Is this the best sponsorship activation for a professional soccer team ever?

We’ve all seen the names on the jerseys, around the fields on signs boards and hanging from banners. Sponsor logos are on websites, merchandise, social media, and fan emails. They’re announced with “thank you’s” over PA systems and always always always show up on behind key coaches and players on those post-match interviews.

While “Sponsorship Activation” isn’t a phrase most fans are actually familiar with, what it means in it’s simplest format is “action” taken by a sponsor to really connect with fans in as close to a one-on-one manner as possible.

They give away t-shirts, have you enter contests, and offer coupons… almost always in exchange for some personal information. Activations are meant to drive home brand recognition first, but also hoping to create either a direct sales lead or to influence the fan to take direct action to patronize the brand at their next earliest need of it’s product or service.

All the above  REALLY COMES TOGETHER when a sponsor can both BRAND and ACTIVATE at the same time, and recently this effort by Emirates – for 65,000 people at the same time… in about a 1 minute – is one of the most creative and likely effective efforts we’ve seen.

How about you?

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