Industry Shorts: Mcdonald’s, Bbc, B-engaged

McDonald’s celebrated the milestone of providing five million hours of its community scheme Fun Football to children in the UK.

The milestone was reached a year ahead of its initial 2022 goal, and to take the programme up to the five million mark, the food chain gave children from grassroots clubs across the country the chance to play on the Wembley pitch alongside legends including Sir Geoff Hurst and Frank Lampard.

McDonald’s says it saw a 111% increase in new registrations for the free sessions, while it also says it had to host more sessions for youngsters inspired to play because of UEFA EURO 2020.

BBC Sport’s coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games saw a record-breaking 104 million requests to watch the action online throughout the duration of the competition. 

The number of online viewing requests was the highest ever, beating the 74.4 million record set at the Rio 2016 Games.

The men’s 100m final was the most watched event on TV with 5 million viewers on BBC One, followed closely by the women’s 100m final which saw 4.5m viewers. 3.6m watched Max Whitlock in the men’s pommel horse final. The most requested moments online were Lauren Williams’ gold medal taekwondo contest with 2.5m requests, and Charlotte Dujardin earning her fifth Olympic medal as Team GB secured bronze in the team dressage final with 2.4m requests. 

Alphonso Davies will launch his first NFT collection on Binance NFT Marketplace this week with a collection featuring three unique designs created by US illustrator Jack Perkins.

The Bayern Munich star teamed up with UK-based agency B-Engaged for the project, which saw a four-week social media campaign invite fans to vote on each aspect of the design.

The campaign drove over 1.25 million votes across the design process and reached over 5 million people, showcasing the huge appetite amongst a sporting audience for the NFT collection.

Through Binance’s ‘Mystery Box’ platform, three winners will receive the limited Gold edition NFT which holds signed Bayern Munich shirts from Davies, as well as one Platinum edition winner, who will experience a once in a lifetime experience at a Bayern game as well as a meet and greet experience with Davies on the day. 

Audio company JBL has launched a new content series, ‘Sound of Jesse’, which sees the brand’s ambassador and Manchester United footballer Jesse Lingard share the music choices that he credits as the ‘soundtrack to his career’. 

The picks include the likes of Vanessa Carlton’s 1000 Miles and So Solid Crew’s 21 Seconds, as well as the music the United team listened to on the bus after winning the 2017 Europa League final, such as tracks from Mist and MoStack.

London Marathon Events (LME) has renewed its partnership with TAG Heuer.

The Swiss luxury watch brand has been the Official Timekeeper of the London Marathon since 2016, and will continue in the role until 2023 under the new agreement, which runs from after this year’s Virgin Money London Marathon.

The 2021 edition takes place on Sunday 3rd October and will feature up to 50,000 runners on the traditional route from Greenwich to the famous finish on The Mall and up to 50,000 runners in the virtual event, where participants complete the 26.2 miles on the course of the choice anywhere in the world between 00:00 – 23:59:59 BST on the day.

Global digital content publisher RugbyPass says it has seen a ‘massive uplift’ in its audience numbers during 2021, reaching a high point as it surpassed four million users during the British & Irish Lions Tour to South Africa.

During the 6-week tour, RugbyPass hosted a new live show format broadcast live from London Welsh, Harpenden and Farnham rugby clubs and reached over 300,000 viewers online. It also offered a blend of news, insight, analysis, and entertainment, including regular features from ex-British & Irish Lion Ben Kay as well as debates from some of rugby’s biggest names, including former Lions Stephen Ferris, Adam Jones, Jamie Roberts, Shane Williams, Simon Zebo and Jack Nowell. 

The publisher says its 24-hour peak audience reached 659,550 unique users in the aftermath of the Second Test.

Envision Virgin Racing has announced a multi-year partnership with Italian sportswear brand C.P. Company from Season 8 of the Formula E World Championship.

The brand will build on its motorsport heritage and supply the team with an exclusive range of race and travel wear. It will also collaborate with the team to maximise their marketing strategies throughout the partnership.

C.P. Company’s fashion will be worn by the team’s personnel, with items in the collection made from 100% recycled fabric which contains no raw materials and requires 62% less energy to be manufactured. Envision Virgin Racing says common ethos and focus on sustainability will see both companies join forces to promote the team’s Race Against Climate Change movement.