The football’s on; get in!
With the Euros well underway and England being FAVOURITES, we decided to sift through the mountain of marketing campaigns that have been rolled out in recent weeks and find the best.
On the pitch things may be serious but off it, it seems that a mix of humour and sentimentality are the key themes this year. Marketers are showing off their jovial side whilst using the stars of European football as their centre piece.
Below are 8 of the best ad campaigns from this year that we think deserve their own football chant, as well as some of the best ads from previous years, to help you reminisce.
Topps Stickerbook
Topps have come out with a stormer of an ad, featuring Jose ‘Special One’ Mourinho in the style of a classic 70s sitcom. In it, he plays the role of, well, everyone, claiming that no special effects are needed, and that the 2024 sticker album is ‘special enough’.
It’s a brilliant use of the star power Mourinho brings. The fun vibe of the ad makes it immediately sharable, ticking all the boxes of a quick, witty ad – perfect.
Paddy Power – Europe’s Favourites
Can you believe that England are favourites in the Euros 2024?!
We can hardly believe it in the office, and clearly everyone else in the country feels the same way. Paddy Power have taken this and ran with it, bringing in their old workhorse Danny Dyer to run through everything that makes us Europe’s favourites.
From our ‘humble’ nature, our ‘effortless’ style and our ‘renowned’ wit. It’s a tongue-in-cheek, highly shareable ad where we can all poke fun at what makes us English. Nothing makes you want to scream IT’S COMING HOME more than this one!
Budweiser’s Bring it Home with Sir Geoff Hurst
Budweiser have taken a different approach this year, opting to instead tug on our collective heartstrings with a heartwarming feature from the last remaining player from 1966’s winning World Cup team, Sir Geoff Hurst.
In it, he’s seen blessing the beer, drawing on the energy of the victorious 1966 team. Budweiser reveal a signature can specifically designed for the 2024 Euros, which read ‘Let’s bring it home’ and a blessing from Hurst.
The beer giants have produced 12 million limited-edition cans for the Euros, so keep an eye out on shelves!
Irn Bru’s Scottish Optimism
We’re not just seeing English ads this year; Irn Bru have shot out the gates by bringing comedian Sanjeev Kohli as a doctor diagnosing a patient who has a chronic case of optimism.
As a ‘cure’, he prescribes two tickets to see Scotland play in Germany and a can of Irn Bru. Clever, infectious and fun – a brilliant ad for the Scots to rally behind!
Here’s a quick analysis of some killer Euros ads from years gone by:
Paddy Power #ViveLeBantz
Known for their irreverent take on sport, Paddy Power didn’t disappoint in 2016 as they turned the spotlight on the only home nation that didn’t make the trip to France.
The advert, created by Lucky Generals, featured a host of Scottish celebs acting quintessentially Scottish in the Highlands.
Ironically, the advert, the first in a series entitled #ViveLeBantz, was set to the iconic Vindaloo track by Fat Les – a song recorded for England during the 1988 World Cup.
Lucky Generals co-founder Andy Nairn said, as a Scot himself, it’s “nice to have something to cheer about this tournament.”
“This puts me right in the mood for some deep-fried chocolate and a cheeky wee bet on Russia” he added.
We particularly like the way Paddy Power focused on Scotland and played on the rivalry between the Jocks and the English in good spirits.
Measuring the success depends upon what angle you’re looking at – Paddy Power are known for guerrilla style marketing stunts such as parking a lorry outside the Russian embassy. This ad campaign was no different – it attracted some negative publicity with some asking, is it offensive to Scots?
However Paddy Power thrive off this and like they say, bad publicity is good publicity. The use of this mischievous type of branding is being used in order to reach their target audience. #ViveLeBantz positions Paddy Power as a trusted brand and sort of like a mate you’d want to have a pint with.
Mars #Believe
The confectionery behemoth decided to recreate their own D-Day landings, admittedly this one is rather less violent and awful. Focused exclusively on England it featured three of our own lions – the now injured Danny Welbeck, Premier League top scorer Jamie Vardy and the nation’s new hero*, Harry Kane. *subject to performance.
The scale of the £4.1 million pound campaign was pretty jaw dropping, with Mars changing the branding on their packaging to feature the campaign hashtag #Believe, an alignment with their optimism about the 3 Lions’ chances.
Mars challenged the public to submit ‘singing selfies’, filming themselves as they sing the lyrics to an England song and sharing this online using the campaign hashtag, #Believe.
Using Twitter (now X) to push both their products and campaign of optimism, the potential audience of 15.3 million UK football fans predicted to be on the social media platform at any one time during a game was a sure fire way to maximise the reach.
A spokesman from Mars said: “Our new #Believe campaign is all about tapping into the excitement and buzz of the biggest football tournament of the year.
We have a partnership with The FA, but the spirit of the #Believe campaign extends beyond that, to Wales and across the home nations, to encourage fans to get behind their country and show that they #Believe they have what it takes to do well.”
Carlsberg #IfCarlsbergDidSubstitutions
Carlsberg went all out in 2016 in making sure they use the Euro message to advertise their product.
But, as ever, Carlsberg are more than just a bottle of lager.
The advert features Joe Bloggs displaying true patriotism, but there’s a twist. Rather than conveying the usual British pessimism, it’s been substituted for optimism and hope.
This led to more hilarity from Carlsberg, such as dressing Chris Kamara up as an old man
and handing out free ticket to the Euros for those who offered their seat on the tube.
These fan focused videos are to be expected, following Carlsberg’s promise for the tournament that they will “do it better for the fans”.
The beer giants unleashed their true personality and did their best to spread a good deal of optimism. Ryan Newey, the founder and chief creative officer at Fold7, the company that created the ad, said: “When it comes to tournaments there is no shortage of pessimism in this country.
The campaign continues Carlsberg’s role as ‘the great motivator’ as games are not just won on the pitch, they’re won in the pub.”
Known for their effective and popular marketing, Carlsberg used their infamous ‘If Carlsberg did…’ as a way of giving fans an experience fitting of a European championship. With a mix of video content, experiential marketing and an assured, humorous use of Twitter, Carlsberg have managed to avoid the cringe-inducing mess that other brands found themselves in when trying to bring comedy to the marketing game.
In short, Carlsberg are at the forefront of pioneering digital marketing, producing content that the entire nation come to know and love, whether you’re a lager drinker or not. The popularity of their ‘If Carlsberg Did…’ campaign has seen it transform into a national meme, whilst their more aforementioned elaborate stunts blur the boundaries between offline and online integration.
An expensive approach? Think again. Dharmesh Rana, senior brand manager, Carlsberg UK said: “Last year for April Fools’ Day, Carlsberg said it would be delivering beers around the country by drones. It cost us £5,000 all in, but generated over £130,000 of free media.”
Orange #OrangeSponsersYou
Easily the coolest ad campaign we’ve seen in a long time, this ad stars Zinedine Zidane (looking effortlessly suave in a suit, obviously) as Le Boss, ordering an unwilling assistant out on a globe trotting mission to find the crème de la crème of football supporters to fill the French stadiums.
The ad is part of a wider campaign by Orange, who were official partners of Euro 2016, to incentivise fan engagement. Orange are offering fans the chance to dress the Eiffel Tower up in their country’s colours at the end of matches.
Throughout the tournament, Orange planned to analyse Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, monitoring the number of posts that contain hashtags supporting a particular country, e.g. #Fra for France or #Spa for Spain.
Orange rewarded individuals by employing a dedicated team of photographers to sniff out the most passionate fan and get their beaming, patriotic face on the big screens that surround the stadiums.
And, as if they couldn’t do anymore, Orange will be announcing a Fan of the Match after every game by shining a literal spotlight on them.
Beatrice Mandine, senior executive vice president for brand and communications at Orange, said: “We’re not just putting the fans in the spotlight, we’re giving fans the opportunity to decide how Paris and the Eiffel Tower will participate in celebrating UEFA EURO 2016.”
We love that Orange empowered fans and created an immersive marketing campaign that targeted Europe as a whole, signifying solidarity and collaborative communication across nations.
We love seeing these creative, killer examples of digital marketing
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