BEST CLUB MARKETING INITIATIVE
o Aston Villa Football Club
“What a video, what a club, get me back”, “goosebumps watching that”, “unreal content”, “if my face doesn’t entice you to buy a season ticket, I don’t know what will”. A true fan-led marketing campaign, with our supporters becoming involved as the stars of our 21/22 Season Ticket launch to truly remind everyone of what they’ve missed from ‘that Villa Park feeling’.
300+ fan videos were used to create an authentically unique Season Ticket campaign, resulting in excellent positive sentiment, a record-breaking launch day of sales, a record-breaking total sales period, and a record renewal rate. Set against a backdrop of major uncertainty and hesitancy at returning to major events due to the global pandemic, our fans helped to remind each other of the unique atmosphere you can only experience together at Villa Park.
o Leeds United Football Club
For the 2021/22 Christmas Retail Campaign, We wanted to take on the large consumer-facing brands and FMCGs who spent millions on Christmas Adverts with our own in-house production across all channels.
The creative featured a heartwarming take of the Father and Daughter heading to a Leeds United match at Christmas in tribute to their late Dad/Grandfather – the Daughter gripping a photo of her Grandfather and wearing his infamous cap.
The whole sequence took fans on an emotional journey of their memories of Elland Road and tied in the magical element of Christmas time around the club.
Released December 5th prior to the club’s first game of the festive period. The video was shared on all club socials, played on outdoor media sites around the city, in club stores and in the stadium bowl to help people believe in the magic of Leeds.
The purpose of the advert was to help amplify the brand, as well as make the most of the Christmas retail period. 2,522,662 impressions, 189,246 engagements and 415,111 video views helped the club acquire new fans and followers, it also resulted in 100% retail transactions sales volume to the previous game week.
o Bradford City AFC
During the 2020/21 season, football clubs were forced to play their matches behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For Bradford City this took away the soul of the Club… it’s supporters!
“Take me home” is the Club’s 2021/22 season ticket campaign. It has a very reflective narrative and showcases not only the feelings of the Club’s supporters, but also the re-opening of a working-class city and the people at the heart of it.
The campaign centres around a short, feature film which follows an older supporter who has isolated throughout the pandemic, right through to his journey to the stadium for his first match since 2019. Taking in the sights of the city, he meets a few familiar faces along the way, ending with a truly emotion occasion as he enters the stadium for the first time since pre-pandemic.
The film features a specially commissioned version of fan favourite song Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver. The music was re-recorded into a heartfelt orchestral version of the original track, to match the emotional cinematography of the film.
It’s a tastefully shot, emotive campaign showcasing a community and its people on the dawn of a new normal.
o Chelsea Football Club
Since 2019, boxsets – long-form features and short films – have been an integral part Chelsea’s video strategy to grow overall video views on owned platforms and YouTube. In May 2021, Chelsea Football Club won their second Champions League. The backstory of the success made the win even more special. Thomas Tuchel, the new head coach had only been at the club for four months and was working with a squad boasting numerous academy graduates for whom this was only their second Champions League campaign ever. Following the close-season and easing of lockdown restrictions, Porto Uncovered, a two-part boxset, was identified as another premium Netflix and Amazon Prime-style boxset production. The series took fans behind the scenes on our road to European glory and featured exclusive interviews with the likes of Thomas Tuchel, Antonio Rudiger and Kai Havertz. The two-part series, shot and edited cinematically, looked back on Chelsea’s impressive advance to the Champions League final and ensuing success.
o Fulham Football Club
Fulham FC is more than just the XI on the pitch, it’s a family. A family that takes in every fan that follows us, every player, all our teams and everyone who works here. And it’s an impressive, committed, diverse team of different individual skill sets and experiences. Some have been with us for years, some just a short while. Some cheer and sing as loud as they can, while some quietly play a supporting role. They all make our Club special and proud to pull on the famous white shirt. Following a period where players, fans and staff were physically apart due to the pandemic, Fulham’s 2021/22 season Kit reveal would celebrate the heroes behind the scenes. Staff whose contribution each day help make the Club what it is. Used as the key launch creative, the reveal saw staff wearing the shirts in their own unique setting with pride, the campaign was able to make the connection and bond between our supporters and Club closer and more personal, highlighting the personnel our community come into regular contact with. We couldn’t feel prouder to witness the passion shared by everyone involved and the subsequent feel-good factor this campaign produced
o Norwich City Football Club
In November 2021, Norwich City revealed its new Club crest which will used across all Club branding from June 2022.
The club undertook a review of its brand, which confirmed a number of technical challenges and accessibility issues centred around the main club crest which was drawn by hand in 1971, 50 years ago. There were also inconsistencies with the versions of crests used, with different iterations around our own stadium and incorrect crests easily accessible online.
Together with industry-leading agency SomeOne, the club created a modernised, evolved crest which will ensure consistency across all platforms.
Integral to the success of the project was the rigorous process. We brought in club legend Jeremy Goss to sit alongside directors, supporters and staff from all areas of Carrow Road and the Lotus Training Centre to discuss every area of the design process.
Fans were consulted via a questionnaire, which received over 5000 responses, and through multiple focus groups. We then discussed the final designs with fan group representatives, the official supporters panel and the local media before the final design was unveiled.
Following the reveal, potential impressions hit 78million, while positive sentiment sat at 89%- incredibly high given the emotive subject matter.
o Rangers Football Club
Rangers have entered the Football Business Awards 2022 Best Club Marketing Initiative – non Premier League category. Rangers have celebrated their 150th Anniversary over the 21/22 season, which saw an incredible season long rebrand to celebrate. There was also a huge focus on their Christmas campaign, where they wanted to show how the club, fans, and players are ‘Forever Together’.
