Visa has rolled out a dual-pronged welcome home campaign in tribute to the England team’s efforts at Russia 2018: it partnered with Transport for London (TFL) for a short stunt to rename Southgate tube station ‘Gareth Southgate’ for 48 hours and ran a tactical print ad in tributes to the team’s tournament performance.
The iconic London Underground sign, famous the world over, is linked to a Visa branded congratulatory welcome home placard message.
The North London tube station OOH stunt is primarily a PR and social image based tactic rather than one simply based around the eyeballs generated from the station’s naturally foot fall.
This both TfL and Visa are spreading news and images of the temporary rebrand across their digital and social channels.
TFL promoted the renaming tribute stunt on Twitter,
Next stop – Gareth Southgate! To celebrate the achievements of the @england men's football team this summer, TfL & @VisaUK have temporarily renamed Southgate station on the @piccadillyline. Why not come down and post a #SouthgateSelfie pic.twitter.com/n8tR70qitd
— Transport for London (@TfL) July 16, 2018
Instagram,
and with a video on its Facebook page.
The stunt was supported by a tactical press ad whihc came in the form of a printed Visa receipt for the 2018 Russia World Cup.
The copy included a reference to your server ‘Gareth’ and the list of items:
Lions 3
Games 7
Players 23
Staff 40
Waistcoats 1
Hearts Captured 55m
TOTAL 2018
Thank You
Comment:
A fairly timely name-based pun OOH stunt.
Albeit a short one.
But even a few days might be worth it for a brand like Visa.
After all, TFL’s real estate – especially the tube map itself – is closely guarded and ring-fenced from brands.
Indeed, it wasn’t until 2012 when Emirates became the title sponsor of the under-used cable car across the river – the Emirates Air Line – that a brand negotiated its way onto the iconic London Underground map (see case study).
The Visa UK local work builds on its international official World Cup partner activation fronted by former Sweden captain and LA galaxy striker Zlatan Ibrahimović (see case study).
Technically this is a transport ambush, but The Football Association don’t currently have a financial sponsor.
While its lead partner Vauxhall is in the final period of its partnership and the team also boasts brands such as Nike, Carlsberg, EE, M&S, LG, Big Cola, Panani, Mars and Lidl amongst its sponsor stable – there is a space for a finance tie-up.
Could this possibly be a sign of things to come?
The thing about low latency, responsive tactical stunts and press/social ads is that it is vital to leverage the passion of the moment.
We wonder whether this twin Visa approach quite managed it: perhaps it was a couple of days too late to really leverage the national mood?
The British Airways’ “Coming Home” boarding pass rolled out while England were still firing and the nation was at the peak of its football passion, but Visa’s focus on the team actually coming home seemed to just miss peak passion by a day or two.
Links:
Visa
https://www.youtube.com/user/visabrand
https://www.instagram.com/visa_us/?hl=en
TFL
https://www.facebook.com/transportforlondon
https://www.instagram.com/transportforlondon/
