Challenge
The positioning of the Emirates FA Cup has traded on ‘The Magic Of The Cup’. Whilst maintaining its position as the most iconic club competition in football, the 150 year legacy is losing significance and cultural cachet with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, as more socially focused and culturally relevant competitions draw the attention of younger football fans.
Insight
NERDS tapped into our proprietary data pool to identify and map The Football Culture Fan. For this young and diverse consumer football remains a way of life but how they connect to the game has expanded to involve multiple touch points. Football’s cultural currency and influence is no longer being generated by teams, leagues, federation clubs and traditional news broadcasters, but by players with cultural flare and ‘social-first’ football culture broadcasters. The football social landscape is incredibly fragmented and diverse, with equity charged through culture and not on the pitch.
Strategy
NERDS provided the Emirates FA Cup with a cultural strategy rooted in style, to reignite the social relevance and cultural equity of the competition through off-pitch collaborations, centring the EFAC at the heart of grassroots style culture. Emirates FA Cup Presents combined the heritage of football's most established club competition with the design passions of the UK's most exciting streetwear brands.
