If a brand wants to sponsor the best football players, they’d have to pay millions. But Burger King found a way to endorse them without paying them a single penny. We sponsored a team at the bottom of English football’s 4th division: Stevenage. We knew that if our logo was on their shirt, it was going to appear in FIFA 20. We then launched the #StevenageChallenge, inviting gamers to play with Stevenage and sharing UGC of the likes of Messi and Neymar wearing the BK logo, for BK rewards in return. We turned a small team in real life into the biggest team online.
The Burger King "Stevenage Challenge" ad showcases an inventive sponsorship strategy with Stevenage Football Club. Burger King noticed that by sponsoring a lesser-known team at the bottom of England's fourth division, their logo would appear on jerseys in the popular video game FIFA 20. This initiated the #StevenageChallenge where gamers worldwide played with Stevenage and shared gameplay footage on social media, featuring iconic players like Messi and Ronaldo donning shirts with the Burger King logo. As players scored goals and shared them online, they earned rewards, creating a global buzz in the gaming community. The ad is vibrant and dynamic, blending gaming visuals with real-world elements, underscoring a sense of fun and community engagement. The campaign turned Stevenage into the most used team in career mode, while Burger King capitalized on cost-effective branding, proving that even small teams can achieve monumental visibility.