The UEFA Euro 2024 tournament has come to a close, but not without a great deal of football excitement and, of course, standout brand moments. The success of the England team – who managed to take second place, despite receiving plenty of criticism throughout the event – led to increased attention and activations as they progressed through each stage.
#Euro2024 has been tagged in more than 1.7 million Instagram posts and two million TikToks. The official social accounts of the tournament have attracted more than 16.7 million TikTok followers, 18.7 million Instagram followers and 4.1 million X (formerly Twitter) followers.
Approximately 2.7 million tickets were available throughout the tournament, which took place in several locations across Germany. The England v Netherlands semi-final game that aired on 10 July became the most-watched programme of the year so far, with 20.3 million viewers tuning into ITV. This figure did not include people watching the match on ITVX or in public spaces. The England v Spain final on 14 July was watched by a peak of about 24M viewers, split across the BBC and ITV, marking a new record for 2024.
The official sponsors of the event, including Visit Qatar, Adidas, AliExpress and Booking.com, made the most of their affiliation with the tournament through influencer partnerships and collaborations with football icons. While brands with budgets big enough enlisted high-profile spokespeople, other companies opted for a comedy angle or targeted their communications at parents of football-loving children.
Former England player Rio Ferdinand worked with AliExpress to host a livestream where fans could win Euro 2024 tickets, which he promoted on X. The brand also enlisted former football star David Beckham as an ambassador. Ferdinand also worked with COPA90 and Visit Qatar to talk about his two favourite things: football and travel (0.78% engagement rate).
Former football manager Harry Redknapp had a busy few weeks with several brand partnerships around UEFA Euro 2024. He collaborated with Shark to promote its pub takeover at “The Carpeters Arms” – the only pub that encourages you to spill your drink – for the England v Denmark game (0.06%). The pundit worked with LADbible and Walkers Crisps to promote its crisp pint for the summer of football (2.51%), and also teamed up with Sorare to talk about its fantasy football league (0.04%).
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Adidas partnered with photographer Louis Bever to shoot its Euros 2024 Project, which featured five players in custom national shirts (9.4%). Former England goalkeeper David Seaman collaborated with Fishing Republic to celebrate Father’s Day, the opening of the river season and the first England match of the Euros all taking place on the same day (2.1%).
Opta Analyst worked with siblings Declan, Ronan, Conor and Paddy Moloney (f0urbr0thers) to create a comedy skit about rogue football predictions (2.1%), while Jameson Irish Whiskey partnered with food creator William Hughes (What Willy Cook) to promote its whiskey in a comedic Euro 2024-related song. His Reel has had more than 667,000 views (1.72%).
Some brands also tapped into the parenting demographic. Parenting creator Tanya Hardwick teamed up with Topps to discuss its new collection for children who love football (1.6%) and parenting blogger Tom Cox (Unlikely Dad) partnered with LADbible and Asda to promote its matchday pizza offer and watch the game with his son (1%).
Sky Bet enlisted DJ and presenter Specs Gonzalez to visit the its Fan Zone for the first England game of the tournament (5.3%), and also partnered with football creator Moses Duckrell to attend the same event (1%). The pair also faced off in a shootout challenge.
Podcasters and TV personalities Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo worked with Booking.com to create a comedy skit where Laing took his wife on a “romantic getaway” to watch the tournament in Frankfurt. The joint Reel with the company has had more than 1.6 million views (0.85%).
Sports Direct partnered with former Love Islander and lifestyle creator Aaron Francis for a football-themed styling video featuring the England kit (0.84%). The same brand featured in lifestyle blogger Gavin Toner’s Reel – he teamed up with the outlet Junction 32 to visit its new Sports Direct shop and get an England shirt (0.3%).
By Dina Zubi, CORQ news and features writer. Picture credit: Harry Redknapp, Aaron Francis and Specs Gonzalez via Instagram
