Today, Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid Ul-Adha. The worldwide holiday is one of the two most important celebrations in the Muslim calendar. It follows the first 10 days of Islam’s holiest month, Dhul Hijjah. So far it has attracted over 274,000 tweets.
Never usually shy about holidays — whether its World Milk Day or Leap Day — U.K. brands have been mostly silent today. That is, oddly, with the exception of the football clubs.
This morning Manchester United shared a picture of its empty stadium alongside the message “Eid Mubarak”, which translates from Arabic as “blessed celebration.” It also shared the message on its Facebook page, where the post attracted 26,000 likes.
Eid Mubarak from #MUFC! pic.twitter.com/0N8UbpzLYr
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 12, 2016
For those celebrating, “big Eid” is a time for prayer and sharing food with friends, family and those in need. Eid ul-Fitr, known as “little Eid”, is a separate celebration that marks the end of fasting during the month of Ramadan.
Liverpool FC shared a similar post to Manchester United from its grounds this morning. That has attracted over 4,300 retweets. The club’s Facebook post showing the exterior of its stadium attracted 11,000 likes.
Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating today. pic.twitter.com/1vHHIkbFM1
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) September 12, 2016
Others scored, but on a smaller scale. Everton got 150 likes for a tweet which featured an emoji of the sacred Kaaba, while West Ham’s picture of several players, including midfielder Gökhan Töre, had quadruple that. Some, like Chelsea, chose to retweet messages from high-profile players, including Yaya Touré and Paul Pogba.
While 4.5 percent of the U.K. population are Muslim, Islam is the fastest-growing religion worldwide. It is estimated to increase 35 percent by 2050.
It’s a time of growth for the U.K.’s football clubs too, as they attract foreign investment and wider audiences beyond Britain’s turf.
Investors from the Middle East have poured $1.5 billion into football clubs in Europe. For example, Emirates Airline’s various sponsorships and Sheikh Mansour’s ownership of Manchester City.
Twitter’s analysis from 2015 shows that Football fandoms are as diverse as ever, with geography no barrier to loyal supporters.
Meanwhile, overseas visitors to U.K. games topped 800,000 in 2014. And with growing interest from Asia, it’s no wonder Manchester United has a Twitter account for Indonesia, Malaysia and also one in Spanish.
More in Marketing
At the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Mastercard joins a pack of consumer brands flocking to Formula One
For marketers looking to align their brands with F1’s expanded appeal to audiences, the Las Vegas Grand Prix is providing a slip road into the sport.
Why PepsiCo and EA are expanding their partnership into mobile: A Q&A with PepsiCo vp of global sports and entertainment partnerships Adam Warner
The planned, multi-year nature of PepsiCo’s integration into “EA Sports FC” reflects that both PepsiCo and Electronic Arts are playing the long game as they look to step up the presence of ads inside and beyond EA’s portfolio of sports titles.
Key takeaways from Digiday’s 2024 Gaming Advertising Forum
Now that gaming has gone from a buzzword to a regular presence in brands’ media mix, marketers are more closely scrutinizing the value and ROI of their investments in this channel — and the platforms are rising to the challenge. Here are some of the biggest takeaways from this week’s Gaming Advertising Forum.