Manchester City are advertising for influencers to showcase “the electrifying atmosphere that only Champions League live football matches can deliver” following their uninspiring draw for the group stage of the competition.
The English champions have been pitted against Dynamo Zagreb, Shakhtar Donetsk and Atalanta. The ad on the influencer marketing platform Tribe admits the draw “has given us three relatively unknown teams”, which means the club’s “core fans are less likely to attend”.
So City are looking for “male students, young professionals and those new to Manchester (aged 18 to 55)” to post content that can “tell an authentic and genuine story of what it’s like to be at a game”. Potential influencers have been asked to set a fee for their work.
To apply, influencers with at least 5,000 followers have to submit a shot that showcases “the electrifying atmosphere that only Champions League live football matches can deliver”.
The content should be “high energy and compelling with attendance to the live event an essential focus”. It should also be “fan-centric” and have “an element of FOMO (fear of missing out)“. Last night City beat Atalanta 5-1 at the Etihad to top Group C with a perfect record of three wins from three.
The campaign comes as new research by Edinburgh-based social media agency Pilotfish Media estimates that 58% of City’s 15 million Instagram followers and 33% of its 7.2 million Twitter followers are fake.
This was the third-highest proportion of fake followers among brands analysed, after Nike (61% on Instagram; 28% on Twitter) and Foot Locker (55% on Instagram, 34% on Twitter).
