‘No Stadium. No Problem’: UEFA CL Partner Hotels.Com Encourages Fans To Watch From Somewhere Special

6 August saw official UEFA Champions League partner Hotels.com leverage the tournament restart through a multi-market activation – spanning media, PR and experiences – built around encouraging fans to watch the final stages of the competition from somewhere special this year.

The initiative, developed in harness with agency Octagon, sets out to help football supporters who are unable to support their team live in the stadium (as the tournament will resume in a bubble and behind closed doors) to find a perfect, new front-row seat to watch the games.

The core idea is a fairly simple solution to a complicated challenge: to encourage fans to swap their sofa at home for a sun lounger, a Jacuzzi or a beach.

The campaign is rolling out through August and spans bespoke content with JOE Media (fronted by former Manchester United star Patrice Evra), plus CRM, on-site activity, as well as social content and a series of PR initiatives and even related experiences leveraging UEFA Champions League digital assets during match weeks.

One example of the latter saw the brand again link up with Eric Cantona, as it did for last year’s Champions League campaign, to offering one lucky football fan and a friend an opportunity to join the former France and Manchester United attacker to watch the UEFA Champions League final with him at a luxury villa in the south of France.

Cantona is inviting a fan to watch the match with him – from a safe distance – at Casa De Cantona for a ‘suave summer soiree’ with a pre-match French feast, ‘TV room’ service and a swimming pool for a half time dip.

Another activation strand saw Hotels.com takes Champions League football to the beach with a drive-in cinema screening in London with a pre-match talk by former France and Manchester City star Yaya Touré.

‘The Hotels.com Dream Screen’ takes place for the semi-final on 19 August and the event is delivered by Blueprint Sports & Entertainment. It sees 10 lucky fans participating: with each car given access to its own beach match viewing set up and ahead of kick off fans will be treated to a pre-match chat with Toure.

“Similarly, to the entire world of football, we’re thrilled that the UEFA Champions League is back. While nothing may compare to the atmosphere in a packed stadium on a UEFA Champions League match night, the return of European football’s most prestigious competition definitely warrants a celebration,” said Gary Bansor, Brand Sponsorships Manager, Hotels.com.

“Similar to the entire world of football, we’re thrilled that the UEFA Champions League is back! While nothing may compare to the atmosphere in a packed stadium on a UEFA Champions League match night, the return of European football’s most prestigious competition definitely warrants a celebration,” said Gary Bansor, Brand Sponsorships Manager, Hotels.com.

“The revised format this season presents fans with the perfect excuse to make a real event of it and watch the matches somewhere different, and Hotels.com is here to help facilitate that.”

The campaign was created for the sponsor by a team at sport and entertainment agency Octagon which was led by Executive Creative Director Josh Green, Creative Alex Dew, Design Director Mark Donnington, Head of Strategy Henry Nash, Managing Director Joel Seymour-Hyde, Group Director James Knott and Account Manager Katrina Smith.

Comment:

What a challenging brief this must have been!

How does a hotel brand you leverage a sponsorship of a property to which fans can’t travel to or attend in person?

“Launching a campaign for a hotel brand around the UEFA Champions League – at a time when fans can’t travel – yeah, that’s a hard brief” said, Josh Green, Executive Creative Director, Octagon.

“We’ve all missed sport, and while sport may be back, stadium attendance is not. At Hotels.com, we say ‘No stadium. No problem.’ You can’t be there, so you might as well substitute your sofa for somewhere better.”

This campaign offers a stark contrast (and a study in how the world has change since the pandemic hit) to the brand’s 2019, Eric Cantona fronted, host city guide-led campaign (see case study).

Links:

Hotels.com

https://uk.hotels.com/

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

https://www.facebook.com/Hotels.comEurope

https://www.instagram.com/hotelsdotcom/

https://twitter.com/hotelsdotcom

Octagon
https://www.octagon.com/

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/

https://twitter.com/championsleague

https://www.facebook.com/ChampionsLeague/