Manchester United recently revealed their new shirt sponsorship with Chevrolet by beating Real Madrid in front of 110 000 people at the “Big House”, Michigan Stadium. This sponsorship has been much heralded and it begs the question: has this been the most comprehensive and successful shirt reveal of all time?
It is one thing to welcome a new sponsor on board with a couple of photos of some of the players wearing the new shirt, but the effort put into this reveal has surely set the bar for future shirt reveals. The game at Michigan Stadium, effectively in General Motors’ backyard, set the record for attendance at a football game in the United States and was the perfect opportunity for GM to dovetail this sponsorship with Manchester United in front of the American market. However, the planning behind this partnership reveals a number of additional sponsorship deals which will ensure that both iconic brands of Manchester United and Chevrolet receive maximum exposure.
All followers of both Manchester United’s and Chevrolet’s social media accounts (Twitter and Facebook) were encouraged to register their own social media on a Thunderclap account. On launch day, July 7th, Thunderclap posted the shirt reveal on all registered accounts amplifying the message for both brands across the world. Parallel to this, United launched a Facebook app, entitled “Who do you play for?”. The theme was Robson, Giggs, Rooney and you. Fans could then build a picture of themselves wearing the new United shirt and share with all their friends. Yes… I did it too… On Twitter, a simple search for #Playfor will reveal the amount of discussion going on around the shirt reveal and the new season.
More by good luck than good design, the first game of the new English Premier League is between Manchester United and Swansea and will be keenly watched by a football loving public that cannot wait for the new season to begin. This first game of the EPL will also have its own special touch. The Manchester United players will walk out with not one, but 11 mascots chosen from Brazil, China, South Africa, South Korea and the United States, among others.
Since announcing its partnership with Manchester United in 2012, Chevrolet has used football to spread the power of play worldwide, including donating 1 million nearly indestructible balls from the One World Futbol Project for use by more than 26 million youth in 60-plus countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
This has been a fantastic activation of a sponsorship by two iconic brands and we wonder what they will come up with next. If you know of a shirt reveal that has been more extensive, we would love to hear about it!
