ALEXA, ASK SKY ABOUT THE ESSENTIAL TV PACKAGE
Ran a pilot voice-enabled CTV campaign promoting Sky's £15 Essential TV package. I collaborated with Sky and Showheroes to develop the campaign CTA and voice experience, allowing viewers to say "Alexa, ask Sky about the Essential TV package" to learn more and request contact via send to phone functionality.
Head of Product | Producer
Showheroes
Sky Media
UK
Connected TV and Smartspeakers
Challenge
Sky wanted to promote their Essential TV package through voice-enabled advertising but faced a critical targeting limitation - the inability to exclude existing Sky customers from the CTV campaign. This meant ads would reach both potential new customers and current subscribers, creating inefficient media spend.
Despite this constraint, Sky, Showheroes, and our team saw value in testing voice CTA effectiveness and gathering learnings for future campaigns once targeting capabilities improved.
Results
Piloted voice-enabled CTV advertising for Sky, demonstrating viewer willingness to engage with "Alexa, ask Sky" CTA messaging. Initial results showed promise for the voice interaction model, even within a constrained test environment.
The campaign revealed critical learnings about targeting requirements for voice-enabled advertising - specifically the need to exclude existing customers to maximise efficiency and ROI. These insights informed Sky's requirements for future voice campaigns.
Proved that collaborative CTA development between brand, media partner, and voice technology provider creates stronger, more natural CTA than any single party developing in isolation.
Process
CTA Development: I collaborated with the Showheroes and Sky teams to brainstorm and develop the voice CTA "Alexa, ask Sky about the Essential TV package." The CTA needed to be natural, memorable, and clearly communicate the action viewers should take while watching the CTV ad.
Voice Experience Design: I designed the conversational flow that provided detailed information about the £15 Essential TV package - what channels were included, pricing, and how to subscribe. The experience concluded with send to phone functionality, allowing interested viewers to receive a link for follow-up.
Collaborative Partnership: Throughout the pilot, I maintained close collaboration with Showheroes' media team, aligning on messaging, technical requirements, and success metrics despite the unknown targeting limitations.
Testing & Launch: I managed the Amazon certification process and coordinated the pilot launch, understanding this was a proof-of-concept that would inform future iterations once targeting technology matured.
Analytics & Initial Results: I implemented tracking to monitor voice activation rates and send to phone conversion rates. Despite the short flight and targeting constraints, initial results showed promising engagement from viewers who activated the voice experience, validating the potential of the CTA approach.
Conclusion
While the Sky Essential TV campaign had a limited flight due to targeting constraints, it demonstrated the potential of voice-enabled CTV advertising when the right infrastructure is in place. The collaborative approach to developing the voice CTA proved valuable, and the initial engagement metrics validated viewer appetite for voice interaction with TV advertising.
The pilot highlighted an important industry truth: innovative advertising formats require equally innovative targeting capabilities. The learnings from this campaign informed both Sky's future voice strategy and the broader industry's understanding of what infrastructure is needed to scale voice commerce and lead generation through CTV.
