On 11 September, to activate around the first group 2017/18 UEFA Champions League matches, long-time partner Heineken launched an integrated #ShareTheDrama campaign fronted by footballing legends Ronaldinho, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jerzy Dudek.
The tournament’s long-time beer sponsor leveraged the start of the group stages with a campaign spearheaded by a set of three new spots – The Wall, The Chase and The Last Duel – each connected by the dramatic theme and the #ShareTheDrama hashtag.
These blockbuster style spots, directed by Sonnt’s Fredrik Bond, place player ambassadors into cinematic, Hollywood-style dramas spanning three genres.
The campaign was initially teased on its social channels several hours ahead of kick-off on Instagram and Twitter,
Get ready for the greatest show on earth. The season premiere of #UCL is finally here. Gather your friends and prepare to #SHARETHEDRAMA pic.twitter.com/lRm0WNlpXj
— Heineken (@Heineken) September 12, 2017
before the roll out of the three hero spots.
Each of these 60-seconds spots ends with a copy line emphasing Heineken’s long term commitment to and partnership with the tournament – ‘Sharing The Drama Since 2005.
‘The Wall’ has a futuristic flavour, Asian flavour and features Champions League legend Ronaldinho pitched in an epic battle against a sci-fi defence.
‘The Chase’ is an urban contemporary creative commercial that sees former Manchester United and Real Madrid striker van Nistelrooy coming face to face with his old UEFA Champions League enemies.
While ‘The The Last Duel’ is a period promotional piece starring goalkeeping legend Jerzy Dudek staring down the barrel of a gun in historic pistols-at-dawn style Champions League shoot out;
This past, present and future creative approach is the first new activation from the beer brand as it continues its objective of bringing the thrill of the tournament to life through ‘a memorable call to share the experience with family, friends, and a Heineken’.
Comment:
The UEFA Champions League is, according the the right-holder, enjoyed by a staggering 4.2 billion people around the world, so it is little wonder that it forms a central pillar of Heineken’s sports sponsorship strategy.
The tournament plays a key role in supporting the brand’s global business growth objectives (alongside other flagship global partnerships such as with Formula One, Rugby World Cup and James Bond).
And the partnerships sits alongside other football tie-ups around the world including a 10-year, $50m Major League Soccer sponsorship in the USA (and nine individual MLS team tie-ups), as well as the International Champions Cup.
This fresh campaign for the new season seems to position Heineken as linking the Champions League’s past, present and future.
It follows on from the beer brand’s global ‘Champion the Match’ integrated campaign from previous seasons which ran in more than 100 markets and which last year including Jose Mourinho fronted activation strands (see case study 1 and case study 2).
In fact, in total, Heineken aims to bring its UEFA Champions League sponsorship to more than 220 countries via advertising, marketing and PR.
Heineken’s UEFA partnership dates as far back as 1994 and the name brand took over from sister beer Amstel in 2005 as the central Champions League official beer – making it one of UEFA’s longest standing partners.
Early in February 2017, Heineken and UEFA announced a further three-year partnership extension which sees the beer continue its official sponsor status at least until 2021.
The tie-up includes rights not just to the Champions League, but also to the UEFA Super Cup in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The renewal includes a rights package that spans LED pitch boarding exposure, the rights to exclusive UEFA Champions League content (including ‘Back Stadium Tour’ and the ‘UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour, presented by Heineken’).
Links:
Heineken
https://www.youtube.com/user/heineken
https://www.facebook.com/Heineken
https://www.instagram.com/Heineken/
UEFA
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/
https://www.facebook.com/uefacom
https://plus.google.com/+UEFAcom
https://www.youtube.com/user/UEFA
https://www.instagram.com/uefacom/
