When I was younger, back in the 1970’s, there were no real subscriptions. Getting your paper delivered daily was a kind of subscription, you paid for a week’s or month’s worth at a time.  You knew what you were getting and you could stop it at any time.

My magazine delivery of choice was Smash Hits. I loved it, looked forward to getting it, loved the in jokes and would take it to school to pore over the articles and of course… the posters.

But let’s fast forward to today: we are inundated with subscription services. A new entrepreneur comes up with a great new idea, others follow and it develops into a market of its own. Flowers, meals, beauty, booze – its endless. And of course, we cannot forget the largest subscription service of all: Netflix.

With all of them vying for our hard-earned money, what can these subscription services learn from publishing, which has long been thought of as a more traditional sector of media?

Where did the publishers’ digital subscription journeys start?

Compared to the heady days of the 1990’s, by the mid 2010’s more publishers found themselves in a quandary, losing money because of failing print circulations and declining advertising revenue.

In response to this, many publishers decided that their futures needed to be digital, without impacting the quality of journalism. Targets were set and over time the number of digital subscriptions increased. The problem became retaining subscribers. It’s rather like losing weight: getting to your goal is a long hard slog. It’s rewarding when you step on the scales and see the weight falling off. However, once you’ve reached your ideal weight, you’re then met with the challenge of keeping the excess weight off.

Using real-time audience insights fuel publishing content

The publishing industry, just like any brand should do really, is constantly asking itself: What is it that our customers actually want? Are we creating the right journalism for our customers?

To find this out, publishers are constantly gathering information about how every article published on their sites is performing and how subscribers and non-subscribers are engaging with them. As reported by Reuters, “Leading digital news organisations are developing distinct forms of editorial analytics tailored to help them pursue their particular goals… in informing both short-term day-to-day decisions and longer-term strategic development.” This shift in publishing behaviour has mean that, today, the decision on what content is published digitally no longer lies with a single editor. It is instead informed by the data, insight and engagement figures provided by readers. It is this that fuels publishers’ content.

What can other subscription services learn from this approach?

For consumers, subscriptions are brilliant… until you don’t need or want them anymore. That’s the core challenge every subscription service is ultimately up against.

I used to subscribe to a beauty company that sent me five items in a box every month. But the company never got to know me: what I liked, what I didn’t like. It didn’t ask. It continued sending me similar products that weren’t informed by any insights on my product preferences. So, when the price of the subscription went up, I realised that out of the five items, three of them went unused month after month. Then and there I decided to just stop. I didn’t need it anymore.

The two lessons I took from the publishing industry’s approach are simple, but effective. Subscriptions are about a need state, does your customer need and want your product? Get to know your customers and give them what they want. When you’ve mastered that, work to make your product the best there is.

If you don’t, there is a small window, 18 months tops, until they will simply cancel.

Marketing Insight – Crocs’ reputation had them shaking in their shoes

While Crocs first positioned itself in the market as a functional shoe used for various water activities, word soon spread about their practicality and comfortability. Crocs quickly became “the shoe” to wear when sprucing up the garden, pottering around the house and even for nurses and chefs who are on their feet all day.

It was clear Crocs had an outstanding product and if it could be marketed to a wider audience, this could really accelerate the growth of its sales. Crocs had one key challenge it had to overcome first: moving brand perception away from “fashion disaster”. 2008 was a difficult year, Crocs faced a total net income loss of 185 million dollars and to top it off, in 2010 the shoe brand was included in the list of 50 Worst Inventions in Times Magazine. Even in 2016, Google search rankings revealed “memes” was the third most common word linked to Crocs on the search platform. The brand knew it had to change direction and switch things up.

Media Innovation – The shoe is on the other foot

Collaborations and partnerships have played a key role in Crocs’ successful marketing strategy, with a wide range of high-profile celebrities, fashion designers and brands getting on board. Limited edition Crocs even saw the likes of KFC releasing the fried chicken Croc.

The brand’s strategic choice of celebrity collaborations has been the primary driver behind its success. Instead of opting for partnerships with celebs who are under the spotlight, the brand cleverly partnered up with legitimate fans of the brand. We saw this exemplified with the likes of Justin Bieber and Post Malone. These marketing campaigns blew up because fans of these celebs saw a genuine collaboration, rather than false advertising for commercial benefit.

Partnerships saw Crocs transform its brand perception from being a practical product to one that had entered the fashion arena. The most iconic partnership was in 2021 with Balenciaga and the $850 high heel Croc which sold out in a matter of hours. This unlikely relationship created so much buzz, leading to a ton of free PR that most brands would pay a great deal for. Love them or hate them, everyone was speaking about the Croc brand and as Demna Gvasalia, Balenciaga’s creative director, says: “fashion is subjective”.

Strategically choosing who to partner with was Crocs’ first step to collaboration success. Its second was tactfully limiting the availability of these high-profile collabs. Economics 101 states that by limiting supply you drive up demand and Crocs certainly capitalised on this theory. By deliberately constraining product supply, consumers are driven to buy these Crocs as quickly as possible before they sell out. The best example of this was with Bad Bunny’s Crocs, which sold out within 16 minutes and led to 1,300 fans signing a petition for Crocs to release more.

While Crocs saw huge success from these high-profile collaborations, it didn’t ignore the importance of smaller influencers too.  Crocs knew that by focusing on micro-influencers, it could appeal to a wider and more engaged audience. Whilst these influencers may have a smaller following, their followers are usually extremely loyal. The inclusion of influencers into Crocs’ marketing campaigns meant that social media played a critical role. Influencer’s weren’t the only people showcasing Crocs across social media platforms, the brand also encourages its customers to share their love for Crocs.  The “Come As You Are” campaign urged people to share what makes them unique with the hashtag #ComeAsYouAre. This user-generated content builds trust and acts as free advertising for the brand. To further broadcast the campaign, Crocs created a musical style ad with brand-ambassador Drew Barrymore singing the lyrics “get comfortable in your own shoes”.

Accelerating Growth – Hitting the ground running

Since 2017, when new CEO Andrew Rees joined the brand, the success of Crocs’ marketing efforts is undeniable with a long list of positive results and achievements. The brand went from the 50 Worst Inventions list in 2010 to Amazon’s number one best-selling product across clothing, shoes and jewellery in 2022. Two years after Rees joined, Crocs jumped from 30^th to 13^th most popular footwear brand amongst American teens.

Popularity surveys aside, Crocs’ figures speak for themselves. The brand saw huge success after being unprofitable for four out of eight of the years between 2009 and 2016. Not only did its revenue double between 2019 and 2021, but its net profit also increased five-fold. Many cynics suggested the cause of this success was purely due to fact that people were sourcing an “at home” pandemic shoe, and growth wasn’t sustainable. But Crocs proved this theory wrong when it saw year-on-year net revenue grow 54% in 2022 and a further 11% in 2023.

Having powered through the notion of being a “pandemic fad”, it is still up for debate whether Crocs will wind up just another dated fashion trend. However, the brand has proven the power of partnership marketing. It’s seen great success by widening its audience and aligning itself expertly with the right influences and brands. Whether you love them or hate them, what was once considered an ugly shoe is now a fashion statement.

What led you to a career in media?

Before media, I started my professional career working in a benefit office, earning a big whopping £8k. I decided to renew my typing skills in order to become a secretary, and off the back of this in 1987 I secured an interview at Saatchi & Saatchi for a PA role at Roy Jeans. Luckily, I was offered the role, and from this, I had my foot in the media door! So, there I was, working for the largest, most well-known agency in the world, absolutely shi**ing myself with zero confidence whatsoever. It was like an episode out of Mad Men: people shouting, hustle and bustle wherever you looked and a constant flow of champagne. If it taught me anything it taught me to have a can-do attitude. I would be asked to do almost anything; I was once tasked to get a horse into a board room for a pitch! In the days with zero internet, scrolling through the yellow pages was my go-to, followed by a trip to a stables near Hyde Park to vet (not literally) the horse…but I simply made it happen. That horse was in the bloody board room.

I also mastered the art of becoming tougher than I thought I was. I’m sure this came across in an “arsey” way, but it was sink or swim and I was determined to get swimming and never bloody stop. This attitude got me to where I am today. In 1988 Zenith was formed and from S&S I secured another PA role at Zenith. After settling in and finding my feet I quickly realised that I could easily turn my hand to media, so I opted to hound someone pretty senior (a director) in a slightly cocky manner, and it paid off! I found myself as the new media assistant and the rest is history!

I am now heading up investment at MI, responsible for helping clients with innovative and commercial solutions, all whilst navigating the media world and leading our investment teams.

What is it that you love about media and agency life?

Since the ‘get a horse into a board room’ days, I have worked in agencies ever since. 30 years may have gone by, but I have never stopped developing my love of media and the people within the industry. It’s an industry that is continuously evolving. New media developments and opportunities are cropping up left right and centre. It means that (almost) anything is possible and those brands and clients that dare to, have the option to be bold and brave and we as media professionals can show them the way. Agency life and the industry more generally is fast paced. This week in fact, I saw two media owners, one I had never even spoken to before, and there were so many points during the meeting that ignited new concepts that could be adopted in order to get our clients names out there. It’s important to be out and about meeting people, to keep ideas fresh and collaborate with others.

Whilst the industry does come with its ups and downs, I simply love it! The can-do attitudes, new ideas, the collaboration and of course the people make me have multiple ‘pinch me’ moments. I wouldn’t think twice about working anywhere else, media really has made me into the person I am today.

What advice would you give to someone looking to go into the world of media?

Firstly, remember that you are in the driving seat, and its YOU who is responsible for your journey and career. Don’t be blinkered and always show a level of tenaciousness. See the opportunities and grab them by the balls. Even if there isn’t a current opportunity but you have an idea of where you want your career to go or what you’re interested in, tell people what you want and whilst you may feel uncomfortable, you do occasionally have to push people.

Oh, and one final piece of advice is to find your own fame and fortune. You will work with great people throughout your career, so take the learnings, tips and advice from those you meet whilst crossing paths and in doing so, be brave, after all, fortune favours the brave!

What mistakes have you learnt from the most?

Apart from when I was a press buyer and I booked a campaign in twice and overspent by 200k, I don’t have many stand out mistakes, but a lot of life lessons I have gained over the years. Oh, and I rang the media owner as soon as I messed up with that campaign and guess what? It was all sorted. Those relationships are important, so invest your time into them!

But as I was saying, life lessons… I have in my career allowed myself to be the small person in the room and be bullied. I was at a place within my life and career where I was a scared deer in the headlights and it was a horrible situation which I had zero clue how to get out of. In any industry there will be great managers and also some awful ones, but no one preps you for the latter. Navigation would have been key in this situation, so I do regret learning my navigation skills just that little too late.

I do also question whether I am political enough. In larger agencies people who are more political played the game and in the long run did slightly better, but I do feel I am in a good place and my outlook on things has improved massively. Even looking back at my darkest moments, I still think of the industry as fondly.

Do you have a dream client or an ad campaign you particularly love?

Whilst I do not have a dream client, I think everyone in the world of media greets clients with open arms when they are not risk averse but instead enable agency professionals to shape & mould ideas to prove how bold and brave moves work.

As for ads I love, I was watching a Channel 5 documentary a couple months ago that showcased the top ad campaigns of 70’s and 80’s. It shed light on the creativity of the likes of Milk Tray, McDonalds and Nescafe and how their ads told a story.  In the Nescafe ad, the characters fell in love and got married. Milk Tray’s made the chocolate out to be secretive and daring and tapped in to how that makes people feel. The McDonald’s ad didn’t even state its name, just the use of very arched eyebrows meant consumers knew it was the golden arches!

Who is your role model and why?

My role models (plural!) are all the lovely women who I’ve met through the industry and solidified lasting friendships with. Whilst we have been there throughout each others’ career progression (one is now an MD), we have also been at each other’s side through the turbulences of life. Whether it be having children, redundancies or serious illnesses. Despite all this, we always manage to put the worlds to right and in doing so we are forever guffawing with laughter. It’s a group that is so tightly glued together and we all have the same outlook and drive in life, we push the boundaries and care deeply about other people along the way. Girl power!

Marketing Insight – Avon’s well-timed glow up in the saturated beauty industry

The beauty brand is currently ranked the fourth largest  beauty company in the world and has always prided its brand identity as “empowering women by providing them with earning opportunities, to be financially independent and to work from the comfort of their homes”. Despite the brand being so iconic and well-known, it is often categorised as “used by my mother” or people are aware of the brand but never consider purchasing the products. There is no doubt that the beauty industry is severely saturated and whilst Avon holds market shares and brand awareness,  it does come up against tough competition. To deal with this issue and feel more “modern and contemporary”,  Avon rebranded in 2023, focusing on “Embrace Your Power” and has implemented a multichannel digital strategy and reach wider and broader audiences, all whilst keeping its personalised face-to-face service to blend into its new yet classical image.

Media Innovation

Spreading the brand identity both virtually and physically

Avon like other big beauty brands opted to work with well-known influencers, such as beatboxer Hamza who highlighted how Avon’s products provide her with the confidence to perform. These advertisements spanned across advertisements on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with each channel providing its own unique reach and connection to various audiences. TikTok for young trendsetting, Instagram for owning the best pool of pulling beauty data and Facebook as a connection with its Avon representatives. Using a mixture of media channels can allow brands to gain further exposure, and in Avon’s case, they targeted each individual channel accurately.

Pushing further digital strategies

Whilst the various platforms enabled Avon to share its voice, it still needed to fill the gaps of capturing new audiences and user habits from each channel  in order to push its messaging that bit further. The use of influencers and direct message ads on Messenger and WhatsApp were integrated into the campaign. Building connection was key and the voices of key opinion leaders in the beauty category are an expansion of the brand’s image. Regarding Messenger and WhatsApp advertising, Avon created a digital shoppable brochure called “Avon On”, which digitalised the whole purchasing system. The clever movement here is, it still has Avon representatives to complete the buying, so a mixture of traditional and online purchasing come together to become more inviting for broader age groups. Broadening into online shopping channels such as Amazon has allowed for growth into subscription models, generating a new revenue stream.

 In-store experience expansion

Avon not only made movements online but also opened new stores for consumers to immerse in the in-store experience.  Shops opened across Europe, America and Africa, expanding the franchise in retail. Partnering up with retail giants such as Amazon and Superdrug further increased the brands awareness and taking the omnichannel strategy from brand into conversion.

Accelerating Growth – finding beauty in the process

One of Avon’s main goals of this transformation was to meet the customers’ needs.  Leveraging various channels allowed Avon to open opportunities for more A/B Testing and product recommendations, all whilst demonstrating how vital personalisation really is.  This spans across identifying audience behaviour, building cooperation between social platforms, unearthing the most profitable consumers and targeting them directly. The physical shops were able to open successfully due to these trials and data reporting. Avon has now launched stores across 26 different countries and is able to observe trends from representatives within 5-mile radius range of Superdrug. “Finding things, reviewing quickly, getting the data and then building a strategy around it is definitely a big part of how we want our operation to unfold.” – Alex Long, Avon’s chief commercial marketing officer. The strategy and technology they have used is not complicated but comprehensive. By opening into multi online channels, it’s still on its way to prove that they are not only classical, but also contemporary, good value and understand the audience it needs to resonate with today.

Richard Slater and Jamie Hewitt have been announced as joint managing directors at MI Media in a move to drive the business forward and further develop its offering across its three core pillars of Marketing Insight, Media Innovation and Management Intelligence.

Richard is taking on a client leadership role, supporting the client teams in developing strategies that deliver on clients’ short-and-long-term goals. Having previously worked at MediaCom, Richard joined MI Media as a Business Director and employee number four in 2011, before becoming managing director in in 2021.

Jamie is taking on a business & client strategy leadership role, responsible for ensuring that MI Media has the structure, training and resources in place to continue to accelerate growth for its clients, its business and its people. With over 25 years of industry experience, Jamie is celebrating ten years at MI Media having also joined the agency as a Business Director from MediaCom.

Richard and Jamie are supported by a senior leadership team with core responsibilities across client servicing, data & digital, investment, finance and new business & marketing.

Richard Slater, joint managing director, said, “Having worked with Jamie for so long, I know we have complementary skillsets. With this new setup, the agency gets the full benefit from what each of us has to offer. Jamie has been critical to advancing our agency offering, recognised most recently in the role he played in achieving IPA Effectiveness Accreditation and CPD Gold for MI Media. It’s great to be working in partnership with him and, alongside the other senior leaders at the agency, I believe we will work as an effective team to create an exciting future for MI Media and our clients.”

Jamie Hewitt, joint managing director, said, “It’s fantastic to join Richard in leading the business. In 10 years, I’ve had the fortune to help shape the business as it has grown. We will continue to grow through our learning and engagement with the industry while our teams deliver exciting client work. It’s a privilege to take the helm as we move into our next chapter.”

Working with effective partners

By building partnerships with experts in the field it enables us to offer smart solutions to our clients. We recently spoke to Multilocal Media regarding its products and specific capabilities around carbon solutions. 

According to Ad Net Zero, advertising generates double the carbon emissions of aviation. Current solutions often compromise performance because they come with incremental costs. Additionally, the ability to find audiences at scale and deliver campaigns is hindered by the application of blanket carbon thresholds. CarbonSmart is Multilocal’s innovative solution designed to reduce carbon emissions generated through programmatic advertising campaigns without sacrificing campaign metrics. 

Multilocal’s proprietary Active Curation process, CarbonSmart eliminates unnecessary bid requests, ensuring effective impression delivery and performance while significantly reducing carbon emissions. This high-performance, low-emission ad campaign solution is validated by Cedara, the leading carbon intelligence platform. 

By utilising win-rate match technology to eliminate redundant bid transactions within the PMP, Multilocal achieves an average of 80% reduction in carbon emissions per campaign, all while enhancing performance.

Audience Curation naturally reduces media wastage by targeting the right audiences in the right environments. This approach minimises the data processing needed to identify and reach the ideal audience, resulting in more efficient and effective campaigns. 

CarbonSmart enhances this efficiency by reducing unnecessary bid requests in each deal. Each bid request carries a carbon emission value due to the energy required for data processing. By eliminating redundant bid transactions, it significantly lowers the overall carbon footprint of advertising campaigns. 

As a result, CarbonSmart delivers impressions and performance while significantly reducing the carbon footprint, ensuring that campaigns are both effective and environmentally sustainable. This meets the increasing demand for responsible marketing practices. 

Benefits of working with partners

Carbon measurement in advertising is still in its infancy, with pioneers creating their own carbon measurement tools adopting varying methodologies with equally varied results. In response to the industry cry for a global standard, Ad Net Zero and Garm have release a new framework – setting the standard across the media world.  However, it’s still early days with the calculator currently only covering digital, OOH and TV – but is a step in the right direction.  

In order to accelerate progress, businesses need to share learnings and pool knowledge, yet fears of not having consistent measurement, making mistakes and being accused of greenwashing hold businesses back. That’s why focus on progress over perfection will drive the industry forward and make sustainable advertising not only more accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes, but will also lead to more effective campaigns. It’s encouraging to see stories in the trade media demonstrating this, with Ebay reporting their latest digital display campaign reduced carbon by the equivalent of 16,000 kms driven by a car: all whilst increasing VTR% and viewability. 

It’s important this isn’t done in silo and media businesses need to club together to share information, learnings and mistakes. There are mountains of reports, legislation and research coming out all the time so having a network of people across the industry interpreting the findings can only be a net positive.  

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Partnerships with companies like Multi-local will effectively enable clients to compare the performance of their Carbon Smart activity vs their BAU activity: ultimately helping them to drive better commercial performance and be more environmentally sustainable. 

 What led you to a career in media?

Before embarking on my media career at MI, I was working in retail at Majestic Wine. It was bittersweet to leave as I loved the company and everything that the brand stood for. Majestic really sparked my love for wine, and I really enjoyed getting into the nuances of it all but in the words of Dolly Parton, I was ready to be ‘working 9 to 5’, as unfortunately retail goes hand-in-hand with shift work. I was eager to move away from these working patterns and media had always been an interest of mine that I was keen to explore a career in.

What is your proudest moment at MI?

This would have to be when I completed my first ‘smash up’, which consist of presenting a client’s post campaign results and analysis to them. Our client Médecins San Frontières (MSF) host these in person (in front of 50 people might I add!!) and for someone who doesn’t enjoy being the centre of attention or particularly thrive off public speaking, this may seem like a recipe for disaster. However, after battling some nerves, I got through it. Now a small part of me can say that I did enjoy presenting to the room on the spring malnutrition campaign.

What advice would you give to someone looking to go into the world of media?

Simply go for it! It’s a highly entertaining industry from the actual day-to-day work to the people you work with, whether it be within your agency or the clients themselves. And of course, the social aspect is a lot of fun too.

I do think that before embarking on a career within the media landscape, get swotting and really research and scope out what area you would like to work in. It’s a hugely wide-ranging industry, so get to know it as best as you can. This can determine whether you want to focus on creative, planning, buying, the list goes on and on!

What mistakes have you learnt from the most?

Whilst it isn’t exactly a mistake, one lesson that I continue to remind myself of is that less is definitely more! I aim to apply this approach when creating and delivering presentations, whether it be client reviews or new business pitches. I am lucky to work with a great bunch, and we know our stuff, so it’s key that we trust ourselves.  We don’t need thousands of words and slide after slide to show that we are knowledgeable, we can let our mouths do the talking. Being at the heart of what we do for clients day-to-day, means we can, and we sure do, know how to talk about our areas of expertise and what’s happening in the industry.

Do you have a dream client?

**without an ounce of hesitation**

Well now you know my love for wine, I guess this won’t come as a surprise. My dream client is definitely The Uncommon. Its creative branding is excellent, its ESG approach is spot on and ITS WINE! For those that are unaware, The Uncommon is a UK canned winery, and  in fact it was the first UK winemaker to achieve this accreditation. The brand, which is hugely distinguishable, has over the years branched out across various Hub spots in both M&S and Waitrose. It is currently getting out and about with various pop ups and stocking in a few extra select supermarkets. Whilst it does a lot of social activity, I do think it’s the right kind of brand to excel at OOH. It would do well by simply advertising on 6 sheets, but where its branding would really shine would be through more experiential OOH. It could spice things up a bit and create an immersive wine sampling pop up with a blind tasting or something to win a coupon, who doesn’t love discounted wine?! This would really create a buzz around both the product and brand.

This month we reflect on June trends which looks at the shifts in the roles of marketing decision makers within brands and what that means for future strategy, how the retail sector is in its “in-store era” and the welcome changes introduced to improve collaborative measurement of carbon emissions in the industry. 

Repositioning of roles: CMO to CBO 

It was recently reported that Compare the Market has restructured its business by separating its customer data operations from brand marketing. The company has eliminated the role of chief marketing officer (CMO) and introduced the position of chief brand officer (CBO). The role will be accompanied by a newly appointed chief customer officer (CCO). The transformation of CMO roles into CBO roles reflects broader changes in how companies look to approach marketing, brand management and customer engagement in the future. This shift aligns with industry trends, where we have seen companies such as Starbucks, UPS, Lyft and Uber also redefine their marketing leadership structures to focus more on customer data and technology integration. 

For Compare the Market, its competitive advantage lies in its strong brand and extensive customer data. The new structure plays to this, allowing the CBO to focus on long-term brand value and the CCO to align customer and data strategies. I think we could all easily recall Compare the Market’s brand platform from its clever and memorable “compare the meerkat” adverts over the years. Its distinctive brand recognition demonstrates simplicity and the humour used makes light of a typically dry sector. This strategy has included collaborations with celebrities and major brands to keep the brand engaging and relevant. 

Given some of the big advertisers have already started to restructure marketing roles in this way, it’s likely the trend will continue. The shift from CMO to CBO roles reflects the evolving landscape of marketing, where long-term brand value, data specialisation, technological integration and a customer-centric approach are increasingly prioritised. By redefining these roles, companies aim to build stronger, more resilient brands that can adapt to changing market conditions and consumer behaviours. 

A big step in the right direction – common currency for measuring carbon in media

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. As an outcome of the 12-month GARM-led global engagement effort to build common measurement tools and processes, Ad Net Zero has now introduced a Global Media Sustainability Framework to standardise the measurement of carbon emissions across various media channels, including digital, TV and print. This recent news is very much welcomed by us as an agency. It’s a great step and one we’ve all been pushing for to improve consistency and collaboration between advertisers, media owners and agencies in the effort to reduce carbon on media plans.

Supported by major advertisers and media companies, the framework aims to provide consistent methods for tracking and reducing media-related greenhouse gas emissions.

The initial formula covers TV, digital and OOH media, with other media types to follow. This initiative encourages industry-wide adoption to help advertisers and their partners minimise their carbon footprint effectively. It’s what we love to see and hope to get on board within the future.

Marketing Insight: kicking off the partnership

As League Two football club, Stevenage’s, home fixtures saw on average 3,000 fans take to the stands, the club wanted to develop an idea that would not only generate additional revenue but also increase reputation for the lower league club.

The start of 2019/2020 football season saw the beginning of a two-year partnership between Stevenage and the fast-food giant Burger King. FIFA,  (now called EAFC) is also known for its realistic video game simulation with millions of people playing globally having the ability to choose their leagues and team. The shirt sponsors are visible throughout the video game and, with a main target audience of young males ages 12-30, this opportunity perfectly aligned with Burger King’s target audience.

Media Innovation: bringing the partnership to life and overcoming booing fans

The partnership was brought to life with the first campaign ‘The Stevenage Challenge’. Everyone loves a freebie, so for the campaign Burger King and Stevenage encouraged FIFA players to share footage of goals scored, repping the Stevenage home or away kits to win Burger King rewards. The two-week competition resulted in 25,000 goals hitting the back of the net being shared across social media!

Despite some initial backlash when the partnership was announced and home kits were revealed, Stevenage was the most frequently used team within the game for the campaign period. FIFA streamers and influencers also got involved on Twitch and YouTube, both playing as Stevenage in-game, but also wearing the home kit live on stream. Alongside this, high profile TV presenters such as Gary Lineker praised the campaign, leading to further exposure.

It’s believed that Burger King paid around £50,000 for the shirt sponsorship for the season, which is a fraction of the price you’d likely have to pay for a campaign that has reached so many individuals within their target audience on a global scale. Stevenage’s Chief Executive Alex Tunbridge told BBC News, “It’s PR that you couldn’t buy as a League Two Club, unless you reach the third or fourth round of the FA Cup.”

Accelerating Growth: building on campaign success to achieve brand goals

The campaign led to a huge increase in website impressions (1.2 billion) which generated value for both brands. Due to the success of the initial campaign, Burger King and Stevenage launched further campaigns, one being the Burger Queen with the Stevenage Women’s team to help promote and build awareness for the Women’s game.

The incredible success of the campaign was recognised in the industry, winning the Grand Prix in both the Direct and Social & Influencer categories at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

This campaign goes to show that for a low-level budget, you can really place your brand in front of the right eyes, whilst receiving huge engagement from your target audience. It shows the value a successful partnership can create for the partnered brands. For Stevenage, despite being a lower league club it was able to affordably increase shirt sales which generated revenue and exposure. And for Burger King, it delivered huge numbers of impressions for a fraction of the normal cost. Great success for all!