Manchester United and France football legend Eric Cantona teamed up with travel company Dharma to launch an initiative called ‘Looking FC’ which specifically focuses on a range of trips tailored for passionate football fans.
‘Looking FC’ offers fans soccer experiences in a collection of cities around the world famous for their football teams, communities and cultures. Based around a ‘Looking For’ docu-series produced by Cantona and his brothers via Canto Bros Production, each four-day fan trip has been designed and crafted with input from iconic forward-turned-actor. The trips all culminate with a game-day experience at a famous stadium for a league or UEFA match, while prior to kick off the trips feature soccer experiences like fan chant workshops, soccer street art walks with local historians and tactical briefings with leading local football journalists.
Each signature itinerary is designed for groups, but is also bookable privately for friends and families and the nine club destinations featured in the first ‘travel season’ include Manchester United FC and Liverpool FC in the UK, Boca Juniors in Buenos Aires (Argentina), FC Internazionale in Milan ( Italy), Real Madrid CF and FC Barcelona in Spain; Paris Saint-Germain FC in France; Sporting CP in Lisbon (Portugal) and Raja CA in Casablanca (Morocco).
The promotional campaign was initially teased on 10 January on the brand’s Instagram feed before the full campaign launched on 12 January across all of its social channels with support from Cantona himself.
“I love the kind of football that makes your heart pound and the stadium shake,” said Cantona. “Our idea was to create the most passionate football trips on Earth, with charisma and soul. Everything today is optimised for price – we wanted to optimise for passion. If you are a Manchester United fan, watching a game at Old Trafford is a dream. But that’s only one part of the story. Have you heard of FC United and what they stand for? Do you know the chants of Stretford End? Beyond its artistic beauty, do you know the significance of the Marcus Rashford mural to the local community? This is the essence of football, whether you are in Liverpool, Buenos Aires, or Casablanca. These trips are for those who still believe in passion and want to go deeper into their love of football.”
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Alongside the campaign launch, Looking FC also announced a partnership with Common Goal which will see it donate 1% of its revenue to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals Initiative. It also emphasised how each trip is built with an emphasis on supporting local businesses and the carbon footprints of all trips are offset through the Thrust Carbon initiative.
New travel start-up Dharma is backed by the businesses such as Pernod Ricard and Loop (the global marketing agency for Red Bull and Porsche).
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