Activations

BT abruptly pivoted its activations to digital after the pandemic struck just a month after it launched a new, five-year ‘4-3-3’ Home Nations soccer sponsorship strategy in February 2020.

In April 2020, eleven Spanish football clubs joined sponsor CaixaBank’s cause campaign, supporting food banks to meet the rising need during the Covid-19 lockdown crisis.

In summer 2016, for Under Armour’s first St. Pauli kit, supplier and club worked with agency Nordpol on a campaign that spanned social, PR and at-stadium strands and was led by an online film focused on a redesigned players tunnel.

Chinese smartphone brand Oppo’s campaign around the 2020 French Open spanned online and on-site initiatives to promote the 5G Find X2 Pro handset, primarily targeting young adults.

Suzuki’s 2018-19 activation of its Torino shirt front deal was inspired by the increasing popularity of dating apps.

Given the limited capacity of the New York Marathon, title sponsor Tata Consultancy Services activated its rights in 2018 and 2019 with a 3D game letting visitors to the Marathon Expo compete over the marathon’s final 100m.

Official airline Emirates activated its rights around the delayed 2020 French Open to promote the fact that, post lockdown, its Dubai-Paris flights had restarted.

Early in 2020, ‘Memotraits’ leveraged Rakbank’s rights in the UAE as a FC Barcelona regional partner by turning local Barca fan football memories into physical art.

On the weekend that would have hosted the cancelled 2020 Open, Mastercard took presenting partner rights to the final of the R&A’s ‘e-Open’.

Villarreal CF and technical partner Joma’s July 2020 triple kit launch campaign leveraged lockdown social media creative trends and focused on digital assets to drive online sales.

In October and November 2019, Hoffenheim naming rights partner PreZero ran an eco-focused activation around the club’s home game against Paderborn to deliver the first carbon-neutral Bundesliga match.

The pandemic forced Uefa Europe League partner Kia Motors to pivot its 2019-20 season marketing programme from in-person initiatives to online experiences.

Crypto trading platform StormGain leveraged its Newcastle United sleeve sponsorship in spring/summer 2020 with a video Q&A series featuring the Premier League club’s biggest stars.

Grant Thornton leveraged its rights at the 2020 Players Championship with a Rickie Fowler-fronted ad campaign.

For the 2020 Champions League’s return in August, Uefa partner Mastercard created a best practice example of how sponsors could switch physical experiences for virtual activations amid the pandemic.

Bochum and Nike’s campaign promoting the club's 2020-21 jersey led to tripling the previous season’s shirt sales and generating record revenue even without fans in the stadium or the physical club shop.