Bookmaker Paddy Power leveraged the end of the English Premier League transfer window with a typically withering comic shopfront stunt mocking Manchester United’s lack of spending and failure to secure star signings.
Working with agency VCCP, the betting brand revealed a Manchester shop window display referencing the club’s chief executive and his inability to land his major player targets which came complete with failed transfer target mannequins and an old fashioned style store sign reading ‘Woodward’s: Window Shopping Connoisseurs’
Head down to Manchester for Woodward’s window shopping experience. #DeadlineDay pic.twitter.com/hX14h7pAIg
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) October 5, 2020
The shop invites customers to visit their sister store, ‘Ed’s Panic Buys’, for more last-minute purchases (with South American forwards currently stocked).
The marketing stunt, based on a shopfront in the city’s Clarence Street in Manchester city centre, was spread by the brand across its social channels and aims to highlight Woodward’s penchant for looking at expensive, elite purchases before ending up throwing money at ageing attackers and features lifesize models with their backs to the window wearing the football shirts with the names of players previously linked to the club yet who failed to sign (with tongue-in-cheek descriptions of why Utd failed to sign each target).
Beside Gareth Bale, who was repeatedly linked with a move to Old Trafford before eventually returning to Tottenham is copy which reads: ‘Approached. Rejected. Missed out. In that order’ (mimicking the player’s famous ‘Wales, Golf, Madrid’ sign.
Other players featuring in the shop window included Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland and Paulo Dybala.
Jadon Sancho: Shipping from Dortmund. Auction deadline passed. Please stop calling.
Erling Haaland: Stunning new Scandinavian design. Agent handling fees not included. Will only increase in value.
Paulo Dybala: Premium Argentinian design. Goes well with silverware. Could take years to import.
Jack Grealish: Made in Birmingham. Staying in Birmingham to protect reputation.
James Maddison: Cash buyers only. For further enquiries, contact Brendan in Leicester.
Thiago: Award-winning Spanish model. Sold to more attractive buyer. Third purchase opportunity unlikely.
Gareth Bale: Approached. Rejected. Missed out. In that order.
Comment:
Despite United penning deals with four new players on the last day of the transfer period, the PR-hungry gambling brand mocked the club for again missing out on its widely reported main target Jadon Sancho in a bid to generate national PR and social sharing.
Paddy Power has a long heritage of this kind of stunt: including previous initiatives mocking Manchester United such as its 2014 ‘Sir Alex Waxwork’ (see case study), as well as 2019’s ‘Tiger’s Hit The Road To Royal Portrush (see case study) and 2015’s much criticised Rolf Harris OOH stunt (see case study).
Links:
Paddy Power
https://www.youtube.com/user/PaddyPowerVideo
https://twitter.com/paddypower
https://www.facebook.com/paddypower
VCCP
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