The Tender

In January 2022, Feral won a competitive tender with the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, committing to 12 months’ worth of pre-and on-event content for this season’s prestigious 5* equestrian event.

The Trot-up: Pre-event content – challenges and successes

In the run up to the 4-day August event, we were tasked with delivering one feature per month to promote the event and it’s sponsors, drive ticket sales, diversify audience engagement, and showcase their new Burghley pay per view platform, Burghley TV.

Feral responded with a set of features which cleverly married the grace and grandeur of the Burghley House and Gardens Estate with the grit of sporting endeavour for which the event has become famous. Among the most popular pieces were our ‘Meet the Team’ series, our tantalising teaser, ‘Who’s Going to Burghley?’ and Feral’s fresh take on the annual ‘Alternative Cross-country Course
Preview’.

Getting access to film elite athletes is not always easy, but our negotiations proved worthwhile judging by the traffic on our playful piece ‘Who’s going to Burghley?’. Grossing over 40,000 views, the piece features a montage of eminent riders all pledging their appearance at the forthcoming trials. This, punctuated with effervescent shots of popping champagne corks, loading horseboxes and a bit of playful rivalry between riders, all worked towards reigniting the excitement, fun and fervour which epitomises the Burghley experience.

Feral’s ‘Meet the Team’ series was a big draw for eager Burghley goers, racking up around 30,000 views in the run-up to the trials. These bitesize biographies served to highlight the internationally acclaimed expertise of key players such as Course Designer, Derek Di Grazia, Clerk of the Course, Philip Herbert and Course Builder, Guy Herbert.

With a staggering 200,000+ views across all platforms, the ‘Alternative Cross-country Course Preview’ really went the distance when it came to whetting the appetites of audiences, both in and out of the equestrian arena. Offering a fresh perspective on this quirky annual feature was no mean feat, given that past participants have included dogs, Shetland ponies, Gurkhas and even Parkour Runners. After much deliberation, we invited Professional Trials Bike Rider, Duncan Shaw (@duncshaw) to carry the baton for the 2022 iteration.

A major challenge here was negotiating clearance from air traffic authorities for the drone work which would give the piece its prestige. As Burghley House still operates as a private residence, access to the forecourt and grounds was hard won but worth the wait.

The feature opens with a spectacular aerial drone shot, swooping in over the rooftops of Burghley House and Gardens, and circling, hawk-like, down to the forecourt, where Shaw sets off through the parkland with the FPV drone in hot pursuit. Creatively crafted shots of Shaw’s flawless stunt- work over the jumps show off Di Grazia’s new course design to its best advantage, whilst highlighting the poise and precision demanded from riders in both fields. Some stunning, wide angle shots of Shaw scaling the balustrades of Burghley’s iconic Lion Bridge at dusk give the piece a truly atmospheric edge. A nifty 48 hour turnaround on delivery maximised traffic across all platforms just days ahead of the main event.

The Main Event: On-event content – challenges and successes

A few days later we were packing the van ready to begin shooting the event itself, where we were committed to delivering up to 3 pieces of content per day, including live action moments, daily event highlights, and glossy montages featuring the food, fashion and family atmosphere on site.

Ever popular with visitors to Burghley are the multitude of activities going on alongside the sport. Our stylish features on the ‘Landrover Experience’ foregrounded the prowess of this prestigious brand. Elsewhere in our ‘More Than The Sport’ montage, beautifully curated shots of Rolex-clad wrists popping bottles of Pol Roger Champagne at the Burghley House and Gardens Champagne Reception showed visitors enjoying the setting at its finest, and delivered high commercial value for the event sponsors.

Eventing kicked off on Wednesday 31st with highlights of the Trot-up and Vet Inspection.
Despite initial doubts from the team at Burghley, these live moments clocked up vast view counts across the four days and were incredibly well received.Having built the first half of the Daily Highlights feature on the morning of each broadcast, we then peppered these with the best and brightest of the live action sporting moments.Interspersing content from the world feed with super slow-motion sections captured by our team gave the highlights an exceptionally dynamic and creative edge. Adding in the sport as the events took place made for a tidy 2 hour turnaround of finished content, ready for a comprehensive round up at the close of each day’s eventing.

A Look to the Future:

All in all, Feral’s input on LRBHT22 culminated in some of the highest view counts the event has ever seen. We hope this puts us firmly back in the saddle for an extended contract with the Burghley team heading into 2023 and beyond.

Posted in News and tagged , , , , , , , , ,