Everton Football Club teamed up with Angry Birds studio Rovio for a multi-year sleeve sponsorship that sees the Angry Birds logo appear on the shoulder of the team shirts and both parties push partnership content.
The English Premier League club (founded in 1878) and the Finnish mobile gaming giant debuted the sleeve partnership on the pitch on 17 September for the match against Manchester United and the club initially teased the new tie-up through its Facebook page ahead of the game.
The alliance was also activated via a short-animated film featuring cartoon gaming character ‘Red’.
The spot sees the Angry Birds star signing for the Blues at their USM Finch Farm training ground.
The supporting work, linked by the hashtag #RedisaBlue, is running across the football club and the gaming brand’s digital and social channels and on-site at the club’s Goodson Park ground: including Instagram,
Twitter,
#RedIsABlue pic.twitter.com/78qMhmRlIv
— Lewis (LAM) (@LewisEFC_1878) September 23, 2017
KICKOFF! Good luck @everton! #COYB #EFC #AngryBirds pic.twitter.com/AB2lptSbmV
— Angry Birds (@AngryBirds) September 23, 2017
It's gonna be a good day! #EFCmatchday #RedIsAblue #AngryBirds pic.twitter.com/uDVSrH8uMd
— Angry Birds (@AngryBirds) September 23, 2017
Want to meet Red? Head down to the Matchday Hub on Spellow Lane! #EFCmatchday #RedIsABlue https://t.co/iUlQAMwjc8
— Everton Fan Services (@efc_fanservices) September 23, 2017
and Facebook.
The objective behind the partnership is to harness the combined power of millions of fans from the two (sporting and gaming) communities, enhance both groups’ entertainment experiences and leverage the opportunities for collaborative crossover content within the Angry Birds games, across the digital and social space, and around the club’s stadium, as well as through additiuonl strands such as co-branded fan merchandise.
“Rovio Entertainment recognise the global reach that Everton can deliver through its international fanbase and the global exposure of the Premier League. In return, working with Rovio and the Angry Birds brand gives Everton exposure in key international markets through their breadth of digital channels in gaming and animation, as well as a wide range of co-branded merchandise,” said Everton commercial boss Alan McTavish.
“We look forward to working together to deliver some innovative and exciting worldwide activations in what I’m sure will be a long and successful partnership.”
Ville Heijari, chief marketing officer of games at Rovio Entertainment added: “We are excited to bring Angry Birds into the top flight of English football in partnership with Everton. In Everton, we have found a partner who shares our values of putting the fans first, and creating a long-lasting legacy for our community of players. This is Rovio’s first partnership in the most watched sports league in the world, and a logical continuation of our global Angry Birds brand partnerships.”
Comment:
The spearhead sponsorship spot is clearly a nod to the new season’s player signing commercial craze that swept Europe’s soccer league through the summer: spanning serious signing campaigns such as PSG’s ‘Welcome Neymar’ (see case study), and spoofs such as Southampton’s ‘It’s here – Are We Doing This Right?’,
Are we doing this right? #saintsfc pic.twitter.com/TaByabGqci
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) July 13, 2017
and Roma’s ‘It’s Here’.
The new 2017/18 Premiership season has seen several clubs make the most of the new league rules allowing sleeve sponsorships.
For example, another recent high profile global deal between a leading club and an international brands saw Everton’s city’s rivals Liverpool FC link up with Western Union and Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich partner with Qatar’s Hamad International Airport (HIA) (see case study).
The size of the two fan groups is potential impressive.
After all, the Premier League, the most watched sports league in the world, reaches more than 1.5 billion global viewers in more than 200 countries.
While Rovio has 80 million monthly active users and Angry Birds boasts an impressive 3.7 billion total downloads: making it one of the top mobile gaming titles ever.
This combined reach saw the central campaign commercial generate 62,000 Facebook views and 75,000 YouTube views (on the Angry Birds channels)
Angry Birds has been partnering on inventive sports sponsorships for several years now: one of its earliest initiative’s saw it team up with Fox’s Rio movie for the 2011 Super Bowl (see case study).
Links:
Everton FC
https://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialEverton
https://plus.google.com/+Everton/videos
https://www.facebook.com/Everton
https://instagram.com/officialeverton
Rovio Mobile / Angry Birds
https://www.youtube.com/user/RovioMobile
https://www.facebook.com/angrybirds
https://www.instagram.com/angrybirdsofficial/
https://twitter.com/angrybirds
