PR Stunt Watch: Marketers gear up to kick off a summer of sport

Heinz x Kappa

We’re going over to our continental home for this final banger, over the Alps and down to Italy, where Heinz and Kappa have collaborated to create The Ultimate 'Football Foodie' Kit, in a campaign which celebrates Italy's Matchday Paninari – sandwich makers working outside the stadiums.

Kit releases are coming thick and fast as clubs and sponsors keep the drumbeat going during the in-between parts of the football season, but this campaign focuses on one often overlooked team: that of the ones working outside the stadiums, feeding the legions of fans week in, week out, all over the Italian landscape.

Absolutely glorious.

The campaign features a specially designed apron inspired by the traditions of both Heinz and Kappa, showing the bond between football and food. In their words, “it mimics the iconic squeezes of Heinz ketchup on thousands of sandwiches at every match. It includes a white collar, reminiscent of football jerseys, and the number 57, a nod to Heinz's heritage.” But they didn’t stop at just the design; it also features highly specialized functional design elements - safety lacing, heatproof, and stain-resistant - similar to the details considered when creating football jerseys.

It’s easy to do a ‘cool trendy’ collab, but one that honors an unsung audience hits absolutely every right note with me, one I wish I’d done.

Dominos x Brewdog

Quite often Brewdog gets a hard time for releasing beers around topical newsworthy moments. People love to take to social media and write “CaNt wAiT FoR BrEWdOG To…” and I’m not quite sure why because it’s a nailed-on approach and they do it (very) well. What I love about their latest iteration is their partnership with Dominos. Pizza and Beer, every football 'lad’s' dream.

The release goes into detail about how the IPA pairs nicely with Domino’s iconic ingredients: “The dry hop aroma and bitterness in the beer cut through the richness of the creamy mozzarella cheese, whilst pairing delicately with the fresh Domino’s dough.” But the real winner for me is that it provides a moment which taps into a trend that pains me to say: people are going to the pub less. Having people over to watch the game is growing in popularity, mainly due to the cost of pints but also the comfort aspect. Not squeezing into a pub and being covered in beer is more appealing (but I’ll still be there), setting Dominos up as the perfect partner to bring it to life.

Let’s just hope the beer tastes as good as the press release claims.

England ‘Til I Died

The British Heart Foundation has unveiled the winner (for me at least) of Euro campaigns this year, adopting the tried and tested method of taking football terminology and turning it into a purpose-filled campaign—see this belter from the last major tournament by adopting the phrase you're bound to hear across the country this summer 'I'm England Til I Die.'

Each week, 12 young people lose their lives to cardiac arrest, a number that's too high. To shift perceptions that heart disease isn't just for older people and that young people can suffer too, murals have become a popular medium for celebrating football stars, often embellished on the sides of buildings, car parks, and above shops. The series of 12 powerful and moving murals across the UK features the faces of some victims of cardiac arrest. But it’s not just a campaign of sadness; it’s a celebration.

Celebrating their passion for football and their national teams, they've been immortalised in their local areas. It's a strong and powerful campaign timed brilliantly around the Euros, and as a result, it's everywhere.

Boost Faversham

Boost encountered a problem that every marketeer has faced coming up to this summer: you cannot associate yourself with any major sporting tournaments happening and you can’t say anything remotely related to it. I’m scared I’m going to get banged up for using "Summer of Sport" in the headline of this article - unless you’re an official sponsor, of course.

Legal, obviously, told them not to do it…then they found Faversham Town F.C.

The only town in the country that can use the 'Royal Coat of Arms of England' as its own, which the club adopts on its shirts. In short, they can use the three lions on their shirt. For a bit of added authenticity, they wheeled out a footballing legend, and in this case, it was Adebayo Akinfenwa. Big energy, I guess, would be the reason, perfect for a drinks brand.

A really clever use of sponsorship around the summer of sport where brands are piling millions of the king’s finest into sponsorship. They turned it on its head, and it looks great.

Asics ‘15 Minute Workouts’

Taking a break from football, ASICS has ridden the summer of sport wave with something a little bit different. The rise of the fitness trend that is moving across the globe has one thing at the heart of it: people are still working out just to lose weight. Searches for weight loss exercise have increased by 500%, and social media is flooded with quick-fix weight loss solutions.

Our relationship with exercise shouldn’t be like this. Focusing on exercise purely as a tool for physical weight loss is impacting our mental well-being and, as a result, preventing people from being physically active.

To combat this, it has released a series of “15-minute weight loss” videos with a focus on how exercise can take the weight off your mind and rebuild the relationship between working out and mental well-being.

Riding on the coattails of the buzz and media attention that sport is getting with a strong positive message.

This week's PR Stunt Watch was written by Lee Sanders, associate director at Frank, originally published on PRmoment.com.