11/08/2016

Man Utd #Pogback Links With Sponsors Chevy, Adidas & EA To Showcase Soccer Signing Strategy

At £89m, the Paul Pogba to Manchester United deal was the priciest and highest profile transfer of the offseason and no blockbuster soccer signing has seen more co-ordinated social media marketing collaboration between club, player, shirt sponsor and kit partner.

 

The player himself  spent the first half of the summer fronting his boot brand Adidas’ Euro 2016 campaign and the second half swelling his own social media statistics (particularly via Twitter and Instagram) by teasing hints about his possible move to Man Utd.

 

For instance this black and white image with the only colour being the player’s red hat was much discussed socially as a hint towards his future at Man Utd.

 

Shirts sponsor Chevrolet also used social as a means of hinting at the deal when it began following Pogba on Instagram as early as 28 July.

 

Who knows quite what was going on behind the scenes while Manchester United itself was obligated to remain officially silent until permission for the deal had been provided by sellers Juventus.

 

Once freed up on that front, the club used a video led social media strategy to announce that Pogba had finally signed for Manchester United on 9 August.

 

The social assets, which spanned several content types and formats,  were tied together by the tagline ‘Reunited’ coupled with the #Pogback hashtag – which can legitimately be described as a campaign title.

 

 

The central reveal content piece was a punchy, atmospheric, slick 30-second film, deployed across all its social platforms, featuring the soccer star emerging from the shadows to reveal his face and a nod to the club crest cut into his hair.

 

Initially teased with a cut down version of the video,

 

 

the full film followed the completion of the deal and racked up an impressive 50k retweets and 40k likes.

 

 

These were supported by various behind-the-scenes pieces such as on Twitter

 

 

and Snapchat

 

 

with each generating thousands of social interactions for each execution.

 

This was immediately followed by the exclusive first interview on the club’s own Man Utd TV – the social media amplification of which alone were generating around 20k engagements for each interview assets.

 

 

 

Premier League clubs’ in-house channels may not have rights to live games, but they can retain exclusivity to events like player signings. And they are increasingly turning these into entertainment properties themselves (and opportunities for partner marketing too).

 

 

This phase was then backed up by more direct sales’ pieces largely pushing Pogba shirt sales: such as a signed shirt competition

 

 

and this direct tweet which alone generated 2.5k retweets and 4.4k likes.

 

 

The official club campaign was neatly dovetailed with sponsor marketing too.

 

Call it product placement, event marketing, partner utility, or simply PR, but Chevrolet’s high profile role in the transfer story was built around the player arriving at the club for his medical and signing in a team branded, flashy red Chevy Corvette sports car (with another model following behind just in case anyone watching missed the auto brand’s role in the saga).

 

It might not have been that heavily amplified on Chevrolet’s official channels, but the car certainly got plenty of on camera coverage from the media and from fans.

 

 

 

While club kit partner Adidas’ role in the Pogba transfer story was that of insider reporter, celebrator in chief and direct sportswear salesman.

 

Adidas activated around the deal by extending the promotional partnership it had previously used for its Pogba led Euro 2016 campaign (see case study) and its pre-season ‘Blah Blah Blah’ marketing push with a joint music video alliance between rapper Stormzy and Pogba (see case study).

 

Running under the sportswear brand’s ongoing #FirstNeverFollows global big idea, Adidas continued this approach to activate the player’s transfer through digital and social assets (from images and Gifs to Vines and films), as well as PR and associated media work too.

 

 

 

>

 

In total the assets notched up a combined 500,000 plus social interactions.

 

Adidas also ran more direct, bottom-line driven pieces linked to Poba shirt sales – such as this tweet which generated 3k retweets and 4.5k likes.

 

 

Adidas then built on its deal activation and the following day launched a new Manchester United special campaign running under its ongoing #FirstNeverFollows global platform.

The film, which acts as the spearhead promotion for the launch of Utd’s new third kit, also opens with celebrity Man Utd fan and UK grime artist Stormzy dismissing a billboard outside Old Trafford that’s apparently been vandalised by rival fans, before switching to the team training and working to prepare for the season ahead and closing with footage of the squad ready and focused to step onto the pitch for the new 2016/17 season.

 

 

United also used the Pogba singing as a platform to announce EA Sports as the club’s new ‘official football video games partner’ and the club and EA linked to give fans the first look of the player in a Man Utd shirt

 

 

EA’s globally dominant FIFA 17 game isn’t officially launched until 29 September, but the partnership announcement unveiled an early glimpse of Paul Pogba in game, along with fellow Utd stars Lingard, Rashford, Rooney, Memphis and Smalling, as well as virtual imagery of Old Trafford.

 

 

The new three-year global club partnership comes just a few days after it was announced that EA Sports is also the lead sponsor of the Premier League and will sponsor its Player of the Month and Player of the Season awards.

 

The central focus of Man Utd’s EA partnership will take place online: the alliance will enable supporters to have unique access to Manchester United through FIFA 17 of club content, interactive experiences, social campaigns, wallpapers and FIFA 17 covers.

 

Thus providing ‘new innovative ways for fans to get closer to the club’.

 

‘By having these innovators on board with our family of global partners, we’re pledging to our 659 million followers that they can look forward to great content and concepts over the coming seasons,’ trumpets Man Utd director Richard Arnold.

 

‘That much is evident in the exciting piece released today and the trailer for FIFA 17 The Journey, drawing on our unrivalled record of giving youth a chance.’

 

Comment

 

The major US sports, particularly the NFL, may have the annual college Draft as a central off-season property for their partners to activate around, but football has the transfer season.

 

Unlike its counterpart property owners across the pond, transfer season isn’t a single, short-term, co-ordinated event, but a scrappier, wilder, more speculative set of rumours and gossip, individual stories and actual signings.

 

What was initially the preserve of newspaper journalists and then the realm of (often overhyped) live stories on pay TV sports broadcasters, the transfer storytelling is now increasingly being controlled by the club (and to a lesser extent the player) in order to drive their own social following, engage fans in the off-season and create a platform for their own sponsors and commercial partners.

 

Traditionalists may not like the hype and the razzmatazz, but if the ever increasing transfer fees and wages are to be paid for then turning such events into revenue generated opportunities is an inevitability.

 

The social engagement statistics for both club, player and commercial partners are impressive – with overall interactions stretching well into the 100,000s.

 

Utd’s own Twitter followers edged up to 8.44m, while Pogba’s personal social metrics have grown impressively throughout the saga as the player added nearly a million followers through the transfer season bringing his Twitter following up to 2.35m and his Instagram

 

Links

 

Man Utd Website:

http://www.manutd.com/

 

Man Utd Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MANUTD

@ManUtd

 

Man Utd Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/manchesterunited/

 

Man Utd Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/MANCHESTERUNITED/

 

Man Utd Google+:

https://plus.google.com/+MANUTD

 

Man Utd Pinterest:

https://www.pinterest.com/manutd/

 

Man Utd Vine:

https://vine.co/ManUtd

 

Man Utd Partners:

http://www.manutd.com/en/Club/Sponsors.aspx

 

Chevrolet FC YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChevroletFC

 

Chevrolet FC Google+:

http://plus.google.com/+ChevroletFC

 

Chevrolet FC Website:

http://www.ChevroletFC.com.

 

Chevrolet FC Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/ChevroletFC
@ChevroletFC

 

Chevrolet FC Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/ChevroletFC.

 

Chevrolet FC Instagram:

http://www.instagram.com/ChevroletFC

 

Adidas Football YouTube:

http://youtube.com/adidasfootball

 

Adidas Football Twitter:

https://twitter.com/adidasfootball

 

Adidas Football Facebook:

https://facebook.com/adidasfootball

 

Adidas Football Instagram:

http://instagram.com/adidasfootball

 

Adidas Football Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/adidasfootball

 

Adidas Football Website:

http://adidas.com

 

Paul Pogba Twitter:

https://twitter.com/paulpogba

 

Paul Pogba Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/paulpogba/?hl=en



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