Ten years after ending its English Premier League (EPL) sponsorship, Carling returned to football, this time as an EPL partner. The aim: to reconnect with its key male 18-34 audience, and to celebrate football in a vibrant and innovative way
A first for the Premier League in the 2016/17 season, the new live Friday night games opened up new exciting opportunities. After all, watching the game in the pub with your mates — the jokes, the banter, the cheering – is an essential part of British football culture, and Carling could capitalise on this.
Furthermore, the way people consume football content in 2017 is becoming significantly more fragmented. Platform and search trend analysis indicated a significant growth in football research on a Friday evening going into the weekend fixtures, up weighted towards mobile platforms.
Platform, timing and audience confirmed, the idea needed to exceed expectations.
The idea was to turn Friday night football into an ownable event that Carling could host. With a shared heritage in football, Sky was the natural partner – and the pub, the home.
Carling In Off The Bar (CIOTB) was pitched: A live, three-part, cross-media show, from a pub, and hosted by Soccer AM presenters Adam Smith and Laura Woods. The new show would give Friday night football a modern twist, taking Sky Sports directly to its fans, by filming LIVE in pubs across the UK.
Each episode would include sporting chat, games and songs with fans, ex-footballers, comedians and social influencers, and would be made up of three segments:
- Pre-match (6.30-7pm) live broadcast on Sky Sports from a Carling pub in the home team’s city, simulcast on Facebook Live, YouTube and SkySports.com
- 15-minute half-time analysis live-streamed on social media
- Post-match (10.45-11.15pm) analysis live on Sky Sports, simulcast on social media and online.
Episodes would also be available on-demand on Sky Go, and cut-downs available to distribute via Carling social channels to extend reach and viewing opportunities beyond Friday night – anytime, anywhere.
The partnership kicked off every Friday night in a local pub across the UK and was split into three key content segments across the evening.
The first segment kicked off from 18:30 – 19:00. This was a 30 minute show, broadcast live on Sky Sports from a Carling pub in the home team’s city, simulcast on Facebook Live, YouTube and SkySports.com. This began to build the buzz ahead of the big game with exciting content such as the ‘Carling Tap Challenge’. This challenge required participants to hit the beer taps with a football to win tickets to see the big Friday Night game live in the stadium.
The second segment ran from 20:45 – 21:00 on Facebook Live, offering viewers half-time analysis and an alternative look at what happened in the first half of the game.
Finally, the third segment rounded off from 22:30 – 23:00. This was a 30 minute show air’d on Sky Sports 1, as well as streamed on Facebook & YouTube. This segment rounded off the evening with innovative features such as ‘Matt Hutson’s end of show song’ encapsulating a comedic song based on football topical antics and events of the game.
In order to communicate the partnership further and engage an even wider audience, a Carling branded ‘Mirror Me’ photo booth was created and established in all of the pubs visited. The booth provided unique entertainment for the audience in between shows, encouraging them to share their experience on social media, further driving social conversation.
DS Automobiles
