21/07/2022

Man City FC Training Kit Partner OKX’s Murals & Digital Ads Cyber-Punk Manchester Streets

Cryptocurrency platform OKX activated its new status as the Official Training Kit Partner of Manchester City FC for the 2022/2023 season with an integrated on- and offline campaign built around using real footage and CGI to turn City players into signature OKX cyber-punks in a mural led tie-up with street artist Akse P19 and Global Street Art Agency.

 

The activation, developed in partnership with agency CAA Brand Consulting with WING London, rolled out across OKX and Man City owned channels and was spearheaded by an online video featured stars Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, João Cancelo and John Stones as OKX branded cyber-punks.

 

Initially a set of teaser images were leaked on social media in advance of the main campaign launch to drive media interest and fan peak engagement.

 

 

The core campaign debuted on 18 July and saw OKX commission Akse P19 and Global Street Art Agency to create artworks featuring the four current City players across four locations in Manchester. An additional strand saw the murals fitted out with QR codes (until 14 August) which fans could scan for a chance to win a Man City 2022/23 season ticket.

 

A hero spot showcased how ‘the streets of Manchester were cyber-punk’d by OKX’ led the campaign content.

 

 

 

 

“The real grit and perseverance is built on the training ground. This is the way we want to nurture new users on our platform,” said OKX Global Chief Marketing Officer Haider Rafique. “Being Man City’s official training kit partner helps us extend that mindset from the training ground over to our trading app community. We want our community to learn from that mindset and use our demo trading feature to train for the real exchange just like Man City players train before the beginning of the season. Our partnership with Man City has provided a great platform through which we have the opportunity to educate those curious about crypto and offer those already involved the training they need to participate responsibly.”

 

City Football Group Chief Operating Officer Roel de Vries added: “OKX and Man City are aligned on values such as innovation and success and for both parties, everything starts with training and education. Since the initial partnership began in March 2022, we have worked together to ‘supercharge the fan experience’ through a number of exciting content activations ahead of high profile fixtures during the culmination of the 2021/22 season and we look forward to continuing to develop these opportunities over the coming year.”

 

The CAA Brand Consulting team which worked on the campaigns included Nick Pearson (Business Director), Simon Dunn (Creative Director), Stuart Coaten (Creative Director), Emma Strachan ( Senior Account Director), Anissa Harb (Senior Account Manager), Oliver Brown (Account Manger), Rayna Sidhu (Account Manager), Thomas Hartley (Creative Designer) and Kel Akpobire (Account Executive).

 

 

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The training kit tie-up, which was reported by Forbes to be worth more than US$20m, sees the OKX logo feature across the training kit of Man City’s men’s and women’s first team and the new kit was revealed during a media training day at the City Football Academy where journalists were given an exclusive first-look at the outfits before being put through their paces on the pitch by Man City coaches and former player turned ambassador Shaun Wright-Phillips.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgJmOzBDdGr/

 

According to both brand and club, the training kit partnership is based on shared values linked to how sponsor and football club emphasise ‘training innovation to achieve excellence’ and will see OKX offer fan engagement disruptive experiences to bring supporters closer to the club (including web3-based initiatives), whilst educating and informing fans about crypto and how to be informed and responsible long-term traders.

 

It is this shared focus on being at the cutting edge of the industry that will lead to a new era of disruptive fan engagement and web3-based experiences.

 

The kit unveiling and the deal was initially teased on 10 July and unveiled on 11 July via a PR push backed by social content across City and OKX channels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OKX, which was announced as the club’s Official Cryptocurrency Exchange Partner back in March 2022, was also named as the presenting partner of the team’s global Premier League Title Trophy Tour providing the brand with a prominent presence at City-hosted fan engagement activations in France, Spain, the UAE, South Korea, as well as in new markets like Mexico, Norway and South Africa.

 

 

The City alliance is one of several sports sponsorships sitting at the heart of OKX’s marketing mix and others include deals with the McLaren F1 Team and golfer (a LIV rebel) Ian Poulter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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