive advertising experience for WHOOP. The plan was to use the innovative voice prompt on Sky to allow those exposed to the WHOOP ad to search for more content, learn more about the product and provide opportunities to engage.
In short, the Sky remote control and voice prompt offered WHOOP the chance to create a linked destination from their TV ad directly to brand related content, with no need to exit the TV user interface, their content would sit conveniently within the Sky interface. Sky Media’s One Campaign Addressable proposition was central to the media planning. The strategy was to utilise the One Campaign capability to optimise reach and frequency across Addressable TV & VoD. The benefits of a One Campaign
Addressable booking were;
• The campaign was simpler to plan, buy and report (OCA provides de-duplicated reach & frequency results, giving a total
campaign view)
• It facilitates in-flight optimisation – the ability to upweight delivery where it is driving best performance.
• An addressable campaign meant that WHOOP could target specific demographics effectively.
For WHOOP, this would align perfectly with their overall strategy of building ‘Awareness with Understanding’. The OCA offered WHOOP the chance to get their brand in front of potential consumers in a targeted manner, delivering a relevant message ahead of a key commercial moment (Awareness). The Sky Voice ads technology allowed potential consumers who were interested in learning more the opportunity to immediately engage with curated WHOOP content within the Sky
interface (Understanding). Sky Media, WHOOP and our Operations Team worked seamlessly to implement the strategy. Each team brought their expertise to the table, ensuring effective execution and integration. Sky Media handled the media planning and buying, WHOOP provided the brand insights, creative direction and all creative assets, and our Operations Team managed the technical implementation and support.
The plan’s unique aspect was the use of Voice technology to create interactive ads, setting it apart from traditional advertising methods.
The Strategy
Creative Execution:
The creative execution involved the development of 3 x 30” spot ads with voice prompts. These ads were designed to be
engaging and informative, highlighting WHOOP’s unique selling points and encouraging viewers to interact using their Sky
remote. The voice prompt “What is WHOOP?” along with on screen text ‘What is WHOOP? was integrated into the ads,
making viewers aware that they could find out more if they asked “What is WHOOP”
Implementation:
Sky Media Ireland One Campaign: The campaign was executed in conjunction with a Sky Media Ireland One Campaign, delivering 1.1m impressions across Linear and VOD. This ensured a broad reach and significant exposure for WHOOP.
Targeting: The campaign targeted ROI MOSAIC GROUPS including Family Focus, Established Wealth, Suburban Success, Urban Starters and City Achievers with a total universe size of 173,014 households. These groups were identified as the most relevant audience for WHOOP, ensuring that the ads reached potential customers who were likely to be interested in fitness and health tracking devices.
Exclusion for Research: A control group of unexposed homes was excluded from the targeting to facilitate a Brand Evaluation Survey conducted by BVA BDRC post-campaign. This allowed for a clear comparison between exposed and unexposed groups, providing valuable insights into the campaign’s effectiveness
Voice Prompt: A voice prompt ident was added to WHOOP’s existing marketing material with the prompt “What is WHOOP.” When users activated this voice prompt via their Sky remote, they were taken to a fully branded WHOOP interface within the Sky UI. This innovative use of voice technology created an interactive and engaging experience for viewers.
Branded Interface: The branded interface functioned like a mini-WHOOP website within the Sky UI. It provided detailed information on WHOOP’s benefits for users, products, and metric tracking abilities. The interface was designed to be visually appealing and easy to navigate, enhancing the user experience.
User Journey: The user journey was meticulously planned to ensure a seamless experience. Users saw the WHOOP ad with the voice command in the top right corner of the screen and heard it in the voiceover, prompting them to action the voice command “What is WHOOP.” Upon activation via the Sky remote, users landed on the WHOOP branded homepage. Here, they could explore various rails and tiles with information on WHOOP’s benefits, products, and metric tracking abilities. Users could also sign up for a free one-month trial and access video content with full podcast episodes with brand ambassadors. Clicking on tiles and scanning QR codes provided more information directly from the WHOOP website.
Learnings and Adjustments: Throughout the campaign, adjustments were made based on user feedback and performance data. For example, tiles were rearranged to ensure the most valuable information was front and centre. Membership & free trial tiles, which were previously on the third rail, were moved to first rail based on tracking analytics. This adjustment helped optimize the user experience and maximize engagement.
Integration: Voice ads were integrated within the One Campaign to ensure that only the relevant audience for WHOOP were seeing the ad and prompt. This integration allowed for precise targeting and measurement of campaign effectiveness, maximizing the opportunity for success.
This comprehensive implementation plan ensured that the campaign was not only innovative and follow up research demonstrated that it was also highly effective in achieving its objectives of increasing brand awareness and customer engagement for WHOOP
The Results
The innovative use of voice technology by WHOOP coupled with strategic audience targeting, resulted in significant improvements across KPI’s and were a winning combination in meeting the campaigns original objectives of increasing brand awareness and driving positive brand perceptions.
Media Campaign
The media campaign ran across Oct- Dec 2024, delivering a total of 1,124,062 impressions across linear and VOD. The
campaign achieved a de-duplicated reach of 140,352 (81%) of target households. 11% of the VoD audience had not seen the
ad on linear TV. The campaign delivered an overall frequency of 8.0.
Voice Activation Metrics
• Total Voice interactions were 829.
• High engagement with content tiles such as “What is WHOOP?” and “Cristiano Ronaldo” podcast episodes.
• Strong interest in memberships and free trials.
Post Campaign Brand Evaluation Study
We used independent external agency BDRC to conduct a brand evaluation study post campaign and measure the impact of
this campaign.
• Method: Online survey (Jan 2nd -8th 2025)
• Sample Size: 1,040 (178 unexposed / 862 exposed)
• Process: Sky identified and encrypted customer data, sent it to a research agency, which collected/verified responses, then
sent results back to Sky.
• Spontaneous Ad Recall: The campaign achieved a significant increase in spontaneous ad recall, particularly among inmarket respondents, with a +2.5% points increase compared to a +1.9% points overall norms, highlighting that the campaign effectively captured the attention of the target audience.
• Spontaneous Brand Awareness: There was a notable increase in spontaneous brand awareness, especially among inmarket respondents, with a +2.3% points increase compared to a +0.9% points overall norms, highlighting the campaign’s success in enhancing brand visibility.
• Spontaneous Purchase Consideration: The campaign significantly boosted spontaneous purchase consideration among in-market respondents, with a +3.2% points increase compared to a +0.6% points overall norms, suggesting that the campaign effectively influenced potential customers’ purchasing decisions.
Brand Evaluation Results (Brand Perceptions)
• Credibility and Trustworthiness: The campaign led to a strong improvement in the perception of WHOOP as a credible and trustworthy brand, with a +4.1% points increase among in-market respondents compared to unexposed.
• Understanding of WHOOP: Significant increase in the understanding of what WHOOP does among in-market respondents, with a +3.4% points increase compared to unexposed, indicating that the campaign successfully communicated the WHOOP value proposition.
• Health and Fitness Goals: The perception of WHOOP as a product that can help achieve health and fitness goals increased by +1.8% points among in-market respondents compared to unexposed.
• Industry Leadership: Improved the perception of WHOOP as an industry leader in wearable technology, with a +3.5% points increase among in-market respondents compared to unexposed.
• Premium Brand Consideration: A positive increase in the consideration of WHOOP as a premium brand among in-market respondents, with a +1.7% points increase compared to unexposed.
“We were delighted to have been chosen by Sky Media as launch partner for their Voice Ads product, which bolstered our One Campaign Addressable campaign during Q4 2024. As two pioneers of innovation, we were impressed with how their advertising technology allowed us not only to reach our target audience to deliver a tailored message at a key commercial moment for WHOOP as a brand, but also how this offering delivered impressive results, in particular for audiences who are in-market for wearable devices.
With traditional advertising channels becoming increasingly saturated, we believe that adopting technology-forward approaches will set us apart and having worked with Sky Media previously on various campaigns, are constantly impressed with how their offerings continue to evolve. As WHOOP continues to go from strength to strength in the Irish market, we are grateful to work with strong partners like Sky to help us achieve our business objectives. WHOOP had a very successful Q4 in 2024 on the commercial front, with our Voice Ads campaign playing a key role in our brand media campaigns, seamlessly complementing our lower funnel performance initiatives during our busiest time of
year. ”
Ronan Jones, Senior Marketing Manager, UK & Ireland WHOOP
Credits
Brand:
WHOOP
Media Agency:
Sky Media
Award:
Shortlisted for the Best Use of Innovation award at the 2025 TAMI Awards