Early July saw Asahi Super Dry, Japan’s bets selling beer, upgrade its Manchester City FC sponsorship to become the treble-winning club’s Official Training Kit partner and marked the tie-up through an AR campaign called ‘Beyond Expected Training’.
The aim of Asahi Super Dry’s marketers was to show that its extended sponsorship is more than just ‘a brand badging exercise’ and the campaign aims to drive home a message about the importance of training and how commitment to training is what enables people to achieve their full potential. By using AR technology, developed with Glance, the campaign’s objective is to bring to life the shared innovative mindset of both Asahi Super Dry and Manchester City.
Supporting the partnership launch, the beer brand and club teamed up with full-service creative agency Trouble Maker for a social-first ‘Beyond Expected Training’ fronted by City stars Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Rúben Dias, Demi Stokes, Yui Hasegawa and Bunny Shaw which uses an AR filter to add a new dimension to players’ training kit.
Rolling out today from 4 July, the campaign ran across Asahi Super Dry’s and Manchester City’s social channels and featuring on social media accounts belonging to a team of key influencers and opinion leaders – including Lia Lewis and Ben Black.
The creative was primarily shot in a ‘behind-the-scenes’ directorial style and sees players themselves ‘activate their new AR-enabled kit’. The video content features the soccer stars at the club’s Etihad Campus Training Centre and development centre giving interviews and training: as they pass a phone between them, each one looks into the camera and enables their kit through AR – causing their jersey to flash an iridescent blue with Asahi Super Dry branding in the centre.
The campaign’s influencer strand, which focuses specifically on the training kit itself, saw the ‘opinion leaders’ sent a ‘premium gift box’ with a QR code which, when scanned opens a personal message from the Man City team inviting them to activate their kit. As well as the jersey, the box also included a set of Asahi products and a series of Asahi Super Dry branded beer mats – featuring highlights from the club’s history.
“Asahi Super Dry is delighted to be expanding our partnership with Manchester City, by becoming the Club’s Official Training Kit Partner with ASD 0,0%, building on the successes we have seen together both on and off the pitch,” outlined Asahi Europe and International Global Marketing Manager (Partnerships) Ross McIntyre. “This innovative spirit sits at the heart of our brewing process and at the heart of our partnership with Manchester City. As the Official Partner of the training kit, we wanted to be more than a badge; we wanted the training kit to be the epitome of that shared innovation. That’s why we’ve given the kit a new dimension for the players through a bespoke AR filter. This should serve as a catalyst to anyone that wears it, you can always go beyond what’s expected.”
Trouble Maker Chief Strategy Officer Jonathan Fraser added: “Working with Asahi Super Dry on this campaign for global icons Man City was a fantastic opportunity. We made sure to capture the pioneering spirit that sits at the heart of both Asahi Super Dry and Man City. All the creativity, innovation and progress is made during training and it was about time the light shone on the kit where the true magic happens. With the new dimension of the AR filter, we’ve brought to the kit to life making it a symbol of innovation and a reminder to anyone that wears it that you can always go beyond what’s expected.”
The campaign was conceived and created by a team at agency Trouble Maker which included Creative Director Hayden Peek, Head Of Strategy Jonathan Fraser, Account Director Anna Bowers, Planner Matt Box, Art Director Troels Popp and Agency Producer Bob Loyal.
Comment
This latest Asahi City activation followed on from recent work from last season including activations leveraging the partnership by celebrating the team’s treble winning season.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.