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Company: Wise Up PR, Boston, MA
Company Description: Wise Up PR is a global communications agency that partners with businesses, of all sizes, to help achieve their PR goals. Boasting a diverse level of B2B and B2C experience, we assist our clients to maximise the value of PR across every major English language media market.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Sport
 Nomination Title: Music Meets Sport: Immortalizing Bob Marley’s An Afternoon in the Park Gig On Bohemian FC’s Shirt
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
January 24, 2022.
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 17 words used.
A CoverageBook summary has been attached as a PDF to highlight the performance metrics of this campaign.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 247 words used.
On January 24, 2022, Bohemian Football Club (FC), in collaboration with the Bob Marley family and Bravado, Universal Music Group’s leading global merchandise division, launched a Bob Marley-inspired soccer shirt to the world. Yet behind the scenes there were many false dawns, and years of hard work including an aborted launch in 2018.
As clothing collaborations between celebrities and sports grow quickly, the story of how a professional Irish soccer club came to partner with one of the most recognizable music superstars is steeped in authenticity. Bob Marley’s last ever outdoor concert took place in Bohemian FC’s stadium, Dalymount Park, on July 6th, 1980. This newly released shirt pays homage to that famed Marley Dalymount gig, ‘An Afternoon in the Park’, in its design. It features the Rastafarian color scheme on the front, as well as the rear neck and sleeve trims, and an embroidered hem tag of the original concert ticket on the lower front. Most importantly, 10% of the profits from the shirt is being used by the club to purchase musical instruments and football equipment to provide to refugees in asylum centers across Ireland.
‘Bohs’, which is Ireland’s oldest soccer club, required a PR campaign that not only supported the shirt’s sales to a European audience, but also reached US sports fans, while also stressing the genuine heritage behind the shirt and its social justice message in media coverage. It partnered with Wise Up PR, a boutique US agency to hit an untapped audience.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
Strategy & Tactics
The central approach was heavily focused on achieving earned media placements across a host of international and sports publications. The idea was to then piggyback on this coverage through social media posts from these media outlets, driving sustained audience interest and engagement through both earned and social channels.
Three months out from launch day (24 October 2021), an intensive level of planning began to implement this media relations approach. Activities included:
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The preparation of campaign assets including:
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Hyper-targeted pre-pitching of critical journalists at key publications who were offered early access to the story under embargo. This resulted in launch coverage being achieved with US media titles like ESPN and Forbes
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Creation of a rapid response newsroom infrastructure, constantly staffed by two Wise Up PR team members, to go live on launch day and ensure constant engagement with media on this story for week one of launch
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Finally, to deal with any potential last-minute leaks ahead of the launch, a full suite of reactive comments and content was created in the event of an embargo break
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2020. Even if your initiative started before 2020, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2020 only (up to 250 words):
Total 229 words used.
Results
The campaign reached an audience of one billion, with over 150 pieces of earned media coverage being achieved and nearly 10 million estimated views of these articles (see CoverageBook summary for details). On social media, these articles were seen by an audience of over 50,000. High visibility and impactful US hits secured included CNN, ESPN, Forbes, Reuters, Rolling Stone as well as Spanish language coverage with CNN en Español. The launch website also achieved thousands of visits, with 30% coming from a US audience.
From launch day and supported by the strong media relations campaign, the US emerged as one of the primary destinations for sales of Bohemian FC’s Marley-inspired shirts.
In just three months, thousands of sales have come from the US market, with the shirt being most popular in (i) California (ii) New York and (iii) Florida. There is also currently a backlog of five weeks to receive a shirt given the extraordinary demand.
Dan Lambert, COO of Bohemian FC said: “This was by far Bohs’ most successful shirt launch in our 131 years. PR was a central part of this strong performance. Not only did the coverage support sales, but it also boosted the club’s brand awareness especially concerning our working on social issues. With this foothold now being achieved in the US market, we look forward to building from this strong position.”
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