SMARTWATER X EPL

The Challenge

As part of The Coca-Cola Company’s multi-brand partnership with the Premier League, Smartwater needed help on how and where the premium water brand could show up in football, having not taken the brand into sports previously and more known for their work with Jennifer Anniston.

The Work

I created a partnership strategy that would help outline the many different facets of football fandom across the EPL and which audience group would be right for Smartwater to target and how to create relevant content and activations to engage them.

As a newcomer to football, Smartwater needed to earn the right to play and not try to be everything to everyone. As a premium water brand I outlined the subset of football fans who would be relevant to target, which I called the Football Experience Seekers. This audience group is a set of fans who are looking for memorable, premium experiences when it comes to sports; think hospitality packages, VIP tickets, Man City’s Tunnel Club, Fulham’s Riverside Club etc. This audience with more disposable income is willing to spend more across products and experiences and would show Smartwater that they don’t need to target every football fan and can narrow in and tailor specific activations and content for this audience.

This work is still ongoing but includes utilising the exclusive, VIP and hospitality experiences within the broader rights package available to TCCC brands as part of creator engagement and football fan engagement.

THE ROLE I PLAYED

Lead strategist that developed the audience segmentation, including football fan qual research around match day experiences, which informed how and where Smartwater showed up as part of the partnership strategy toolkit.