ESPN Teams Up With Youtuber Ksi
ESPN has unveiled its marketing campaign for the summer’s football, joining forces with YouTuber, Olajide “JJ” Olatunji, also known as KSI.
The sports media company is producing a series of videos featuring the YouTube star, who has 13 million subscribers, which will be released on its multi-sport website ESPN.co.uk over the course of the tournament.
The content is centred around the “ESPN Inn” – the specially branded clubhouse where filming took place – and features football challenges, skits and interviews. KSI is joined by fellow YouTubers Manny and Calfreezy – the three regularly appear in each other’s videos. ESPN has also enlisted the help of footballers including Frank Lebouef, who makes an appearance in a penalty challenge.
The videos will be hosted on ESPN.co.uk/ESPNInn and used across ESPN’s UK football coverage, as well as episodes appearing on each of KSI, Calfreezy and Manny’s main YouTube channels.
ESPN’s coverage of EURO 2016 includes a new digital exclusive show, EURO After Dark presented by ESPN FC host Alison Bender, as well as a collaboration with KICK to create a video series following one fan’s road trip from New York to a tour around Europe. This new video content supplements ESPN’s UEFA Euro 2016 previews, match reports, exclusive interviews with players such as France’s Paul Pogba and Germany’s Manuel Neuer, plus comment from its line-up of writers and bloggers from across Europe
Commenting on the campaign, Charly Classen, vice president and general manager, ESPN – Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “ESPN is one of the biggest sports brands in the world, and KSI is one of the biggest YouTube stars in the world, collaborating on this is a great way to complement our wide coverage and promote this summer’s football through a different lens to a new audience. The ESPN Inn video series celebrates the excitement and anticipation all fans feel when a major tournament comes around, and perfectly complements our extensive editorial coverage.”
Image: ©Getty Images
