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Leicester City's Premier League victory was an advertising win for these 4 brands

Walkers, Sekonda, Virgin Media and Captain Morgan used Leicester City's win as an advertising opportunity

Hazel Sheffield
Wednesday 04 May 2016 17:55 BST
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Walkers took out a full-page advert in The Sun featuring a nearly-naked Gary Lineker
Walkers took out a full-page advert in The Sun featuring a nearly-naked Gary Lineker (Walkers)

Leicester City's Premier League win has already been hailed as one of the greatest achievements in sporting history.

The football club is expected to earn upwards of £150 million after winning the trophy against odds of 5000-1 when Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur drew 2-2 at Stamford Bridge on Monday night.

But the club isn't the only one reaping the benefits of the win, after many brands rushed to send tweets and release tactical ads celebrating the City's unlikely heroes.

Mark Diamond, strategy director at Brand Union, said the targetted adverts are a way for brands to cosy up to their customers - just as long as they get it right.

1. Virgin Media

Diamond said that a brand like Virgin Media, with tonnes of charisma, can get away with cracking jokes and acting like a real person might do.

In bus stop adverts, Virgin Media linked Leicester City's win with its own services, stating: “Proof that the best football isn't the most expensive.”

“It’s relevant to Virgin Media’s services. But above all it feels genuine, because it comes from a brand so human it could have been sitting in front of the telly last night, biting its nails with the rest of us,” Diamond said.

2. Walkers Crisps

Walkers took out a full-page advert in The Sunfeaturing a nearly-naked Gary Lineker, its brand ambassador, who is a Leicester native.

The advert follows Lineker's promise on Match Of The Day that he would strip down to his pants on TV if Leicester won the title.

Walkers are following this with special edition “salt and victory” crisps as part of their celebration of the team's win. They could scarcely have hoped for a better brand ambassador this football season.

3. Captain Morgan

Captain Morgan also chose to run a full-page in The Sun advertising a special edition bottle of its rum, with the Captain of the name switched out for Leicester City captain Wes Morgan.

The tag line on the bottle reads: “Well played, Wes. Today there's #OnlyOneCaptainMorgan”.

4. Sekonda Watches

Sekonda, the “official timing partner” of Leicester City, also ran a congratulatory advert the day after the club's win, telling supporters to “beware of expensive imitations”.

But Diamond said their advert fell short of the mark.

“The irony of all this is that Sekonda probably care a lot more than Virgin Media do. As Leicester City’s ‘official timing partner’ they must have been cheering them on all season. The opportunity to release an ad like this one must be a dream come true,” Diamond said.

“Sekonda just doesn’t feel human enough to truly care about City’s triumph over the odds, and so the message has more than a whiff of ‘bandwagon’ about it,” he added.

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