A rebooted iteration of the ‘Every Game’s An Adventure’ campaign has been launched by The Football Association (The FA) ahead of the return of The Emirates FA Cup as the game’s governing body seeks to attract and engage a younger audience.
A key objective for this third instalment of ‘Every Game’s an Adventure’ is to ensure The Emirates FA Cup regains relevancy with millennials.
Led by a new spearhead spot launched across The FA’s digital and social channels – from YouTube,
to Twitter,
"In my world, every game's an adventure…" The #EmiratesFACup third round proper begins in just a few days…https://t.co/kmxGbNGcck
— The FA (@FA) January 4, 2016
the wider campaign will unfold across multiple platforms and assets will leverage tournament-relevant pillars from games to draws.
Developed in harness with London-based ad agency Matta and carrying hashtags such as #CupStory and #emiratesfacup, a core strand of the youth-focused campaign will feature a set of supporter self-shot videos starring a group of young football fans.
A new video will be released for each round of the competition from round three onwards and will be amplified by an influencer program across social media.
This season’s primary focus on re-engaging younger audiences aims to capitalise on recent data suggesting that younger fans’ perception of the tournament is changing.
Indeed, according to recent FA research 47% of 16 to 24-year-olds perceive The Emirates FA Cup matches to be more important than league matches – up from 30% back in 2014.
‘We wanted to bring it to life for this age group and continue to change perceptions, so it needed to focus on modernity and continue to regain its lustre,’ explains Matta executive creative director Matt Campbell.
‘The films takes the viewer on an adventure which is ‘self-shot’ primarily by the protagonists on their phones and Go-Pros,’ said Campbell, adding “Again we wanted to capture how the 16 to 24s see the world, through their phones, and through their social media.’
Matta has also created personalised assets for the clubs in the form of visuals showing the contents of a young fans bag.
‘Matta’s creative idea of flat-lay showcasing the contents of Emirates FA Cup-goer’s bags is completely on trend with what is happening on social media, especially in food and fashion on Instagram using overhead cameras,’ adds Lucy Roberts-Hartley, senior brand manager for the Emirates FA Cup.
‘In addition to creating bespoke assets we’ve also created live, in-game social templates which can be updated as the action unfolds.’
Comment:
After a tough few years when The FA Cup has dropped down English football’s pecking order and seen falling audiences and associated sponsorship challenges, The FA is hoping that its latest research and this subsequent campaign will resonate amongst younger demographics and help drive the tournament’s future.
We hope so too! After all, most of us at Activative were brought up on the romantic excitement of the road to Wembley rather than the turbo-charged Premier League.
The new campaign dovetails with the launch marketing around the second instalment of The FA’s eSports FA Cup tournament – also pitched as ‘Every Gamer’s Adventure’.
The promotional pieces for the eSport tournament focus on digital and social platforms,
and the campaign assets encourage players to ‘Sign up to represent your club at every gamer’s adventure’ by 10 March.
Gaming fans and players around the world are invited to compete for the eSport cup title at ‘Wembley Stadium connected by EE’.
This single-day e-sports tournament replicates the format of the real Emirates FA Cup.
One player is randomly selected to represent each club playing in this year’s third round and onwards.
Those 64 lucky gamers selected in the ballot will be notified by 24 March and will compete in nine hours of gaming at Wembley stadium on 6 May.
The rounds will take place in various iconic locations inside Wembley (from the Royal Box to the changing rooms and the players’ tunnel) – transforming the stadium into an eSport coliseum.
In addition to becoming the ‘Every Gamer’s Adventure’ champion, the final winner will scoop a VIP experience at The Emirates FA Cup Final in May.
Lucy Roberts-Hartley, the Emirates FA Cup senior brand manager said, ‘We’re incredibly excited to announce the return of Every Gamer’s Adventure to Wembley Stadium in 2017. Last year’s tournament was action-packed and saw the likes of Bury reach the quarter finals, showcasing – much like the real Emirates FA Cup – that truly anything can happen. We want to invite gamers from across the world to register for a chance to take part and descend on the home of football, raising the stakes even higher in 2017 to see if anyone else can cause an almighty Emirates FA Cup upset.’
Links:
The FA:
http://www.thefa.com/
http://www.twitter.com/fa
https://twitter.com/england
http://www.facebook.com/thefacup
https://www.facebook.com/EnglandTeam
http://www.facebook.com/englandwomen
http://www.facebook.com/fawsl
https://www.youtube.com/user/fatv
http://www.instagram.com/england
Matta:
http://www.makeitmatta.com/
Wembley Stadium:
http://www.wembleystadium.com
http://www.twitter.com/wembleystadium
http://www.facebook.com/wembleystadium
