Manchester City, The Etihad and atmosphere: It's been a complicated relationship.
The Emptihad moniker is not for nothing, after all. This is especially true during midweek Champions League games.
Which is why, obviously, they needed to do something about it. That something, as shared by photographer Ami Ford on Twitter, was the decision to pay 'influencers' to essentially promote the (honest, guv!) 'great atmosphere' at the stadium.
Man City are looking to pay influencers to promote their ‘great’ atmosphere at the Eithad thought it couldn’t get any worse but they’re only looking for men too! Didn’t know girls couldn’t like football 珞 embarrassing! pic.twitter.com/IZ3Hy1zbZj
— Ami Ford (@amifordphoto) October 22, 2019
The advertisement was placed on influencer marketing platform/job site TRIBE and reads: “The Champions League this year has given us 3 relatively unknown teams meaning our core fans are less likely to attend.
[Yeah, that's why. Anyway...]
“We identified students, young professionals and those new to Manchester who are our ideal audiences, however we can’t ignore core fans either as they still account for most ticket sales.
“We want to get across the great atmosphere of the Etihad through the use of influencers who can tell an authentic and genuine story of what it’s like to be at a game.”
Under the sub-heading 'content we'd love from you' it went on to say that 'Mancunians and/or Man City
What wasn't so open-minded was their strictly male requirements... because why would you want a younger female fan to promote your brand, when you can have a 55-year-old man do it, AMIRITE?
As for that sweet sweet content they'd love, it should be 'fan-centric' and have an 'element of FOMO at its core'. *Deep breath*. It also 'needs to be high energy and compelling with attendance to the live event an essential focus'.
Luckily, it doesn't all have to come from the inside the ground, and in the last part of the brief they stress that it can be stuff like a 'group of mates singing and walking to the stadium together'. How wholesome. All subsequent posts must include the hashtag #notjustanyclub, because, well, why not rip off Marks & Spencer too.
This is MCFC... OK?
Source : 90min