Through the 2018/19 and 2019/20 season Deliveroo teamed up with Leeds United FC in a partnership which saw Deliveroo enhance the at-stadium and at-home match day catering experience for fans, increase the volume of Deliveroo restaurant partnerships within the greater Leeds area and drive mass market brand awareness amongst football fans through brand promotions and offers via the club’s on-site and digital channels.
Territory: UK
Agency: In-House
Objectives
Ahead of the start of the 2018/19 season, Deliveroo became the Official Delivery Partner of Leeds United FC – the first time Deliveroo had worked with a sports club in Europe – which included sponsoring the club’s official app and the live streamed matches shown on LUTV.
The strategy behind the deal was based around Leeds being identified by the brand as an important city for the organisation’s growth and usage outside London and thus the primary objective was to use the tie-up to boost Deliveroo’s profile in the region.
According to Justin Landsberger, Commercial Director at Deliveroo, Yorkshire is an area that Deliveroo is rapidly growing in and the aim behind working with Leeds United was to find new fun and innovative ways to engage with the clubs strong fan base to grow the brand within Yorkshire and to engage football fans across the UK.
The partnership launched ahead of the start of the 2018-19 season and spanned at-stadium delivery, ground branding and both physical and digital rights to promote to the club’s fanbase.
Following a first year review, the partnership was extended through the 2019/20 season was upweighted to include an enhanced stadium presence and first team player and coaching staff training kit sleeve logo rights and additional digital assets as the club’s official training wear partner. Plus, the brand’s logo also featured on the match kits for the club’s pre-season tour to Australia: featuring on both sleeves of the player shirts during the fixtures against Manchester United and Western Sydney Wanderers.
The activation through the two-year partnership spanned multiple channels and a range of initiatives, promotions and activations.
Activation
The multi-channel, two-season activation programme spanned delivery, in-stadium and on-TV branding and direct-to-fan digital promotions.
Hospitality Delivery
After meeting with the club’s in-house catering team and carrying out fan research, Deliveroo developed a match day solution to provide fans/customers in corporate lounges with the opportunity to use their mobiles to select and pay for their match day meals from their favourite restaurants within 30 mins.
In the club’s corporate lounges, fans were encouraged to use the Deliveroo app to order a variety of their favourite meals from local Leeds restaurants: with food delivered by Deliveroo riders allocated a designated route and drop off point by the club on match days.
Supporters in the Elland Road stadium’s Bremner Suite were also able to benefit Deliveroo’s ‘Food Freedom’ programme which enabled them to order their favourite local takeaway food which was delivered within 30 minutes so it could be consumed within the comfort of the suite ahead of every game and, each fan who purchased a match ticket in the Bremner Suite also automatically receives a £20 credit into their Deliveroo account.
Brand Awareness
Deliveroo built its local and global brand awareness through logo and messaging on the pitch-side LED system, via the club’s media backdrops and in the second year of the tie-up on the sleeve of the LUFC Training Kit.
Direct & Digital Promotions
The food delivery company also leveraged its online rights to promote its brand and specific offerings directly to the fanbase across LUTV, the LUFC app and via its website and social media platforms through a series of fan incentives and promotions.
This activation kicked off on 3 July 2019 with a ‘Welcome Deliveroo’ video promoting the new partnership which ran across the club’s social channels.
Welcome @Deliveroo ️ pic.twitter.com/aixsg5vVWW
— Leeds United (@LUFC) July 3, 2019
The online activation also supported the brand’s pivot from physical initiatives to digital ones during the 2020 pandemic-driven lockdown including virtual player meets-and greets, community cause initiatives and fan reward competitions.
https://www.facebook.com/LeedsUnited/videos/554006165515958
One example of this from June 2020 was a Leeds fan contest which sought to drive orders during the first two weeks of May 2020 by incentivising fans to order via the Deliveroo website or app (with a qualifying order and using the promotion code LEEDSUNITED) in order to be entered into a draw to win signed shirts.
Leeds United legend and Deliveroo ambassador Jermaine Beckford then surprised the winning fans outside their homes with prizes. The four lucky winners were contacted by email to say a Deliveroo rider would bring them their prize. But the surprise was that the rider in question was former club forward Beckford.
Outcome
The initial ‘Welcome Deliveroo’ social spot announcing the partnership generated more than half a million views on the club’s own channels since it was posted on 3 July 2019: including 336,000 Twitter views (with 1,384 Retweets and 5,963 Likes) and 132,000 Facebook views (with 2,000 Likes).
While the Beckford fronted fan surprises social spot generated 6,000 YouTube views (with 2000 shares) and more than 500 Facebook Likes since it was posted on 19 June 2020 on the club’s channels.
In terms of the reach of Deliveroo’s Elland Road pitch-side branding both in-stadium and on-TV, the in-stadium reach during the two year tie-up exceeded 1.5m fans (including 914,000 in the 2018/19 season and 600,000 before the pandemic effected 2019/20 season’s March shutdown), while Leeds games shown on television during the 2019/20 season alone averaged a total TV audience of 423,299 per match meaning a total audience of around 16m over the season.
Plus, by the end of the second season, the Deliveroo logo had also been printed on 28,000 training wear garments worn by players and purchased by Leeds United fans.
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