Ford and Adidas use Champions League final to tout tech credentials

UEFA sponsors Ford and Adidas are using this Saturday’s (25 May) Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund to showcase the technology behind their products.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehV_kkB0fdQ

Ford is to debut a new brand campaign to highlight the technology available across its lineup. A 30-second half-time advert (see above) will invite viewers to visit an online hub to access videos and details about Ford technology. Fans will also be asked what innovations they would like to see in cars on Facebook and Twitter.

Roelant de Waard, vice president of marketing for sales and service at Ford Europe, says the campaign has a “significant focus” on driving dual-screen experiences. Fellow sponsors Heineken and Adidas are adopting similar tactics in an effort to move beyond using traditional media to maximise the competition’s growing global reach.

The car marque claims the strategy has been created to break from “conventional car ads” that promote “individual models and discount prices”.

Meanwhile, Adidas is using the event to emphasise its role in bringing technology to football. The “All for This” campaign features a series of animations (see below) based on player performance data throughout this season’s Champions League. Animations include how the number of metres covered in the tournament along with the number of headers.

It is being supported by a call to fans to make predictions about the final via an online hub. Visitors will compete with Adidas ambassadors Gareth Bale, Fernando Torres and Lukas Podolksi to make predictions on the number of passes made, tackles won and shots on target for each player. The closest prediction wins tickets to follow the club of their choice at all UEFA Champions League games in next season.

Claus-Peter Mayer, vice president of global football sports marketing at Adidas, says: “Our ambition is to interact with as many fans as possible around the final at Wembley by providing them with unique content to share and debate online, that stimulates their imaginations, appeals to their love of the game and ultimately rewards their loyal support to both their teams and the sport as a whole.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7UGwN7Cn5E

The activity is part of a wider move to highlight the technology around Adidas’ football products ahead of innovations such as the introduction of goal-line technology coming to the game next season.

Charlie Dundas, managing director of Repucom UK and Ireland says the upcoming activity from both sponsors shows how the final has evolved from being “ a good value media buy” into a “much more sophisticated communication vehicle.”

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