An opportunity like this only rolls around every two years, but when it does, you need to make the most of it.
The UEFA World Cup and European championships (better known as the Euros) dominate the media landscape for one full month every other summer, benefitting from unparalleled audience attention which reaches far beyond that of the traditional football fan.
This is especially true in the football-crazed nation that gave birth to the sport itself.
With all eyes on the Euros for the next few weeks, the tournament has given brands, agencies and charities a golden chance to ride on the crest of a sporting media frenzy – and crucially, make their voices heard.
This is precisely why brands and organisations as diverse as Women’s Aid, EE, Asda, Solace and the British Heart Foundation have chosen to leverage this high-profile international event as they release campaigns of vital importance.
Covering hard-hotting societal issues such as domestic abuse, hate, loneliness in the elderly and youth heart disease – in football, these campaigns have found the perfect platform from which to spread their message.
All Eyes on Me
At the time of writing, England has once again left its fans with hearts in their mouths – only saved from an ignominious exit at the hands of the Slovakians by a sheer piece of brilliance from Jude Bellingham.
And so, England march on – as do the many campaigns piggybacking off the continued attention that last-minute result will bring.
A major tournament will always mean eyeballs. England doing well (for now) at major tournaments, means eyeballs in hyperdrive.
That is exactly what campaigns like Solace’s ‘No More Injury Time’ will be hoping for, as it seeks to ‘blow the whistle’ on domestic abuse, which sadly spikes every time England lose, win or draw during any tournament finals.
“Big sporting events remain among the last bastions of appointment to view opportunities where nation upon nation come together in the moment. Broad audiences are receptive to the build-up, the event and the post-analysis are primed to be ‘on’ for any associated messaging,” Jungle Creations and The Wild CEO, Melissa Chapman explains.
“If you can find an authentic way to be part of the conversation, you can get cut through for incredibly important messages, such as that of domestic violence through our ‘No More Injury Time’ campaign. You aren’t interrupting the conversation; you are adding to it in a way that bypasses purpose-fatigue that might otherwise exist.”
Simply put – large-scale international events such as the Euros are indispensable for essential public action campaigns like these, with the associated media frenzy providing an unparalleled opportunity for your message to be amplified.
Sadly, due to the serious nature of campaigns like these – the public just isn’t nearly as receptive the rest of the year.
Carpe Diem
The scarcity of such opportunities is why brands and charities with an important message must seize them.
As such, big names of the likes of EE and the British Heart Foundation have opted to work with prestige agency Saatchi & Saatchi to best capture the zeitgeist of this sporting summer.
Both messages, fighting hate and youth heart disease respectively, are crucial social causes – which when combined with Euros-ready campaigns have become supercharged across the public consciousness.
The success that both of these campaigns have achieved encapsulates why events like the Euros are such important marketing boosters.
A brand well acquainted with this is Women’s Aid, which like Solace has launched a Euros-themed campaign to spotlight the associated rise in domestic abuse, off the back of its immensely successful campaign launched during the 2022 World Cup which highlighted the same issue.
“Leveraging major events is a proven way of injecting a brand into the collective conversation of that moment; International football events like the Euros galvanise the nation unlike anything else,” House 337 new business and marketing director, Lauren Estwick said.
“The problem is that most brands aren’t heard amongst the deafening noise because they simply don’t have anything useful or different to say. However, for Women’s Aid, the Euros is less an opportunity and more a necessity that the charity has little choice but to act upon, given the direct correlation between domestic violence and England matches.”
It’s a shame that such important causes need to ride on the coat tails of large events to get the attention they truly deserve – but it is a reality, and at the end of the day, the more people are aware of the message, the better – no matter how they hear it.
Interestingly, Shape History co-managing director, Ed Fletcher likens it to a ‘Trojan Horse’ style strategy, explaining: “Framing causes through the lens and tropes of culturally iconic moments like big sporting events has a ‘trojan horse’ effect.
“Audiences emotionally connect with the familiarity of the shirt, the song, the icon – but instead of continuing down that familiar path, they are hijacked into a new narrative, albeit framed with a familiar, reassuring sporting backdrop.”
The moral of the story is – these message are crucial, and need to be heard by the wider public and brands and charities need to seize amplification opportunities like the Euros if their campaign are ever going be seen by a mass audience.
This is why events like these are so much more than about sport, they are gigantic marketing circuses that play a vital role in the brand calendar – and as a result, are much, much more than just 22 players lumping a ball around a football pitch.
