November saw Microsoft Xbox pen a new partnwership to become the shirt sponsor of YouTuber football team XO FC ahead of the EE Wembley Cup.
The partnership, which sees Xbox continue to diversify its sports sponsorship stable, will stretch beyond simply seeing the gaming console brand’s logo badged onto the team’s shirts.
Indeed, much of the activation focus will see Xbox engage influencers to connect to fans through the XO FC team (which comprises YouTube pros and pitch amateurs such as True Geordie, WillNE, Stephen Tries and Laurence McKenna).
In terms of creativity and content, the partnership sees Xbox integrated into a fresh, four-part series on XO’s YouTube channel – as the team’s first official sponsor.
The aim is to build buzz across its 550,000 subscriber base in the lead up to the 25 November tournament.
Xbox-sponsored content on the channel is focused on team preparation with products owven into the creative ‘seamlessly’.
For example, in the opening video in the series True Geordie discusses the tournament whilst playing the Xbox.
The deal, which does include logos on the team’s training kit, is being promoted by a campaign launched ahead of the start of the new Wembley Cup tournament and which runs across XO’s digital and social channels,
The #XOFC 2018 training kit is available now
Brought to you by @kitlocker and sponsored by @xboxuk.
Get yours now https://t.co/AtsQ334E4y pic.twitter.com/pCXjHlIvof
— XO (@XOonTW) November 14, 2018
and which includes a new season ‘Introducing XO FC’ hype video at its centre.
and a video aiming to showcase why the team will win this year’s EE Wembley Cup.
The Microsoft gaming brand, which believes in the value of big ticket sports partnerships (as illustrated by its deals with La Liga and Real Madrid), is increasing focusing on working with digital and social influencers to connect with football fans.
“We do this kind of things because we think it’s a really nice way for us to show up without taking over the content. It’s more about connecting with the audience than it is about being an over the top advertising piece,” Xbox’s head of consumer media Ryan Miles.
“These kind of events have become so big, the Wembley Cup in particular has been hugely successful and content creators like XO have these hugely passionate followings that connect with them not just around the event, but all year round.”
The deal builds on the launch of the Xbox One X and Xbox One S consoles in 2017 and sees the brand aim to maintain hype and excitement with the series by tapping into EE’s wider audience of 16 to 24-year-olds.
Xbox’s social and creative teams got together with the influencers to talk about ways to integrate products, but gave them as much freedom as possible.
“We’re excited about this sponsorship as it aligns the brand with the key passion point of football in an original way,” said Xbox’s Miles.
“The creators, those guys know what works for the audience, at the same time you have to find the most organic and relevant way for the brand to be part of that. If it’s not a perfect fit it’s better not to do and go down a more traditional avenue.”
In terms of measurement and success metrics, Miles says there’s no single, silver bullet, but that getting eyeballs on the content, brand affinity and relevance are all important.
But it isn’t about winning the tournament per se.
“I don’t think we ever looked too closely at whether they are to win or not in terms of the competition itself,” says Miles.
“It’s more about the fact that everyone can have a go and we loved the idea that you don’t need to be a professional, it’s not about being an elite athlete but getting in there and having some fun and enjoying the contest.”
As for the XO channel itself, it was founded earlier in 2018 by football social media marketing network Ball Street (one of a set of platforms rivalling Copa90 and tapping into the very growing popularity of fan-run and fan-created football (often as an alternative to traditional sports media).
XO, led by ex-Talk Sport exec Matt Wilson, brought together YouTube stars such as True Geordie (1.4m subscribers), WillNE (1.7m subscribers) and Stephen Tries (625k subscribers) with the aim of producing original football content exploring football culture via original documentaries, podcasts, vlogs and interviews with a focus on authenticity and honesty.
Thus far its young, mostly male audience has attracted brand partners such as Nike, EA Sports and Beats.
Comment:
We’ve had YouTube TV (think Los Angeles Galaxy),
and YouTube stars (think Neto and Botafogo),
put their names on their favourite team’s shirts, so why not gamers and Xbox?
EE’s 2018 iteration of the Wembley Cup tournament includes a series of tweaks and changes ranging from a new draft process to the appearance of football legends alongside gamers (see case study).
This is the fourth year of the EE Cup which, this year, sees international football stars take on YouTubers.
It is broadcast on EE’s own channels and on YouTube via one of the influencers’ accounts (this year it’s the turn of Spencer FC), while fans can also purchase tickets to watch it live in person.
Last year’s tournament saw two million tune in online, while 35,000 watched from the stands at Wembley Stadium.
The teams are Hashtag United (skippered by Spencer Owen of Spencer FC fame), returning side F2 FC; newcomers Rebel FC and the underdog XO FC.
The usual 11-a-side rules apply, with some twists: with four teams playing three 30-minute matches for the cup.
The squads consist largely of top-level creators who have a reach 36 million fans between them on YouTube.
Links:
Microsoft Xbox
https://www.facebook.com/xboxuk/
https://www.instagram.com/xboxuk
https://www.youtube.com/user/xbox/hub
XO
https://www.youtube.com/user/TrueGeordieGaming
https://www.instagram.com/xooninsta/
https://www.youtube.com/user/football…
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaFU…
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRmm…
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