01/03/2017

Hazard, Barkley & Forster Front Sure’s ‘Never More Sure’ Chelsea, Everton & Southampton Sponsorships

Deodorant giant Sure has signed official personal care sponsorships with three Premier League clubs and three player ambassadors – Chelsea (Eden Hazard), Everton (Ross Barkley) and Southampton (Fraser Forster) – and has begun to roll out an associated multi-platform campaign linked by the hashtag #NeverMoreSure.

 

The activity aims to highlight how the teams each perform under pressure and the three players and three clubs will be the focus of a campaign spanning at-club, hospitality and other VIP match day initiatives, competitions and ticket giveaways, LED executions, advertising and on demand video across Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat.

 

The Unilever brand kicked off this campaign with a new brand film featuring Chelsea’s Hazard which was first teased socially with cut down creative

 

 

and behind-the-scenes clips,

 

 

before the core 60-second spot was launched.

 

The video is set in the final few seconds of a game and sees the Belgian attacker winning a penalty and then calmly scoring under pressure.

 

 

The ads mantra is that ‘performance starts with preparation’ and that ‘confidence’ is the key ‘to deliver in the moments that matter’

 

Carrying the brand’s long running ‘Sure won’t let you down’ tagline, the creative is being amplified socially by sponsor

 

 

and the football club alike.

 

 

The campaign assets urge viewers and fans to join in the conversation: https://twitter.com/sure and find out more about the brand at http://www.suredeodorant.co.uk/men.html.

 

The new partnerships will see Sure products feature in the club changing rooms on match days and at their training grounds

 

 

as well as offering fans match tickets and other related prizes primarily through digital and social competitions.

 

 

Claudio Bellen, brand manager of Sure UK, added: ‘We are extremely pleased to announce our partnership with Chelsea FC. Football is the most watched sport in the UK and a key passion point for the brand’s target audience. With such a high profile and ambition to match, we can think of no better club to champion our values of superior performance under pressure,’ outlines Sure UK brand manager Cladio Bellen.

 

‘Through this partnership, the brand will aim to leverage money-can’t-buy experiences and tickets to engage with the consumer, while also providing exciting content and unique insights to add to their overall spectator experience through social channels. The “Goal Pressure Index” powered by Opta, in particular will aid our #NeverMoreSure campaign with a credible lens on how the top footballers in this country perform in the moments that matter.’

 

‘Sure is the UK’s number one male deodorant that prides itself on performance, so we are proud to have another market-leading brand support us as we draw towards the business end of the season. We look forward to a successful partnership,’ adds Chelsea FC managing director Christian Purslow.

 

This new work dovetails with the brand’s recently launched ‘Goal Pressure Index’ – which was developed with Opta, the Perform Group and via a partnership with Goal (see http://www.goal.com/en/news/8/main/2017/01/23/31855492/what-is-the-goal-pressure-index) – and analyses player performance at the key moments in a game.

 

Launched in January 2017, this index accounts for various considerations like time of goal, position in the league, specific opposition and rivalries in order to determine how well individual players perform under pressure during the season.

 

 

Both initiatives add additional strands to Sure’s ongoing ‘pressure’ led football focused marketing strategy and its commitment to Premier League football.

 

 

Indeed, as the 2016/17 season unfolds Sure is also creating content across its football-dedicated Twitter channel,

 

 

 

such as its recent live tweeting of the EFL Cup Final.

 

 

 

‘We are thrilled to announce our sponsorship of these three top soccer clubs,’ says Claudio Bellen, senior brand manager of Sure UK and Ireland.

 

‘Soccer is the most watched sport in the UK and is a key passion point for the brand’s target audience. Through our partnerships with the clubs, the brand will aim to leverage money can’t buy experiences and tickets to engage with consumers, whilst also providing exciting content and unique insights to add to their overall spectator experience through social channels.’

 

Activative Comment:

 

Liverpool FC’s sponsorship deal with Nivea back in 2015 perhaps marked the start of a major new non-typical category push for partnerships between Premier League teams and, for example, personal care brands (see case study), but perhaps the more interesting thing about this Sure campaign is whether it is a multi-local campaign or a nationwide initiative.

 

It seems likely that Sure has partnered with just three teams (one deliberately in the north, one in the capital and one in the south) to act as triple pillars for a nationwide campaign.

 

Can a three premiership club strategy genuinely offer sufficient reach, assets and engagement to campaign across the country rather than just engage with fans of those three teams?

 

The results will be interesting to keep an eye out for.

 

One of our favourite recent examples of a club sponsor taking an innovative approach to a single football club partnership in order to run a national campaign is the Virgin Media ‘Away Fan Ticket’ initiative with Southampton FC (see case study).

 

Links:

 

Sure

http://www.suredeodorant.co.uk

https://twitter.com/Sure

https://www.youtube.com/sureuk

https://www.facebook.com/sureukie

https://www.instagram.com/sure/

 

Unilever

https://www.unilever.co.uk/

 

Chelsea FC

https://www.chelseafc.com/

 

Everton FC

http://www.evertonfc.com

 

Southampton FC

https://southamptonfc.com/



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