An LA Galaxy promotional effort this year aimed to connect the club with local artists while raising money for charity through a series of match posters that celebrate the team, its players and the city of Los Angeles.
The result? More than $7,500 raised for the LA Galaxy Foundation with an effort that served to be both exclusive and shareable.
“Everything we do with our club, we try to tie together all the different constituents around it,” said Brendan Hannan, senior director of communications and digital media at the Galaxy. “Our team and fans are big into art and music, and we feel this gives us a chance to brand the Galaxy in a unique manner.”
For each of the team’s 17 regular-season home matches, the Galaxy had a poster
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Posters created by local artists for each home match were shareable through social media, and limited physical copies were available for sale.
Photo by: COURTESY OF LA GALAXY
|
created by an artist specifically themed for that game. The artists varied throughout the year, ranging from local artists to Galaxy defender Dan Gargan, with each effort being donated to the club.
When a particular game carried a presenting sponsor, that sponsor received a nod on the poster as well, an extension that highlighted such partners as M&M’s and El Torito restaurant.
To commemorate the final four home games of the regular season, the Galaxy commissioned graphic design group Ames Bros, which has worked with artists such as Pearl Jam, Coldplay and Neil Young, to design the posters.
In the run-up to each match, the particular poster was teased online two days before the game — touted via the team’s website and to its 1.85 million followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Fans also were able to download versions to use as backgrounds for their phone or computer, or to just share across social media themselves.
The effort prompted tens of thousands of social interactions with the promotion for each game, Hannan said.
The effort was slated to continue through the Galaxy’s postseason run.
While the art was to be shared with as many people as possible online, Hannan said the team decided to keep the physical copies to a limit, selling about 50 copies of each poster per game. “We wanted to keep it limited and give some sense of exclusivity to our fans,” he said.
The posters were priced at $20 each, with all proceeds going toward the LA Galaxy Foundation, the team’s nonprofit organization aimed at helping children through education, health and soccer-based initiatives.
The foundation also was able to use the players for additional fundraising elements around the posters, auctioning off signed editions online, said Lauren Nowinski, manager of community relations for the team and foundation. There are plans to use the designs for a holiday card series this winter, as well.
While the in-game, jersey-off-the-back sale remains the king of fundraising for the foundation, Nowinski said the poster series not only helped to chip away at the foundation’s $590,000 fundraising goal set for this year, but it also provided an invaluable form of awareness and branding.
“It really allowed us to create something new and unique for every home match, and created a lot of buzz around the foundation at the stadium,” she said. “With the limited run, there was an urgency to come to the game and check out the stand where they were sold.”
Hannan said the team plans to continue the series next year, hopefully with a wider variety of artists and different styles. And while he declined to name any clubs specifically, Hannan said the Galaxy has fielded a number of inquiries from NBA and NHL teams interested in doing similar programs.
“There is a lot of artistry in how the game of soccer is played, as well as in sports in general,” he said. “I think we’ve found a really cool opportunity to let artists show their connection to our team and our city that our fans really connect with.”
