Burger King, a fourth-division soccer team, and FIFA 20: the best marketing campaign ever?

Stevenage FC currently plays in Football League One, the third tier of the English soccer league system. They’re currently seventh in the standings, and you may never have heard of them, but there’s an interesting story surrounding the club that took place six years ago and features Burger King and the video game FIFA 20.

Marketing is one of the most important elements in the business world, and since sponsoring a top-tier soccer club (Premier League, LaLiga, Bundesliga...) is extremely expensive, Burger King came up with a truly brilliant idea: to sponsor a fourth-division team—which is where Stevenage FC was playing in 2020—and use the game FIFA 20 to reach a much wider audience than a team in that division normally would.

Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Neymar: Surprise Guests

Financially speaking, sponsoring a club like that wasn’t a problem, but something was missing: a brilliant idea that would get the Burger King logo everywhere. And then came the day when someone had the idea to engage the players through social media using campaigns, giveaways, and other creative ideas. Stevenage FC went viral, and many players used it in Career Mode to sign all kinds of star players and share images and videos of their teams.

The result? A very cost-effective campaign that led to the fast-food chain’s logo popping up everywhere, emblazoned on the jerseys of the world’s best players: Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar... Just look at the video the club itself shared, in which Stevenage FC appears to be playing in the UEFA Champions League. In FIFA 20, of course.

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