In sports, competition fuels fandom and passion. However, Major League Soccer (MLS) is setting rivalries aside in favor of unifying the league’s 30 teams under one message: being a soccer fan is fun and entertaining.
The campaign, “MLS Is Back,” launches during a pivotal year for soccer in North America. The FIFA World Cup starts in June, a few months after the MLS season begins, and will be played across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The global event offers the MLS a unique opportunity to reach large audiences.
A unique challenge
Unifying the MLS brand under one campaign required strategic thinking from MLS chief marketing officer Radhika Duggal. She and her team had to balance the overall brand’s goals with the league’s 30 different clubs, each with their own agenda and identity.
The answer to negotiating that complexity was to focus on a universal experience that Duggal and her team wanted fans to feel.
“We spent some time really trying to answer the question, ‘What does Major League Soccer stand for?’” she said. “Where we really boiled it down to is our brand has to be about fun and entertainment.”
Three new ads demonstrate that vision.
“The Call,” a social-first spot created in partnership with Ogilvy, features NBA legend and Los Angeles FC owner Magic Johnson calling and playfully engaging with the league’s biggest stars. It debuted on Feb. 12 before the season opening.
Two additional ads, created in partnership with Mercado McCann, feature fans embracing the joy and drama of the sport while watching games with their friends and families. These will roll out nationally on broadcast and social coinciding with opening weekend on Feb. 21.
Targeting fans old and new
A primary goal of the “MLS Is Back” campaign is boosting the passion of current fans while bringing in new ones. The key, according to Duggal, is knowing the fans inside and out.
“We have an incredibly robust digital marketing engine—and credit to just a number of folks in our team that run each of those channels very thoughtfully and intentionally and in an orchestrated way to make sure we know who the customer is,” she said.
This data allows MLS to interact with fans in authentic ways, like sending them a timely story about their favorite player or team.
