Virgin Media extends football fan partnership

Virgin Media is expanding its campaign to support football matchgoers across the country.

The brand is subsidising every away ticket bought by fans of Premier League teams for two weekends this month to cut through Sky and BT’S domination of the sport.

It is the second instalment of Virgin Media’s work to promote “Twenty’s plenty”, the Football Supporters’ Federation campaign for lower ticket prices.

Lloyd Page, director of brand communications at Virgin Media, told Campaign that the company wants to be firmly “on the side of the fans”.

He said: “For us, success is about raising awareness of the FSF campaign and seeing lots of fans brought in from this initiative.

“Our purpose is about making good things happen. People should expect this from every brand. We are a challenger brand that stands up for people.”

Virgin Media is the headline sponsor of the FSF and also a shirt sponsor of Premier League club Southampton. In August last year, the brand announced plans to give £10 back to away fans travelling to Southampton during the 2016/17 season.

Away ticket prices are capped by the Premier League at £30. However, the FSF believes they should be lower to encourage fans to attend football matches during Easter weekend and the following week.

Page would not be drawn on whether the multibillion-pound rights deals to show exclusive football on BT Sport and Sky were a good or bad thing for football supporters. The FSF wrote to Ofcom last year saying that it was against an expansion of live matches on TV.

Page added: “Virgin is a customer people champion disruption brand. There is an attitude and feeling to what we do. This activation hits that sweet spot and is a cause that people care about.”

The campaign was conceived by Manning Gottlieb OMD.