Objectives

The LA Galaxy Marketing, Communications and Digital department aimed to utilize the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to continue to position the LA Galaxy as the premier club in North America while driving cultural relevance and maximizing all potential revenue opportunities for the LA Galaxy, StubHub Center and AEG.

Strategy and Execution

Create and execute a fully realized cross-functional plan which emphasizes Zlatan Ibrahimovic' signing with the LA Galaxy through targeted marketing, effective public relations and a robust content and social plan which reinforces the LA Galaxy's brand position as an elite club, with elite players that represent the winning culture of Los Angeles.

• Viral video released via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, www.lagalaxy.com and distributed to media
  • Video featured first video of Zlatan in an LA Galaxy jersey alongside a live lion rented in Manchester. Zlatan ends video by saying: "LA, welcome to Zlatan."
  • Facebook: Zlatan arrival video reached 758k, had 266k video views; Instagram: 485K views; Twitter: 30,235 retweets, 2.18M views
  • Zlatan's pages:
    • Facebook: Announcement video 4.3 M views 424k likes 48k shares
  • Instagram: Announcement 4.5 M views
  • Twitter: Announcement 1.12M views 23k retweets
• Full page ad in Los Angeles Times
  • The LA Galaxy placed a full-page ad in the LA Times that read: "Dear Los Angeles, You're Welcome" and was signed by Zlatan.
  • The ad in the LA Times received over 22,000 retweets from ESPN reporter who first retweeted (@DaleJohnsonESPN)
  • The LA Times ad from the LA Galaxy was featured on ESPN's SportsCenter, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, NBC, CBS, Sky Sports, BBC, Bleacher Report, among numerous other national and international media, instantly going viral
• Press release – delivered to over 2,000 local, national and international outlets (TV, radio, print, online, magazine, digital)
  • Release included first photos of Zlatan in LA Galaxy jersey, first video interview with Zlatan as Galaxy member
• Out of Home Marketing
  • Placed billboard in Hollywood mirroring movie nominee
  • Placed 10 digital billboards throughout LA announcing Zlatan signing
• Digital marketing (boost content to drive ticket sales revenue)
• Digital/Social #zLAtan campaign across Twitter/Instagram
• Executed weeklong media tour of Zlatan for print, broadcast and radio

Results

The LA Galaxy's announcement of Zlatan Ibrahimovic earned worldwide media coverage and attention across every metric, outlet and media type.

• Total news articles: 25,062
• Total news articles ad value equivalency: $191,190,452.08
  • *Ad value equivalency: cost of buying the space taken up by a piece of media coverage, had that coverage been an advertisement.
• 3,644 different media outlets reported on news
  • Sample media outlets: Forbes, ESPN, USA Today, AP, Yahoo!, New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, NBC Sports, Fox News, Fox Sports, Daily Mail, Telegraph, Sports Illustrated, Marca, MSN, CBS Sports, Business Insider, Goal.com
• Articles appeared in 130 different countries
  • United Kingdom: 3,060 articles
  • United States: 2,883 articles
  • Germany: 1,494 articles
  • France: 1,134 articles
  • Sweden: 1,187 articles
• News articles in 43 separate languages
  • English: 7,914
  • Spanish / Castilian: 2,018
  • German: 1,724
  • French: 1,383
  • Swedish: 1,187
• Zlatan's debut more than doubled the previous highest total volume (240K) for MLS mentions on social media (490K)
  • The previous record was held by MLS Opening day 2016 – the debut of NYCFC and Orlando City SC
    • The word 'Zlatan' was trending on Twitter worldwide for three hours after the match
    • Zlatan was also trending in the United States for five hours after the match
    • The social media content had a total potential reach of 2.9 billion users

• The LA Galaxy sold out the first five matches at StubHub Center this season and set a single-season club attendance record.
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic' jersey was the top selling jersey in Major League Soccer.
• The goals on 3/31 were the most talked about sports item on Twitter, beating out the NCAA Final Four.
• Opposing teams have sold out their matches that feature the LA Galaxy.
• Media of Zlatan yielded earned media coverage from: Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Late Show with James Corden, four LA Times Sports section cover stories, FOX, ESPN, Univision, EuroSport, among others.

Media