Thousands spent by Scottish Government on popular football simulation game advertising campaign

Targeted advertisements hit the back of the net for the Scottish Government after it spent nearly £20,000 on adverts in a popular football management simulator.
Around £20,000 was spent on Football Manager advertisementsAround £20,000 was spent on Football Manager advertisements
Around £20,000 was spent on Football Manager advertisements

The Scottish Government demanded more from their money when deciding how to successfully achieve promotion of their Safer Young Driver Campaign after research pointed them in the direction of the popular Football Manager series.

In total, £18,642 – or just enough to hire Celtic star Odsonne Eduoard for a week – was spent on ads in Football Manager 2019 and 2020 in the financial year 2020/21, a freedom of information request revealed.

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The funds were paid to developers Sports Interactive via media consultancy firm Republic of Media.

The Scottish Government said that after extended scouting, their preferred target was chosen for the ‘Drive like Gran’s in the car’ campaign which has been running across TV and social media for several months.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Our target audience for the Young Drivers Drive like Gran’s in the car campaign is young male drivers, aged 20-29. Based on research, we booked advertising across a number of channels including TV, video on demand, radio, digital audio, social media platforms and other digital channels which young men in this age group use.

“Football Manager is one of the games that our adverts have been displayed on.

“We regularly review our media planning to identify emerging and relevant channels to reach our audiences.”

Football Manager, which allows players to take control of their favourite club, launched in 2005 with Football Manager 2019 selling more than two million copies.

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