Finally!
It’s here! Americans and expatriates who enjoy European
football finally get to watch their sport on tv without having to pay for an
extra 200 channels just to watch the Premier League. Thanks to NBC, people like myself with basic cable no longer
have to pay ridiculous prices for access to one channel or endure sketchy, poor quality illegal streaming sites to
watch the world’s greatest league.
Perfect Timing
Thanks to the FIFA video games and increased access to view live games, America has experienced an influx of the European game into its culture,
especially in the high school/college scenes.
NBC has entered at the perfect moment, and with a bang.
Outstanding Marketing
What really makes NBC stand out in my eyes is their ability
to market without singling anyone out.
New to soccer? It's okay,
they provide images (like the one below) to help you catch up without alienating the
already devout followers. The
commentators insist they will not dumb down their discussion, but rather help bring everyone
up to speed.
My personal favorite from this promotional campaign is the commercial with comedian,
Jason Sudeikis, acting as an American football coach that moves to the north London
team where it becomes obvious he is out of his league (yes, I know it's a bad joke).
Other notable examples are the giant billboard in Time
Square and the fictional map of North London teams transposed on a map of New York
City (telling you who you should support, i.e. the rich folk of Manhattan fall in the Man City section). Even subway cars were transformed to resemble team benches where you "choose
your side."
