1. Barclays Premier League
Author: Thomas Henry
Client: Barclays
Brand: Barclays Premier League
Barclays
#YouAreFootball
A new way to bring true fans closer

2. This is a paper about breathing new life into an old discipline.
Big sponsorship activation is one of the most traditional forms of
marketing a brand can engage with.
Even today, huge sums of money are being spent by brands
purchasing rights to popular sporting and cultural events. Yet in spite
of, or perhaps because of the amount of money involved, most
brands fail to realise the potential of their investment.
In this paper we will show you how the Barclays Premier League
sponsorship bucked that trend, how sponsorship can be effective
when it works in line with their central brand purpose.
We will show that, far from being an ‘old fashioned option’, the
modern marketing world provides an unprecedented opportunity
to deliver sponsorship assets, advertising and content with
disproportionate effect.
Finally, you will see how a central strategic thought, combined with an
agile optimisation process can take great creative further, faster, with
more impact.
You will see how a modern sponsorship program should work.
This is how we did it.Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Operations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands

3. In 2012 Barclays were found guilty of manipulating the London Inter
Banking Offered Rate; this became known as the ‘LIBOR’ scandal.
In the wake of the scandal ‘trust’ in Barclays hit rock bottom and
‘consideration’ for the retail bank took a serious beating too (1).
These statistics were a major commercial concern to Barclays because
when trust and consideration for the retail bank go down, revenue
goes down too (2).
To combat decline in these key perception metrics, Barclays set out a
new vision for how and why they do business. All of their marketing
efforts became focused on: “Helping people to achieve their ambitions
in the right way”.
Barclays understood how this would work in central marketing activity,
but there was a huge question mark hanging over how this vision
would translate to Barclays’ most famous marketing property: their
sponsorship of the Premier League.
Barclays had sponsored the Premier League for 10 years but the
investment had always been measured as a way to generate ‘efficient
awareness’ rather than delivering against central marketing objectives.
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
05
00
2010
BarclaysInternalNPSScore
Trust
LIBOR Scandal
Consideration
2011 Q1 2012 Q2 2012
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Operations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands
Barclays Premier League

4. It was clear that Barclays’ sponsorship of the Premier League was
underutilised as an asset that could rebuild trust post LIBOR and
deliver on the ‘in the right way’ vision.
The key question to answer was: “How could this brand vision be
translated effectively into the football world?”.
If Barclays wanted to help people achieve their ambitions in the right
way, then the opportunity for Barclays’ Premier League sponsorship
was to reward fans who play, support and love football in the
right way.
To deliver this agenda effectively, we had to uncover the role that
Barclays should play in an incredibly crowded and well-serviced
football market. This role would have to meet a genuine fan need.
The one unmet need that was consistent across all types of fans was
the desire to feel ‘closer’ to their club and particularly the players (3).
As the title sponsors of the Premier League, Barclays had an incredible
amount of access to talent and club assets, but no way of organizing it
into a meaningful activation.
DARE gave Barclays a role that brought these disparate assets together
in a powerful way. It was a role that delivered on the sponsorship
vision and met a fan need.
“Barclays bring true fans closer to the
players they idolise”.
The final step in setting our initial strategic direction was to create a
fan-facing line that could bring Barclays’ role to life and hold together
a full season of activation across social media, advertising, in stadium
and PR: an emotive line that could add to fan conversation in a
meaningful way.
Barclays wanted to reward fans who do things in the right way because
whoever you are, wherever you are,
#YouAreFootball.
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity
Refocusing Operations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands

5. We made huge logistical changes to how sponsorship assets were
distributed to deliver the #YouAreFootball activation.
This was no small task, given that we had an impressive but daunting
amount of sponsorship inventory to organize.
Previously, sponsorship assets had been distributed in a way that was
simplest for Barclays. We changed that process so that each piece of
inventory was assed on its ability to ‘bring true fans closer’.
The most visible example of this was the Barclays Ticket Office. In
previous seasons, Barclays had given away 12,000 pairs of tickets a
year through random codes generated on the back of ATM receipts
and through a dedicated website. We proved that these tickets were
mainly being redeemed by professional coupon hunters not fans.
To put a stop to this and reward real supporters, we completely
overhauled the ticket distribution process.
#YouAreFootball Ticket Office
#YouAreFootball Asset List taken from Excel
Football
fan focused
messaging
Generic
football
interest
messaging
Alternative
entry channel
(no Twitter account
complaints, problems)
1. Follow @
BarclaysFooty
Monday,
Wednesday,
Friday
Tweet promoted
24 hour
entry
window
Tuesday,
Thursday,
Saturday
After 5 days of no
reply, new winner
chosen
2. Wait for the
competition tweet
3. Send reply or
direct tweet with
#YouAreFootball
4. Competition
closes
5. Dare complies
entry list with
Sysomos
6. Fufilment
company randomly
chooses winner
6B. Winner sent
DM with prize
claim details
7. Winner replies.
Details sent to
fufilment company
6A. Winner
name tweeted
8. Winner receives
tickets 5 days
before match
Enter through
Ticket Office
website
Dare adds
entrants to list
ParticipationAwareness Driving Fufilment
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity
Refocusing Operations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands

6. This required engaging with the sponsorship, marketing and digital
teams at Barclays in order to build a bespoke ticket giveaway system.
We created a website and back end process so fans could simply tweet
to tell us why #YouAreFootball. The most ‘in the right way’ stories
received tickets every day.
We built ‘surprise and delight’ elements into this system, like sending
Barclays ambassador Alan Shearer to Newcastle so he could hand
deliver tickets to two young magpie fans. Alan’s visit inspired this
years’ TV advert.
We had transformed the ticket giveaway from a ‘pot luck’
proposition to a vital proof point that helped raise awareness of the
#YouAreFootball campaign.
The next major asset we looked at was the Barclays Ambassadors,
changing their role from ‘photo filler’ to living embodiments of
#YouAreFootball.
The most successful example was Ray ‘Romford Pele’ Parlour. Using
the same contracted hours that were available during previous seasons,
we sent Ray on a 12 hour round trip from Highbury to Anfield on a
‘Barclays Bus’ full of delighted Gooners. Fans were selected on their
‘in the right way’ credentials, and the trip was the perfect way to bring
them closer to their club.
Combining the bus and ambassador assets created the ideal
#YouAreFootball story.
We took the same approach to ‘community assets’ like ‘Play on Pitch’
and ‘Mascots’. We changed the allocation process for both so that fans
of all ages had the opportunity to meet their heroes because of their
#YouAreFootball stories.
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity
Refocusing Operations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands

7. To create content from these operational changes we employed a team of expert football journalists to reveal and celebrate great
stories that would ‘bring fans closer’ and deliver on Barclays ‘in the right way’ agenda.
Our editorial process, which required planners, journalists and partner agencies to work together, is explained in the diagram below.
This approach was a totally new way for Barclays and their agencies to run marketing. In previous years, individual agencies with
individual remits had reported to individual clients. By bringing Barclays Premier League marketing together, we were able to reach
and engage more fans more often with centrally allocated assets (4).
To justify this new approach, we created a simple model showing how an evidence based editorial strategy would enable us to use
content and sponsorship assets to deliver on our marketing goals more effectively.
The approach divided into the areas:
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands
Planner identified
weekly insights to
inform content
Editorial team
compiled creative
opportunities based
on insights
Editorial team presented
creative opportunities at
weekly ‘Editorial Board’
meeting with partner
agencies and clients
Cross agency agreement
and client sign off on
which opportunities
to progress and which
channel to use
Content Role Content Description Creative Example
Reward Centered around the revamped Ticket
Office we rewarded individual fans with
great #YouAreFootball stories showing how
they support football ‘in the right way’.
Relate Deeper club-focused stories that showed
the unique bond that fans have with players
and managers.
Reach Large-scale activity that powerfully
dramatised what it meant to be a fan.

8. Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands
Fans Brought
Closer to
Players
RewardRelate
1. Fan action embodies the
‘spirit of the game’
4. Other fans add their own
commentary to the moment
identified
2. Barclays identify this
as a #YouAreFootball
moment
5. News organisations & fan
sites share to networks
3. Barclays thank the person
responsible & put fan action
in context of club or players
6. Content/stories that capture
imagination receive special attention
from Barclays broadening the
Reach
The #YouAreFootball Editorial Model

9. Initially, we took a more ‘broadcast’ approach to content in this model,
focusing on raising awareness of #YouAreFootball. But every piece of
content we published yielded feedback that helped us hone our ideas.
Rather than just counting numbers in our weekly reports, we
conducted cumulative, qualitative analysis of fan conversation around
our content and judged this in the context of broader football
conversations. This allowed us to make agile adjustments to content
and assets with disproportionate effect.
For example, early in the season, the content we published from
Player and Manger Appearances (PAMs) was usually an image of a
famous player and a simple #YouAreFootball message. Analysis clearly
showed us that fans wanted to go beyond the ‘façade’ they see from
players on Sky Sports.
The film interview we made with Chelsea’s Gianlucca Vialli was a great
example of us reacting to this. Planners indentified an opportunity to
highlight the ‘nostalgic’ relationship that fans have with certain players
at a club and that Barclays’ ‘in the right way’ agenda was easier to
convey through these relationships.
Assessing our list of sponsorship assets, a PAM featuring Vialli
jumped out as the perfect opportunity. By conducting an editorial
quality interview, our journalists were able to get an exclusive quote
from Vialli that resonated deeply with Chelsea supporters and football
fans more broadly:
“I adore Chelsea fans, we fell in love with one another”.
The quote featured as a headline in stories on Chelsea blogs, The BBC
website and in the London Evening Standard. The film we created also
ran as a dedicated feature with full branding on Chelsea TV.
This optimisation process also helped us create content for other
Barclays channels. Branches, retail banking social media channels, DM
and email communications were all able to feature #YouAreFootball
content during the season because the insights that led to the content
all stemmed from the ‘in the right way’ positioning. The agile nature
of our reporting meant we could contribute to an existing program of
activity anywhere in Barclays’ business..Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands
Terms and conditions apply. For full details visit www.barclays.co.uk/youarefootball. Barclays Bank PLC.Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated
by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No.122702). Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.
Tell us why #YouAreFootball to win
Barclays Premier League tickets.
Visit barclays.co.uk/youarefootball
For going into extra time
when the whistle blows,
thank you.
#YouAreFootball
Terms and conditions apply. For full details visit www.barclays.co.uk/youarefootball. Barclays Bank PLC.Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated
by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No.122702). Registered office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP.
Tell us why #YouAreFootball to win
Barclays Premier League tickets.
Visit barclays.co.uk/youarefootball
For giving your time
to give others a shot,
thank you.
#YouAreFootball

10. Our reporting wasn’t just week to week. Monthly strategy reviews
discussed larger opportunities that our planners had unearthed
through content optimisation.
The most important discovery we made was that, for fans, being
‘closer’ really meant gaining acknowledgement that they give as
much as players do on game day. Our cumulative analysis gave us
confidence that this was a serious opportunity that deserved a large-
scale creative execution.
The idea that we developed to capitalise on this opportunity was
The #YouAreFootball Experiment, a world first that scientifically
compared fans across five cities, four teams and two continents. The
experiment measured heart rates to scientifically prove that fans who
love football ‘in the right way’ give as much as players on game day.
As well as being a giant logistical undertaking, The #YouAreFootball
Experiment required sign off from the Premier League, Liverpool
FC, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal and Manchester City. We also had to
work with industry-leading data analysts, sports scientists, cardiologists
and celebrity players to turn a clever advertising idea into an editorial
story that could be told around the world.
The Experiment was viewed over 1million times across YouTube and
Facebook within 48 hours of launching. Hundreds of websites and fan
blogs picked up the story. We also secured dedicated editorial segments
on BT Sport TV and Bloomberg TV as well as national press in the
UK and South Africa (5).
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands

11. The #YouAreFootball activation paid dividends for Barclays in a
number of ways. The Experiment alone delivered over £1million
of earned media reaching a conservatively estimated audience of
15million fans worldwide (6).
The weekly reporting optimisation process increased engagement
by 300% during the season, drastically improving reach and share of
voice for #YouAreFootball with fan numbers increasing by 80% on
digital channels (7).
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands
1.6% 16000
2.0% 20000
1.4% 14000
1.8% 18000
1.2% 12000
1.0% 10000
0.6% 6000
0.8% 8000
0.4% 4000
0.2% 2000
0.0%
13/08/2017 Aug 17 Sep 17 Oct 17 Nov 17 Dec 17 Jan 18 Feb 18 Mar 18 Apr 18
%Engagement
Mentions
Engagement Mentions
Improving Facebook engagement through optimisation Improving #YouAreFootball mentions through optimisation
13/10/2017 13/12/2017 13/02/2018

12. The operational changes we made during the #YouAreFootball
campaign have become a permanent reality at Barclays, providing a
framework for how the marketing team now co-ordinates assets and
content.
These content and operational results led to drastic improvements
in key perception metrics of trust and consideration during the
campaign. An independent Kantar tracker showed that consideration
for Barclays among football fans increased substantially from pre-
campaign levels. Over the same period, trust increased to the highest
levels since Barclays began tracking (8).
The commercial return of the brand impact we generated has been
estimated by Barclays to be worth £20million incremental value for
the UK retail bank. This was achieved using an activation budget of
£1million (9).
Barclays Premier League
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands
40% 16%
35% 14%
30% 12%
25% 10%
15% 6%
20% 8%
10% 4%
5% 2%
0% 0%
Early 12/13 Early 12/13
%TrustIncrease
%ConsiderationIncrease
Trust Consideration
#YouAreFootball Campaign
#YouAreFootball Campaign
Trust increase amoung football fans Consideration increase amoung football fans
Mid 12/13 Mid 12/13Late 12/13 Late 12/13Early 13/14 Early 13/14

13. • Sponsorship success should be assessed on central, business level
effectiveness measures rather than simple awareness or ‘media
efficiency’ figures.
• Allowing one agency to centrally control asset distribution is
far more efficient than devolving responsibility across multiple
partners.
• Using traditional brand planning principles to develop an initial
strategy is crucial, but this should be aligned with an empirically
based content optimization process that allows your sponsorship
to constantly make the most of assets and opportunities.
• Developing your ‘brand role’ from a fan point of view to deliver
against an unmet need, will broaden and deepen the influence of
your sponsorship.
1. Barclays Brand Metric Report 2013
2. Information supplied by Barclays retail bank Commercial Team
3. Taken from Sysmos Social Media study, football media analysis, cross
referenced with Mintel “Football – UK” report 2012.
4. Improvements in reach and engagements taken from Facebook.com/
BarclaysFootball viewing figures and youtube.com/barclaysfootballtv viewing
figures
5. Taken from Facebook.com/BarclaysFootball, youtube.com/barclayfootballtv
and Twitter.com/barclaysfooty and Gorkana media analysis
6. Taken from BARB reachfigures and value calculatd using AVE equivalent
7. Taken from Sysmos analysis
8. Taken from Kantar Barclays Premier League Mid Season analysis 2013
9. Supplied by Barclays Sponsorship Team using Kantar Barclays Premier
League Mid Season analysis 2013 and Barclays Retail Bank commercial
data on the assumption that the overall effect on non-fans would be neutral
and that the impact would be maintained for one year.
Barclays Premier League
Exec summary
word count:
176
Essay word count:
1945
Learning For Other Brands
Executive Summary
The Problem
The Opportunity:
Refocusing Opterations
Editorial Approach
Optimisation
Results
Learning For Other Brands