Gatorade to Support PlayFootball

Gatorade has teamed up with PlayFootball, doctor the national small sided football brand, in a five year brand partnership agreement.

Small sided football is one of the highest participation sports in the UK, with over 2.6 million regular players each week. This compares with 1.8 million players of 11-a-side football.

PlayFootball is one of the fastest growing branded operators now with 13 owned centres throughout the UK including PlayFootball Romford, which opened in October. The centres provide between 10 and 14 purpose built 5 and 7-a-side football courts with the latest all weather 3G surface, floodlights, rebound boards, roof nets, ample car parking, sports bar and club house changing rooms. In addition to the destination centres themselves, PlayFootball also provides a service model which embraces 24/7 on line engagement including fixtures, results and league table services and a social media platform.

PlayFootball CEO Barry Hunter explains “We are delighted to have Gatorade as a long term brand partner. We provide a unique opportunity for brands to engage with their target audience in a relevant environment, at the point of sweat. Our customers are regular so frequency of reach is high but we also benefit from long dwell times, which give Gatorade time to engage in a manner most other communication channels cannot offer.”

Gatorade joins adidas as the second brand to partner PlayFootball. Hunter continues “We aim to develop a limited number of complimentary brand partners who are looking to target 18-30 year old males. We aim to fully understand a brands communication strategy and develop unique solutions for them.”

Ashley Read, Marketing Manager of Gatorade, added: “We are thrilled with the new partnership with PlayFootball as it’s a great opportunity to communicate and educate a unique audience. To get started over the next six months, we’ll be investing over 400 hours of sampling and athlete nutrition presentations across the PlayFootball estate to start our journey of educating athletes on the benefits of hydration during sport.”