BEST BRAND ACTIVATION INVOLVING SPORT
BT x Hope United
‘We Connect for Good’ is BT’s guiding brand & business purpose. ‘4-3-3’ is the brand’s ambitious partnership strategy with the Home Nations Football Associations; a mission to make a meaningful difference to millions of people across the UK by supporting the areas of football that most in need.
After a year’s postponement, UEFA Euro 2020 was set to unite the nation. Yet, the online abuse football players were receiving overshadowed the excitement and was an issue that could no longer be ignored.
Staying true to its purpose & the 4-3-3 mission, BT formed Hope United – a squad of footballers brought together to educate the nation on how to tackle online hate.
A starting eleven comprised of men, women, and para players from across the four Home Nations, rallied the nation to help drive change and make Hope United their second team this summer.
With its own iconic kit, team crest, famous coaches and a fan base, Hope United was an integrated ATL, digital & sponsorship campaign which reacted to both the hope & hate online throughout the tournament. Most importantly it educated the nation, with in 1 in 4 people more likely to take action & report online hate.
European Tour – Farthest Golf Shot Caught in a Moving Car, Guinness World Record
In April 2021, the European Tour and one of its major Official Partners, Callaway, staged a Guinness World Record attempt of epic proportions. Filmed on a runway in York, professional golfer Marcus Armitage had to land a golf ball into a moving car at a distance of over 273 yards to break a record previously set in 2012.
Following three previous successful Guinness World Record content pieces across 2016-2019, this was the most ambitious production that the European Tour had ever staged, incorporating 12 cameras, 2 cranes, 39 crew onsite and a car travelling at speeds of over 170mph.
All of these factors combined to create a piece of content that transcended typical golf fans and entertained and engaged a varied and far-reaching audience, helping to promote the European Tour and Callaway. It quickly became the most watched and most engaged with piece of European Tour content of all time, receiving 27m views, 3.1m engagements and 44m impressions (solely across the social media accounts that we had access to track eg. European Tour, affiliate partners/players and crossposts), with many more additional views coming via third-party posts and shares, and delivering significant media value and brand exposure for Callaway.
Everton Football Club
As the world faced the pandemic, and football was dealing with its impact on sponsorship, marketing and activation, Everton and new technical partner hummel sought to deliver a footballing first – a ground-breaking non-player led kit launch that showcased hummel’s commitment to investing in Club charity Everton in the Community, and saw players from Everton in the Community’s Disability programme – celebrating its 20th anniversary year – become the focus.
This activation was part of the wider ‘More Than Eleven’ 2020/21 kit campaign, which spotlighted the strong bond between Everton – The People’s Club – and its worldwide fan community.
hummel’s investment in funding a coaching course for 20 disabled participants to gain their FA Level One coaching qualification – in some cases opening up opportunities into employment – also ensured the kit launch left a lasting legacy.
The uniqueness of the launch and Everton and hummel’s commitment to celebrating equality and diversity gained widespread news media interest and positive engagement, with fans stating their pride at the campaign. The campaign led to a 41% increase on the previous record first day sales for an Everton third kit, while sales for the year finished 28% on the previous 12 months.
LTA – The&Partnership
How do you change age-old perceptions and convince 300,000 new Brits to play Tennis during a nationwide lockdown, without any major events?
You re-write the rules of the sport. Give it a new look. A new voice. Celebrate the individualism of anyone who picks up a racket and plays their way.
As part of the LTA’s ongoing commitment to open tennis up to the nation, we launched Play Your Way during the midst of a global pandemic, capitalising on being one of the few sports that could return to play.
Launching with some bold and provocative OOH & Social creative, including a new vibrant visual identity, we put Tennis firmly back on the nation’s radar. This was quickly followed by our 30second brand film that went from script to shoot in just 12days, helping reach over 33million people whilst achieving average view-through rate 211% higher than industry benchmarks.
Not only did we move the dial in shifting people’s attitudes and perceptions of the sport, with a +13% increase in ‘tennis is for people like me’ statements, we helped increase in the number of people playing Tennis by 300,000, including a +24% increase YoY in people playing on a weekly basis.
Midea World Class Awards
Last Premier League Season, we set out to help new partner Midea use their partnership with Man City to grow their brand awareness. Covid had other ideas. With Stadiums closed to fans and all physical activity cancelled, all we had were digital and social tools to achieve our objectives and attempt to connect with fans in an authentic way.
And when Man City were crowned Champions, we wanted to give Midea a genuine reason to celebrate and share in the trophy lift moments. Our solution: the Midea #WorldClass Awards!
While each player contributed to the EPL win, there was only ONE trophy. Midea created a range of appliance shaped trophies, highlighting not just their product range but some of the best moments on the field. We then invited fans to vote for who deserved which trophy.
To launch the trophies and announce the nominations, we recruited ManCity Legends, Paul Dickov and Shaun Wright-Phillips to host a humorous content series. After the voting, we released a second series announcing the winners, and offering fans discounts on Midea products to drive traffic to Midea’s website, link our brand to customers in an authentic way and achieve great ROI by pushing sales effectively.
Norwich City Football Club – War Paint for Men
Norwich City Football Club and War Paint for Men are aware of the issues that men face in everyday life and want to do all they can to alleviate any stigma around these topics. In partnership, the two parties produced the “Challenging Stereotypes” content series, aimed to broach the topics that has previously been taboo. The content series, hosted by War Paint Founder, Danny Gray and former NCFC player Darren Eadie invited a broad mix of personalities who are passionate about the subject to discuss their experiences and thoughts on a wide range of topics.
Stephen Fry, Amal Fashanu, Godric Smith, Luke Chadwick and Todd Cantwell all sat down and spoke on matters that impacted them. Topics covered included homosexuality, social media abuse , bullying, racism and the general pressures associated growing up and working in a high profile industry.
The videos gained some great engagement with encouraging noises coming from those that saw the videos. The partnership will continue to make conversations on these topics commonplace with a range of activities planned for the 2021.22 season.
The Kiyan Prince Foundation – Engine MHP + Mischief
The Kiyan Prince Foundation, set up by Mark Prince in memory of his son who was stabbed and killed in 2006 is a small charity with a burning message of hope for change.
Engine devised a campaign that elevated the charity to a new level, bringing the Foundation to the attention of thousands and attracting much-needed funds.
#LongLiveThePrince used gaming to talk to a hard-to-reach audience of 16-25-year-olds about seeking the right path in life, no matter how difficult their circumstances.
Kiyan had been a talented youth football player for Queens Park Rangers. The Foundation uses life coaching and sports to empower young people to create thriving communities and a violent-free society.
In 2021, with the help of family and friends, Kiyan was brought back to life within the FIFA21 video game and commemorated on the Queens Park Rangers’ teamsheet and billboards across the country, enabling young gamers and football fans to learn about his story – and the help available to them.
The result was a campaign that united a wide range of partners, including QPR, EA SPORTS, JD Sports, Adidas, Topps and Framestore, generating billions of views, millions of engagements and generating more than £40k in public donations.
