The Industry Column – Beko

Matthew Jones, Senior Marketing Manager at Beko plc – an Official Supporter of the FA Cup – about its involvement with the competition and the recent acquisition of Jamie Redknapp as its brand ambassador. 

What is Beko’s involvement within sport at the moment, and what attracted you to the FA Cup in particular?

In recent years sport, particularly football, has featured prominently in our marketing of the Beko brand. We have invested consistently in perimeter board advertising at Premiership football grounds which has increased brand recall, whilst a two year shirt sponsorship of local team Watford FC became a prominent part of our community activity.

Last year we set out to build a greater connection with our consumers and we believe that the FA Cup will enable us to do this. Together, we can deliver the excitement of this competition to families as well as the next generation of football fans, their children and local communities.

Our partnership will run until the end of the 2013/14 football season granting us an extensive range of image rights, advertising and promotional opportunities around the competition. Its world famous heritage and reputation for being inclusive made it a hugely attractive and exciting proposition for us as a leader in home appliances.

What are the challenges of an appliance brand backing a sport competition?

This is a huge and exciting opportunity for us to widen the interest of sport outside of young adult men by bringing the Beko household appliance offering to life for mums and families. We work hard to deliver appliances that will make a real difference to busy mums’ everyday lives – whether that’s through helpful technology that saves them time, or our commitment to energy saving that reduces their household bills.

Whilst it may seem that brands such as Budweiser, Umbro and William Hill are a more natural and expected fit for a football competition, we recognise the important role that sport plays in family lives. The FA Cup provides us with the platform to connect with families through one of the UK’s biggest shared passions – football. 

Through our communications activity – including TV, PR and in-store – we will be able to deliver the Beko story to our audience of mums and their families. The Beko Schools FA Cup Trophy Tour allows us to demonstrate to hundreds of school children across the country the importance of fair play, taking part and contributing to a team. Following the success of the London 2012 Olympic torch relay last summer, we will bring Beko and the FA Cup into local communities to make it more accessible and to further drive the excitement that the competition creates.

You have recently announced Jamie Redknapp as a brand ambassador, how did you decide on him?

In 2012 we hosted a poll on Beko Mums United’s Facebook page to find out which celebrity they felt would be a good fit for the brand. Jamie Redknapp proved very popular not just because of his relationship with football, as an ex player and Sky Sports pundit, but more importantly his role as a father to two young sons and as a husband. We listened to our consumers and knew that they would be able to relate to him as a family man. Jamie brings credibility when talking about juggling family life with his career in media and football.

We are working with Mercieca to deliver our PR activation and manage the relationship with Jamie. He will join us on our Beko Schools FA Cup Trophy Tour throughout February and March, be the face of our Mums of the Season competition launching on our Beko Mums United Facebook page next month and also help us to find future footballing talent through a grassroots activity in the spring at St George’s Park.

Beko has a large presence in social media, particularly with Beko Mums United on Facebook as you mentioned, is this an important part of your overall strategy?

We launched our Facebook page, Beko Mums United, back in 2011 and it has grown to become a successful component in our marketing activity. We’re very aware of the role social media can play within any marketing campaign and with over 75,000 fans, Beko Mums United Facebook page has allowed us to be part of our mums and dads social conversations.

Our social activity continues to evolve and grow, and Facebook is yet another way in which we are able to gauge feedback from our audience – their opinions, views and priorities; whilst they are able to keep up-to-date with our latest developments in real time. We use it as a vehicle to give something back through exclusive competitions and content that isn’t available anywhere else, which helps us to build strong relationships with our consumers. 

The deal runs through to next season, do you expect to expand the sponsorship in 2013/14?

We are already planning the 2013/14 season, and intend to make it even bigger, better and bolder. We are looking to build on the legacy of the FA Cup and Beko, whilst continuing to reward mums and their families. There is plenty more to come from Beko.