Three & Chelsea FC’s ‘Football Needs A Big Network’ Campaign Built On The Energy & Creativity Of Fans

The start of October saw mobile telecoms brand and Chelsea FC sponsor Three roll out a football-themed campaign called ‘Football Needs A Big Network’ across sports channels, digital, social and VOD.

The activation draws parallels between fandom and mobile networks through a series of ads aimed primarily at football supporters which draw synergies between reactions of fans during a live game to how people communicate using mobile phones and which aim to capture the essence of what it feels like to be a fan and a player.

Developed in harness with creative agency Wonderhood Studios and production company Outsider, the campaign debuted on UK sports broadcaster Sky Sports on 1 October.

Leveraging its Chelsea partnership, the creative content was sourced from footage shot by genuine fans blended by bespoke video filmed on mobile handsets. The fan created content was sourced through Seen.it (a platform enabling fans to film and submit their own content).

Three and Chelsea launched the project around the first game of the season with a fan-targeted call-for entry phase and received almost 300 submissions from Blues fans around the world. Those fans who visited this platform for Three’s project they were initially greeted by an exclusively filmed welcome video filmed by Chelsea and US men’s national team star Christian Pulisic.

The joint agency, brand and club marketing team then selected the best fan footage and mixed it with phone-shot footage of Chelsea players Mason Mount, Reece James and N’Golo Kanté to create a hero 30-second spot.

The spearhead spot states “From stadium selfies to post match celebrations, football needs a big network. Three proudly sponsor Chelsea” and seeks to drive viewers online to learn more about the telco/club tie-up at http://www.three.co.uk/chelseafc.

The lead ad is supported by additional content including cut down spots.

The campaign spans UK broadcasters (including Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports, BT Sports, ITV, Channel 4, Soccer Saturday) and primarily airs during international and Premier League fixtures through October and November. It also runs on digital, social and VOD (Video on Demand) platforms.

Comment:

This campaign follows on from Three’s June idents led campaign blending its Chelsea partnership with its sponsorship of the Channel 4 TV show Gogglebox, the club’s May ‘It’s A Chelsea Thing’ shirt launch campaign with Nike, as well as Three’s ‘WhatsApp Virtual Shirt Reveal’ in May 2020.