A big week for Liverpool FC in mid May saw the club launch its new kit and part company with club legend and two time manager Kenny Dalgleish.
The new strip launch marketed the club’s first venture following a £25-million-per-year kit deal with new partner Warrior. A sum which was a record amount when the deal was first announced last year.
The partnership marked Warrior’s first foray into the football world. Its previous powerbase has been in lacrosse and ice hockey.
Boston-based Warrior, which was founded by a former Lacrosse player, was acquired in 2004 by sports giant New Balance. It takes over the club’s shirt partnership from previous incumbent and European soccer powerhouse adidas. Adidas had held the contract since 2006.
With the new-to-football brand keen to impress, their first kit launch was more than just the usual blend of press release, media event and player pictures.
The new kit sponsor released its own pre-launch online teaser film showcasing its ‘expect us’ – as it solidifies its link with Liverpool. The creative is based on realy life footage in the city and around the stadium and feature’s guerrilla style messaging, graffiti and image projections of the players, the brand and the tagline onto neighbourhood walls and the side of the stadium.
The video work integrates with the umbrella Liverpool activation through the #LFCkit hashtag – aiming to drive social media conversation about the brand, club and the new kit.To date there have been tens of thousands of tweets using the hashtag which was trending worldwide on the day after the kit launch.
The pre-launch Warrior film has 80,000 views, while within 10 days of the launch the actual kit launch video has racked up more than 500,000 YouTube views. This main launch film was seeded across the web and social media. It follows the usual pattern of blending some behind the scenes shots of the new strip photo shoot, with a set of interviews and quotes from players as well as new kit imagery.
“When we sat down to work out our content plan around the ‘reveal’ of the new LFC kit, social media was at the forefront of our thinking. We know from past experience that kit reveals generate enormous excitement amongst fans and we wanted to reach out to and engage with as many supporters as possible when the clock struck midnight,’ sais Paul Rogers, Liverpool’s head of content.
‘With our last kit launch in the summer of 2011, we used our own official website, TV channel, Twitter and Facebook accounts to create a buzz but even in 12 months, things have moved on a lot. This time around, we were keen to maximise the reach of all of our social media channels including our new YouTube channel as well as Pinterest and Tumblr”’
Comment:
Liverpool FC is the world’s fourth best selling strip globally. The club reportedly shifts around 900,000 shirts annually. This is an impressive number beaten only by a handful of clubs including Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona.
As with almost all kit launches, the players make positive complimentary copies and the press release talks about how the new kit connects and builds upon the clubs heritage and history.
As for the shirt itself…
An eternal flame and the number 96 is embossed at the base of the neck on the back of the jersey by way of tribute to the 96 fans who lost their lives in the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989. Although the moving of the tribute from the front to th back of the shirt has created some negative responses, despite the club meeting with the Hillsborough Family Support Group
Overall, this latest Liverpool kit does have something of a late 70s, early 80s feel with an all red strip and the return of the gold liver bird trimming and collar.
The club and new partner Warrior will hope that it will help the club recapture its dominance off the English and European football landscape in the 70s and 80s.
Especially after such a disappointing season this year!
Links:
http://www.warriorfootball.com
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