Football followers unable to attend games in person this season can replicate the sights, sounds and smells of the stadium sports experience via a collaboration between NFL wine partner Babe Wine and Ryan Porter’s Candier which has led to a limited-edition candle range with an odour echoing iconic football scents.
The AB InBev brand partnered with the female-focused accessory maker to re-create the feeling of attending in-person sporting events now that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted in-person attendance.
The three stadium-scented candles, on sale online at drinkbabe.net for $29 each or a three-pack for $69, include the freshly cut grass scented ‘Hashtag Field Goals’, the stadium food odour of ‘$18 Nachos’ and (yes, really) ‘Jockstrap’.
Babe is marketing the new football collaboration candles with social ads featuring phrases such as ‘Smells Like Team Spirit’ and a win a Watch Party contest.
It has also formed a partnership with sportscaster Erin Andrews (who has her own personal line of sports apparel) and who appears in an Instagram ad sampling the candles in a living room.
‘Babe Wine is about ingesting what you need, if you need,’ said Babe GM Chelsea Phillips at the press launch.
‘As soccer season kicks off without fans in the stands, we noticed a chance to reinforce the at-home recreation day expertise via some fairly distinctive scents that’ll make you’re feeling like you’re actually there.’
Comment:
This is not an April Fool in September, but rather as ‘so bizarre/bad it has to get noticed’ marketing initiative.
The NFL has kicked off, so, obviously it’s time to stock up on expensive canned wine and (foul sounding) football themed smelling candles.
The candle collaboration is a tactical response to the sport’s evolving pandemic reality and this year Babe sports work originally included major signage at NFL (and MLB) venues across the USA.
With the coronavirus pandemic keeping sports fans out of stadiums across the world and sports sponsor brands from Pepsi and Lowe’s (with the NFL) to Coca-Cola (with the Premier League) have rolled out activations which seek to replicate sporting events for remote viewers.
And Babe Wine, whose customer base is focused on millennial women, is no different.
It was back in late October 2019 that babe, a sparkling wine-in-a-can brand (the most photographed wine on Instagram) became the official wine sponsor of the NFL with availability in 12 NFL stadiums across the country and team-specific partnerships with the Miami Dolphins, the Washington Football Team, Denver Broncos and other NFL clubs.
“Wine hasn’t typically been a top pick when it comes to sporting events in-stadium or at home, but Babe is changing all that by bringing a fun, easy, and portable option to game day,” says David Oliver Cohen, co-founder of Babe.
“Building on Anheuser-Busch’s long-standing relationship with the NFL, we have seized a unique opportunity for BABE to become the football wine the world has been waiting for.”
Babe, whose line-up of sparkling-in-a-can wines include Rosé, Pinot Grigio, and Red, has leveraged other partnership in 2020 such as one with the women-first dating app Bumble on social media campaign that covered the moving costs of people stuck living with an ex during the coronavirus pandemic.
Links:
Babe Wine
https://www.instagram.com/drinkbabe/
https://www.facebook.com/DRINKBABE/
NFL
http://www.nflshop.com/source/bm-nflc…
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