Mars has launched a new campaign in support of the England, Wales and Northern Ireland national football teams in advance of the Euro 2016 football tournament in France. The ‘#Believe’ activity features a £4.1m marketing spend and limited edition packaging.
A TV ad campaign featuring Premier League and England nation team stars Danny Welbeck, Harry Kane and Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy breaks on May 15th, with cinema, radio and poster ads supporting it. The TV ad can be viewed on Mars UK’s YouTube channel here.
#Believe branded Mars chocolate bars are being introduced across the range of single bars, duos, four packs and nine packs.
Mars has been an official supporter of The FA since 2009. In 2006 for the World Cup in Germany, it changed the name of the bar on the packaging to ‘Believe’ and it has used the idea on and off ever since.
Mars will be challenging the public to submit ‘singing selfies’, filming themselves as they sing the lyrics to an England song and sharing this online using the campaign hashtag, #Believe.
Greg Kent, Mars brand manager, said: “International football tournaments ignite the passion of England fans like no other sporting event. Up to 20 million people are set to watch each match at Euro 2016 with a potential audience of 15.3 million UK football fans predicted to be on Twitter at any one time during a game. As we all know, the twelfth man can make all the difference in football, and through our multi-channelled campaign we hope we can give the England football team the extra edge they need to go all the way in France.”
Wales and Northern Ireland also qualified to take part in this year’s tournament, and the Mars #Believe campaign will extend to retailers in these home nations, with a range of POS solutions which feature fan imagery and the nations’ colours too.
Although Scotland did not qualify, Mars is still providing an exclusive overlay for Scottish stores and continuing the campaign presence on-pack while also running a competition offering Scottish fans the chance for two people to win a kickabout with a Scottish International footballer.
