This past October, NBC Universal unveiled a three-year deal for rights to broadcast the prestigious Barclays English Premier League. The financial package was put at $250 million by industry analysts.
With the first game scheduled to air on Aug. 17, NBC Sports has launched a multi-platform campaign, “It’s Football… Just Not As You Know It,” to get viewers up to speed.
The campaign is anchored by a humorous TV spot starring Jason Sudeikis, a cast member of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” from 2005-13 and co-star with Jennifer Aniston in the new film, “We’re The Millers.” The commercial runs five minutes on YouTube but has been cut down to 30-second spots for broadcast purposes.
Activation also includes out-of-home marketing such as subway trains and London-style taxis in New York wrapped in NBC Sports-EPL signage, “trainers” on the streets handing out EPL-branded towels and water bottles, billboards, a tie-in with online food delivery service Seamless.com offering discounts on breakfast items on Saturday game days in August under a “Breakfast in Bed with the Premier League” theme, and social media destinations at Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and others.
NBC Sports said that people would have access to all 380 games of the Barclays Premier League—including 76 Spanish-language telecasts—via a host of options from August through May: NBC, NBC Sports Network, NBC Sports Live Extra, Premier League Extra Time, Telemundo, Mun2 and other NBC Universal channels.
In the campaign, Sudeikis plays the fictional new head coach of the Tottenham Hotspur, Teddy Lasso, whose knowledge of NFL football does not translate to international football.
At his first press conference, Lasso proclaims, “Football is football no matter where you play it. You have grass, you have cleats and you have helmets with masks on them… My team is going to play hard for all four quarters.” When a British reporter corrects him by saying, “Two halves,” Coach Lasso responds, “My team is going to play hard for two halves. And we’re going to play until there’s a winner and a loser… and we make the playoffs.” To which another reporter yells, “We have ties… and no playoffs.”
“Ties and no playoffs!?” says Lasso. “My job just got a lot easier… Why do you even do this!?” Ultimately, Lasso vows to remain with Tottenham forever. Moments later, he receives a phone call. “I’ve been fired.”
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