BT X DISCOVER DISABILITY FOOTBALL

BT x Discover Disability Football

Para and disability football is a key focus within BT’s transformational 4-3-3 sponsorship strategy as lead partner of the England, Wales, Scotland & Northern Ireland Football Associations. With over 14 million disabled people in the UK, disability football has received little or no exposure and consequently been overlooked by audiences and sponsors.

Using UN recognised ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’ as a key moment to leverage, BT launched a platform and positive call-to-action #DiscoverDisabilityFootball through a ground-breaking partnership with Reach PLC. Key objectives: Increase awareness & profile of disability football, educate fans & UK public, drive conversation, inspire participation & future talent.

Highlights:

• Campaign delivered across print, online, social & podcast media, nationally and regionally, reaching 3.67 million adults
• Back page sports cover takeover with 5 different creatives across 2 national and 26 regional titles, placed disability football where mainstream football news would typically be for the first time
• #DiscoverDisabilityFootball received 121 mentions, and delivered 30.2 million impressions
• The campaign drove an increase of 218% in conversation around disability football compared to the previous 7 days and 118% vs 2019
• A number of direct enquiries about disability football to FA’s as a result of the campaign

We did not stop there, BT have continued raising awareness of the Para and Disability game, encouraging more people to #DiscoverDisabilityFootball. In July 2021, BT Sport (part of BT Group) broadcast The FA Disability Cup for the first time ever. The free to view coverage across TV, App & Facebook platforms was the most accessible live broadcast of football matches in the UK to date. BT also created an original content series ‘Para Football Adventures’ with presenters Alex Brooker and Chelcee Grimes visiting each Home Nation to shine a light on both national disability teams and emerging talent, to inspire the next generation.