Kicking off the Euros 2024 with vast variety in the marketing arena

The 17th Euros tournament is just around the corner, and we’ve already seen a huge range of sponsors stepping up to promote this year’s competition.

Various products and platforms are on hand to ensure that fans get completely engrossed in the football spirit – as well as kitted out with the official merchandise, of course!

Let’s explore some of this year’s unique advertising campaigns and look at what makes them so influential and impactful.

The influence of a well-thought-out brand ambassador

From Gary Lineker and Walkers crisps to John Barnes with Mars bars, the importance of a brand ambassador to carry a campaign is often pivotal to the success of large-scale marketing strategy, particularly when linked to a large sporting event like the Euros. Here’s the who the top brands have scored for 2024…

AliExpress

AliExpress, the Chinese online retailer, are one of the official sponsors of the Euros 2024 and have recently announced David Beckham as their global ambassador for the tournament.

‘Becks’ is not only a former England football captain and legendary footballer in his own right, but his legacy and influence have continued far beyond his playing career – he’s become a major part of England football diplomacy. He’s been highly involved with campaigns to host big footballing tournaments in Great Britain and remains a footballing hero for so many fans and players.

AliExpress’s aim is to connect their customers to the football action. Through many discounts and deals on AliExpress Choice Day and offering lots of interactive games and competitions with the chance to win big prizes – including tournament tickets – the franchise is utilising variety in order to give Euros fans what they want and enhance their platform in the process.

All of which they have compiled into their latest advert circulating social media, with Beckham taking centre stage as the orchestrator of quick and efficient product deliveries and delivering the sport-themed punchline ‘Score more when you shop with AliExpress’.

Topps UK

Football albums have never gone out of fashion, and in the build-up to a big sporting tournament, they’re more popular than ever. Once again, we see the entertaining advertising efforts of companies like Topps UK – a worldwide sports and entertainment collectables company – marketing their first official Euros 2024 sticker album and trading cards.

Their TV ad is already doing the rounds on social media due to a familiar face from the footballing world making an appearance as their brand ambassador – the iconic, controversial, yet always entertaining managerial legend, José Mourinho.

Not only do Topps UK utilise an engaging, charismatic and relevant figurehead, but they use Mourinho’s egocentricity to create a playful and entertaining advert that sees people pitching Topps UK’s Euros sticker album and trading cards to Mourinho, serenading him with compliments such as: “It’s like you’re a manager. It’s like they are you.” The visuals then switch to a school setting where Mourinho’s face is edited onto all the different roles, from teachers to caretakers – taking ‘making the face of a campaign’ and making it literal.

But at the end, Mourinho concludes that special effects are unnecessary and endorses the sticker album as being special enough on its own merit.

It’s all in the delivery

Adding a pinch of comedy to your advertising campaign creates great engagement and makes for a memorable advert for years to come. But it’s important that the right person delivers the joke to make sure it lands well…

Paddy Power

From recognisable, engaging and positively influential choices in brand ambassadors to the not-so-well-planned faces of advertising…

Paddy Power have been forced to drastically turn the tables. Their own staff revolted when there was large-scale opposition to working with political figurehead Boris Johnson.

In the advert, Johnson was reportedly going to don an England shirt and proudly declare: “I told you I would get us back in Europe!” – a joke considered to be in poor taste given the enduring controversy surrounding Brexit.

Needless to say, the betting company quickly realised their mistake and scrapped this idea. Instead, they’ve enlisted the help of the entertaining British national treasure Danny Dyer and the comical and charismatic England footballing legend Peter Crouch.

An increasingly popular choice of advertising is being able to mock past mistakes. People find the humour and honesty more engaging and likeable, making the campaign more successful across wider groups of people.

The ad itself is a self-mockery of English attitude and behaviour as both tourists and sports fans. And the somewhat ‘deluded’ belief that after winning one major tournament fifty-eight years ago, we believe we’ll get the same outcome every year, but always end up as bitterly disappointed as we did four years ago and the four years before that…and before that.

There’s still an existing remnant of the original Brexit joke where the European Council fall about laughing at the suggestion that England are always gracious when it comes to leaving. And a host of other jibes at problematic British stereotypes that have enough awareness to land well as a joke.

What’s prevalent in Paddy Power’s campaign is the importance of a person’s reputation in the landing of a layered joke.

On the bigger stage

As a main broadcaster of the games and with one of the biggest UK advertising platforms, the BBC are making the most of their stage and influence to create the perfect hype for the Euros.

The BBC

As one of the main British television hosts of the Euros, the ‘Beeb’ have also released a creative 40-second short video as a precursor to aired TV programmes.

The advert reimagines the football arena as a giant pinball machine and pays homage to Germany as the host of the tournament with the football travelling past iconic German landmarks.

On the football’s travels, we see entertaining subheadings such as ‘No Scotland, no party’ to herald Scottish hopes as they already celebrate their big qualifying accomplishment. And now they take to the big stage to prove themselves in the international arena.

With the sound of iconic sports commentary and cheering crowds in the background, the short showcases the standout stars of the tournament, including the likes of Kylian Mbappé of France, Kevin De Bryune of Belgium, Virgil van Dijk of the Netherlands and Harry Kane of England, as well as Luka Modrić of Croatia and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal in what will likely be their last Euros competition at the grand footballing ages of 38 and 39 respectively.

The advert is colourful, upbeat and engaging for all audiences, yet it still includes the specific footballing features that are noticeable to keen fans, including the golden boot and signs for those always nerve-wracking knockout stages!

Each element works brilliantly to give us a returned feeling of nostalgia but also a renewed enthusiasm to see this exciting and iconic tournament play out for us once again.

Are you looking forward to the Euros? Which adverts have got you feeling the most excited for the tournament? And…is football coming home? Let us know!