Sports media publisher The Athletic is offering advice, hope and solace to UK football fans in the form of a 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup engagement initiative titled the ‘Emergency Football Hotline.
Devised in tandem with creative agency Harbour, the US/UK focused subscription-based sports website, offers soccer supporters an outlets for their tournament-linked anguish, celebrations and questions.
The hotline, driving fan awareness and engagement around Qatar 2022, is hubbed around a bespoke microsite and a central telephone number 0800 0 433 433 which provide statistics, news and updates throughout the tournament.
The phone service is staffed by real human football experts: the call handler team consists mostly of The Athletic journalists.
It was promoted through a digital-first campaign led by hero video first posted in mid-November a few days ahead of the start of the tournament
The film showcases sample soccer conversations between readers and the brand featuring statistics, analysis and words of comfort, hope and commiseration.
The lead sample spot was supported by additional content including stickers and OOH elements and a spot starring Argentinian player and manager Mauricio Pochettino who gamely phones it in.
“By sharing The Athletic’s unrivaled football insights and knowledge with the general public, we’ll get more people to love the game as much as they do,” explained Harbour Creative Director Thibault Michal. “We know how much football matters during tournaments. How many arguments you can have with your mates. How many TVs have been broken or thrown out of windows.”
“To avoid the feuds and help as many people as we can to enjoy the games, the idea to create a free hotline that anyone can call in case of an urgent football question imposed itself,” Michal continued. “Anyone can call in and ask a football-related question, it doesn’t matter if this is a niche question about a specific player or just a fun fact to impress a mate.”
The initiative was briefed in by a client group at The Athletic that included International Marketing Director Sinead Bunting, Editor-in-Chief Alex Kay-Jelski, General Manager UK & International Aki Mandhar and Marketing Manager James Wettern.
It was conceived and developed by a team at creative agency Harbour which was led by Creative Directors Yann-Gael Cobigo and Thibault Michal, Producer Katie Bayley, Creative Partner Mick Mahoney, Strategy Partner Kevin Chesters, Business Director Anna Bee, Account Manager Emma Bannon and Illustrator Studio Jimbo.
The PR agency was PrettyGreen with Associate Directors Lucy Mart and Sam Hooper-Gill, Account Director Tania Burnham, Account Manager Rob Jones and Senior Account Executive Tanz Jeyacheya.
The influencer agency What They Said where the team was led by Client Services Director Joe Stratton and Campaign Executive Kit Wilson.
Comment
No algorithms, bots or scripted messages – so we respect that.
But please do mind your manners and stay focused on the soccer and not on the kind of spiteful, offensive abuse seen so much on social media.
Remember the bot strand debacle of the 2019 Adidas/Arsenal #ThisIsHome shirt launch?
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