NBC / ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

We’ve been working with NBC since 2012 launching their new sports programming across North America, within their global guidelines.

When NBC won the rights to televise the English Premier League (EPL) we were tasked with moving an entire nation of fans hooked on American football to soccer. Our work had to hold its own in both the States and Europe. We needed a big channel neutral brand platform and story that would create a cultural conversation around the sport that fans would enjoy, share and start engaging with.

We developed an integrated bullet proof strategy (including everything from a host of TVCs, to social content and digital), and phased the campaign in three tiers, the first to ensure an initial audience by moving existing fans who watched soccer already on FOX, the second engaging fans we knew had an interest in soccer with a team picking social activation so they had some ‘skin in the game’ and a reason to follow matches.

And finally, converting die-hard sports fans by creating the most audacious, widely talked about new soccer coach the sport had ever seen. We needed someone to speak in terms NFL fans would understand. After all, “it’s football... just not as you know it.” In true blockbuster fashion, we enlisted the help of Saturday Night Live golden child Jason Sudeikis to play a clueless American coach. Using our Ignition outreach, prior to paid media we achieved over 1million+ global views in 3 days and the fans were talking about Coach Lasso and the “Tottenham Hotspurs” across America and Europe.

In total, we delivered: a prominent subway takeover, branding of a squad of New York taxis, 2 billboards in Times Square, numerous print and outdoor, 3 seasons of digital banners and website takeovers, a socially integrated digital application, 2 radio spots and 36 film assets, which ran both online and in broadcast in various time lengths.

All of this resulted in up to the largest Premier League opening weekend audience in U.S. history.

CHANNELS

Social, Content, TV, Advertising, Experiential, Digital

RESULTS

— 10m+ fans tuned into NBC’s Premier League coverage

— 91% increased in NBCSN viewership

— 9m+ views of the Sudeikis piece alone

— 1bn media impressions

— 8,486% increase in Facebook fans