After a long “grey area” phase, Product Placement has recently been regulated in Germany, banning it under some conditions, but also explicitly allowing it in many formats. Especially in cultural environments, Product Placement has always been very limited, and still is. Until now the only way to present a brand is through sponsorships, which create low awareness and barely no interaction.

The promotion was on the 19th April 2015 directly outside of the stadium of Bremen – from 3 hours before the kick-off until the end of the game. Mobile promotion teams wearing the green (Bremen) and blue (fHamburg) directly addressed fans from the respective supporter groups who were looking for tickets.

At the green promotion stall fans were able to scan a QR Code getting them to a microsite. Via the site, one half of the tv-screen was streamed. At the blue promotion stall a specific QR code only for Hamburg supporters was given out which enabled them to stream their part of the half of the screen. The goal was to team up one Bremen and one Hamburg supporter who would place their smartphones next to each other and jointly watch the 'Nordderby' full-screen. Our viewers received an exclusive Sky subscription offer and could sign up for the Sky newsletter.

"The Match" was one of the trend topics on Twitter and Facebook. National football blogs, daily newspapers and TV channels reported on the promotions, overall the promotion generated an unpaid media volume of about 5.1 million Euros. Not least because of that the number of subscribers of the Sky football packages increased significantly after the promotion to 7.8 percent compared to the previous year. Already after the match the participants of the promotion were able to subscribe to the Sky football offer for a reduced price and sign up for the Sky newsletter. The emotional result of the promotion was most important: Divisions between opposing fans were bridged, the joint viewing experience was more important than traditional rivalries. The winner was the love of football.