On 1 April Major League Soccer (MLS) began to build buzz and excitement ahead of its new season, which will kick-off on 16 April, with a fresh iteration of its ongoing ‘Our Soccer’ campaign and the launch of a new website for desktop and mobile.
The hero spot, called ‘Our Soccer: Ready for It’ focuses on the league’s culture of inclusivity and diversity, its exhilarating moments and superstar players, as well as contemporary fandom.
The spot includes the copy line: “Support Never Sleeps The Wait Is Over MLS Is Back Ready For It.”
Versions of the hero ad roll out across the league’s digital and social channels in English, French Canadian and Spanish and they are also running on MLS partner networks including ESPN, Fox Sports, TSN, TVA Sports and Univision.
The campaign was created and produced by The Fader and Cornerstone.
The campaign also aimed to drive viewers to the league’s revamped MLSsoccer.com website: the first manifestation of the league’s new tie-up with technology partner Deltatre.
The site’s new features range from a shape-shifting homepage and a flexible content platform, to an enhanced gameday experience, MLS Match Center, as well as new visualisations and comprehensive data.
Fans will also continue to have a chance to showcase their knowledge of MLS and to compete for weekly prizes through the MLS ‘Predict 6’ weekly, free-to-play prediction game on both MLSsoccer.com and the League’s app.
Programming on the fresh site include ‘Extratime’ and ‘The Call Up’ (the latter led solely by women), with former players such as Calen Carr, Charlie Davies, Michael Lahoud and Steve Zakuani joining existing talent including Susannah Collins, Matt Doyle, David Gass, Jillian Sakovits and Andrew Wiebe.
“Designed with our young, digital-savvy fans in mind, the progressive MLSsoccer.com features a fresh clean style that enhances the fan experience—especially since 70% of the traffic to the league website comes from mobile devices,” commented MLS SVP of Media Chris Schlosser. “The increased roster of talent on the website and MLS platforms represents diverse and distinct voices, as well as the most former players in its history. Our new website, spot and slate of talent signal the tremendous optimism for the sport as players get back on the pitch and as we kick of the league’s 26th season.”
In parallel the league also runs the MLS Media’s Spanish-language content division – called MLS Español – which delivers a content experience in-culture and in-language to the diverse Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States and Latin America via wen and the @MLSes social media platforms with flagship content series such as ‘Minuto MLS’, ‘Perfiles’, as well as fan-focused series like ‘Tribuna’ and ‘Culturas’.
Comment:
The aim here is not only to generate optimism and energy heading into the new season, but also to champion North America’s distinct and inclusive soccer culture.
The league’s 360-degree ‘Our Soccer’ brand campaign originally debuted back in 2018 when it was introduced by Atlanta-based rapper and Atlanta United fan 2 Chainz and singer, songwriter, producer and LA Galaxy fan Miguel, continued in 2019 with work fronted by multiplatinum Latin music star Prince Royce and then the league’s 25th season spot in 2020 featured Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, co-owner of Austin FC telling MLS’ story in ‘25 Years In 25 Seconds’.
MLS | Our Soccer | 25 Years in 25 Seconds from Bright Black on Vimeo.
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