How Burger King Made Stevenage FC The World’s Biggest Online Club
In June 2019, Stevenage FC signed a quite unique sponsorship deal with Burger King. It would see Burger King become the club’s primary sponsor, with the famous logo appearing on all Stevenage shirts until the end of the recent 2020/21 season.
Admittedly, there is nothing too revolutionary about that element of the deal. In fact, it sounds much like every other relationship a football club has with its main sponsor. But it is the reason that the Miami-based, global, fast food giants chose a sleepy football club that had just finished 10th in League Two – England’s 4th division – that raised eyebrows.
That was because Burger King had ambitions of turning Stevenage FC into a true global superpower, complete with a superstar squad, that was capable of winning every competition in which they played. However, unfortunately for fans of ‘The Boro’, at least – The creators of the ‘Whopper’ intended to do so virtually.
A marketing campaign like no other
Shortly after confirming the allegiance, the club announced the ‘Burger King Stevenage Challenge’. It encouraged players of EA Sport’s FIFA 20 to play as Stevenage, either online or in the game’s career mode. Because whilst the club didn’t have the same presence, value, or on-pitch quality, as the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona or PSG, they would appear in the same game, in the same way. They would be a playable team, with their featured kits.
Gamers were encouraged to use Stevenage and their Burger King-emblazoned shirts. The next task was to sign the best players in the world. Once they had done so, they were then encouraged to share video clips of their goals online. In return for their endeavours, Burger King would then reward them in-store with redeemable offers and free food items.
In no time at all, Twitter then became awash with clips of the world’s biggest stars scoring goals in Stevenage colours. The likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Kevin De Bruyne were all seen donning the Burger King logo as they netted goal after goal, with gamers claiming tasty rewards.
Burger King puts Stevenage FC on the map
But it wasn’t just gamers who were loving the challenge. The campaign was recognised by several celebrity figures on social media, including Piers Morgan, who called it “world class marketing”. England legend Gary Lineker also took to socials to praise the challenge. That year, Stevenage would become the most-used team in FIFA’s career mode. More than 25,000 goals scored by a player in a Stevenage shirt were shared online. As a result, for the first time in the club’s history, they would sell out of replica home shirts.
The campaign was activated in 13 countries and generated 1.6 billion impressions and $2.5 million of earned media. Stevenage FC became the most used team in the game worldwide.
Then, in September 2020, Burger King turned their attention to Stevenage FC’s women’s team. Changing their logo to read ‘Burger Queen’ on the limited-edition shirts of the women’s team and at the local Burger King restaurant, the campaign aimed to “grow the women’s program and support the team”.
Holistically, the entire digital campaign was one of the most innovative we’ve seen in recent years. With the two-year contract now at an end, Stevenage FC is now aiming to “work with interested parties to develop the strong platform within the market which has been created by the Burger King partnership”. But one thing is for sure, no matter who features on next year’s shirt, it won’t be half as exciting as last season’s.
For more information on how you can use digital marketing to leverage your business, email info@uni4mbrand.com or WhatsApp us on +447555892554 – though we can’t guarantee we’ll put your brand into FIFA 22.