Digiday Publishing Summit: Prices rise Aug. 5

Hear from execs at The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, Trusted Media Brands and many others

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Brands are dogpiling on England’s embarrassing Euro 2016 exit

Female football player standing with her feet on ball

England’s bad luck just got worse, and the internet is loving it.

The country had a surprise exit from the Euro 2016 tournament last night after losing 2-1 to outsiders Iceland. The game has already been branded as the “most humiliating” night in English football, namely because it pitted Iceland’s part-time players against England’s well-paid Premiership stars.

Twitter, as always, was quick to react with schadenfreude-heavy memes. And a number of brands got in on the action too.

Smoothie maker Innocent drinks, which is owned by McDonalds, took a swipe at the team after Iceland secured their one goal lead.

Meanwhile, bookmaker Ladbrokes received over 280 shares for a similarly sarcastic line of thought.

Betting site Paddy Power, the brand that sent a “banter” van to Russia ahead of their match against England, likened the team’s homeward journey to the country’s current bad weather.

Fashion retailer Asos got a little flirty wtith player Birkir Bjarnason that he should join the ranks of its male models. It may yet happen.

Frozen food retailer Iceland Foods, who sponsors the Icelandic team, scored a viral hit with it’s “impartial” commentary on the defeat.

Social media manager Andy Thompson said the reaction on Twitter has been “a bit bonkers.”

The supermarket looked into creating football-themed content after receiving tongue-in-cheek tweets from users congratulating the brand on its success in the qualifying stages of the tournament.

The brand has since created 13 Euro 2016-themed videos with Iceland’s football team on Twitter and provided live commentary on games as they unfold.

“While our competitors are going big on food deals, we can’t afford to compete. So rather than ‘out shout’ we chose to ‘out engage’ them,” Thompson said.

https://digiday.com/?p=185451

More in Marketing

How tariffs have upended the back-to-school season

Consumers are more concerned about finding the best deal than they were a year ago, according to recent consumer surveys.

As YouTube Shorts reaches 200 billion views, advertisers increase their investment

In Q2 2025, Shorts averaged over 200 billion daily views, and ad dollars typically follow attention.

Mythbusted: American Eagle and Dunkin’ and the risk of ignoring cultural context in ads

American Eagle has joined the increasingly long list of brands that somehow didn’t see it coming.