The Opportunities for Brands as Football Bounces Back

Anyone who decided not to lockdown under a rock knows the Premier League is back from 17th June. There are millions of people who don’t just know it’s coming back, but can’t wait for it to come back.

And with its return comes opportunities for brands. At Dark Horses we have pulled this report ‘Project Restart’ together outlining why this moment is so important, why people will be invested in the return of sports and what it means for brands. 

Key-takes outs include of the report include:

• A festival of football: We are about to see an unmissable moment in time, where league football will move beyond being a sporting moment and become THE cultural moment of the summer.  
• Football for all. The unprecedented move by broadcasters to make all remaining games free for all will create a massive amount of opportunity for brands

• It will also mean broadcasters can exact their creativity on matchday. With no one in grounds and four games back to back at weekends, they must, and will, dial up the TV viewing experience  

• Fans creating their own content. The expedited growth in understanding of technology brought on by Covid means there is a new way for fans to engage. We’ve never seen so many homemade memes. 

• Second screen innovations. Similarly, the acceptance of online and video conversation will see a second screening boom now (after limited success in the past 10 years), greatly increasing the opportunity for brand engagement. 

• With matchday experience missing, those traditions and rituals built up over a 100+ years will be replaced with brand new ones, and brands, even those who have never ventured into sport before, can be involved in those new movements from the very beginning. 

Find the full report here.