BURGER KING | STEVENAGE CHALLENGE | 2020
How £50,000 Turned Into 1.25 Billion Impressions / BURGER KING "STEVENAGE CHALLENGE"
An English fourth-tier club averaging 3,000 fans a game, rated one star in FIFA 20. The moment Burger King became their sponsor, gamers around the world started transferring Messi and Ronaldo onto this team.
The problem
Even mid-table Premier League clubs sign sponsorship deals worth eight figures. But FIFA faithfully recreates clubs and sponsor logos by name all the way down to League Two, which created an odd opportunity: a five-figure deal could get you onto the same screen as those giants.
The insight
And in FIFA, you can transfer any player to any club. That means Ronaldo, Messi, and Mbappé could all end up running around wearing the Burger King logo. The real challenge wasn't picking who to sponsor, it was figuring out how to light that mechanic on fire.
The idea
Burger King signed Stevenage FC for around £50,000. They launched the "Stevenage Challenge": play as the club in the game, score a goal or nail a free kick, post it on social media, and get free Uber Eats. Within hours, Twitter was flooded with goal clips of world-famous stars wearing the Burger King badge.
What happened
Over just two-plus weeks starting in October (month 10) 2019, goals scored as Stevenage FC were shared widely online. The club became the most-played team in FIFA, replica shirt sales rose 300%, and the earned media reached 1.25 billion impressions. At Cannes Lions 2021, the campaign won Grand Prix in three categories, plus a Titanium Lion.
Afterthought
The ability to spot that structure and turn £50,000 into 1.25 billion impressions is genuinely impressive. I do wonder how the actual Stevenage players felt, suddenly finding themselves lined up next to Messi inside FIFA.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2020
Featured in
- Opening Shop Inside the GameHow do you step into a world where someone else is already lost in play?
