Paramount Hires ‘King’s Speech’ Director to Helm Ad Promoting UEFA Champions League to NFL Fans (Exclusive)
Can football (the American version) deliver a new audience to football (the European version)?
Paramount+ and CBS Sports are betting that it can.
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With the UEFA Champions League season set to kick off its knockout stage on Feb. 13 (just two days after Super Bowl LVIII), the company plans to leverage the AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens on Jan. 28 — to drive interest in the top European soccer league.
CBS will air a new commercial — directed by The King’s Speech and Les Misérables helmer Tom Hooper — meant to celebrate American fans of the “Beautiful Game.” The spots will run during the AFC Championship on CBS this Sunday, (the game will also stream on Paramount+).
“Research shows there is a high crossover between young and diverse football and soccer fans,” said Rob Stecklow, senior VP of program marketing, sports & news at Paramount+. “We view this campaign as a tremendous opportunity to reach a new and emerging soccer audience with a fun and clever approach, helping them to become passionate viewers of the UEFA Champions League on Paramount+.”
The campaign, which features the tagline “Nobody Watches Like U.S.” celebrates the fact that Americans watch their favorite UEFA teams in the middle of the day of the middle of the week. The initial spot sees fans singing the UCL anthem while sneaking a watch of the game in their office, or in a moving truck or working in a restaurant kitchen.
The style will be familiar to those that watched Hooper’s take on Les Misérables. Watch the first spot below:
“The work of 72andSunny and the supremely talented Tom Hooper perfectly captures the unique viewing experience of American soccer fans in this humorous way while honoring the iconic Champions League anthem,” Stecklow says.
“This project’s come such a long way since we were attempting to sing the Champions League anthem in early presentations (thanks to the Paramount+ team for putting up with us), all the way to the incredible Tom Hooper bringing it to life in film,” adds Dan White, creative director for 72andSunny, which produced the spot for Paramount+ and CBS Sports. Our goal was to celebrate the unique dedication of U.S. soccer fans, to make them feel proud and a part of something bigger. And in the iconic anthem we found the perfect tool to highlight these fans’ tales and kick off the campaign with something epic.”
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