In this series running throughout the Euro 2016 tournament we catch up with the main partners of the FAI to discover what they have been doing to activate their relationship with Irish soccer fans and how that might continue through the coming weeks.
Today we caught up with Anne Gallagher, Marketing Manager at Spar on how the retailer has been activating through the less obvious medium of face masks and cult icon Gary Breen, amongst other things…
Sport for Business: Was the revival of the international team’s fortunes a key element in Spar coming on board with the FAI?
Anne Gallagher: Spar’s sponsorship of the FAI was well underway by the time Ireland had qualified for the Euro’s. Spar is a community-based retailer with a long heritage in health and fitness and Irish football was a perfect fit for the brand because team sports bring local communities together and Spar wants to position itself at the heart of the community.
As part of Spar’s association with the FAI, we are also title sponsor of the Spar FAI Primary School 5s Programme, Ireland’s leading schools’ soccer programme with over 23,700 children participating this year from over 1,200 schools nationwide.
This represents a record number of participants in the programme and will keep on delivering long after the final whistle in France.
SfB: We’ve seen the Army of Gary Breen’s promotion. How successful has that been in the run up to the tournament?
AG: The Team of Gary Breen’s campaign has been a massive success for Spar in the lead up to the tournament.
The campaign has been implemented through digital and social media and has achieved over 1.9 million impressions and a reach of 1.2 million people.
Gary Breen was very happy to work with Spar on this campaign because the ‘We All Dream of a Team of Gary Breen’s’ song has become so synonymous with supporters’ enjoyment of the game and as Gary himself has said, it belongs far more to the supporters than it does to him.
Gary worked with Spar on creating a fun, engaging video which was seeded out on digital and social media and was viewed over 233,000 times.
The campaign was linked back into Spar stores because to enter the competition, members of the public had to call into their local Spar and pick up a Gary Breen mask, then take a selfie and upload it using #TeamBreen.
The high engagement of the campaign created a connection for Spar with the Irish Team at this key time and helped to raise awareness of Spar’s sponsorship as the only convenience or grocery retail partner of the FAI.
SfB: What are you doing in social and mainstream media through the tournament to build your association with Irish football?
AG: Throughout the tournament, Spar aims to be the destination for Irish fans at home, offering market-beating offers for customers who are staying at home to enjoy the games.
These offers will be advertised across TV and Press and will be highlighted through our social media channels.
Spar will be visibly supporting the Irish Team with strong FAI branded point of sale material throughout all stores and our social channels will be very FAI content focused throughout the tournament to get behind the team.
Spar is also rewarding Irish Supporters’ through our My Spar Rewards Club with a special exclusive free giveaway for Rewards members in participating stores the day after each of the Irish games.
SfB: Are you managing the campaign live in order to react as events happen?
AG: Spar will have a detailed content plan on social media around all of the games which will include the lead up and post each match.
There will also be live social link-ups with the Team of Gary Breen’s when they are in Bordeaux for the Belgium game.
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