In March, Tennents Lager and agency Material beat off challenges from Jaguar and Paddy Power to win the 2011 Hollis Sponsorship Award for Best Use of PR in a Sponsorship. The campaign in question was Flash Football, a piece of PR activation designed to kickstart Tennents three-year sponsorship of Celtic and Rangers – aka the Old Firm. 

The relationship between the Old Firm clubs has been strained this season. But the campaign in question dates back to 2010, and, at the time, represented a neat way of alerting fans to the fact Tennents was the new sponsor. 

Clear point of difference 

The action took place in the centre of Glasgow, with Material asked by the client to create “a disruptive media launch, engaging Old Firm fans via mass awareness and talk-ability around Tennents new football sponsorship.” 

Its answer was Flash Football. “The core idea,” says Material, “was to establish a clear point of difference to previous football sponsors in Tennents marketing category, demonstrating an understanding of what it means to be a football fan in Scotland… This would be achieved via a spontaneous one-off 7-a-side Old Firm derby in Glasgow City centre involving ex-players of both clubs. By utilising the iconic space on offer in George Square, Glasgow at peak time we knew that we could generate a healthy crowd.” 

Creating intrigue 

Material decided not to pre-promote the event. Instead, it sent out a teasing media invitation and cordoned off an area in George Square on the day itself. In doing so, it created intrigue by communicating that something was about to take place, without giving the entire game away. 

In terms of objectives, mass awareness was obviously key. But so was ‘demonstrating an understanding of what it means to be a football fan” since this would help “drive brand consideration through relevance to consumers.” 

Cult heroes participate 

The execution of Tennents Flash Football was managed by an in-house team, together with an agency group consisting of Material and Whitespace. Material led the co-ordination of key authorities/companies to ensure all areas of health & safety and logistics were met. But perhaps the biggest challenge was getting cult heroes to participate. In this regard, Material had a lot of success, signing up Lorenzo Amoruso and Pierre van Hooijdonk as team captains. 

Given the campaign objectives, it was crucial for Material to whip up media interest. Its major coup was the presence of Sky Sports, which responded to the teaser invitation by sending a live satellite truck. However it also managed to secure exposure via a range of other media platforms. All told,  £1.9 million AVE (advertising value equivalent, source Metrica) was generated via more than 80 media articles/clips. There was also a big increase in traffic on tennents.com – with visits up 653% on the previous day. 

In summary, the Hollis Sponsorship Awards judges found it to be the most effective and well-executed campaign when measured against its stated pre-campaign objectives.