#StevenageChallenge took sports sponsorships to another level. Burger King did not seek to sponsor the best teams in the world; on the contrary, it sought out a small English fourth division team and put its logo on their shirts. By playing the long game, Burger King was able to show up in the most played video game, FIFA 20, and get the gaming world to share thousands of videos in which great football stars wore the BK logo. This sponsorship started in the real world but exploded in the world of e-sports.

For Burger King one of its main objectives is to connect with the world of gamers, as it is an audience that is growing in leaps and bounds. Therefore, one of the most important briefs during the year is to reach them in a different way, since they're not found in traditional media, and to get them to order from BK using the delivery app.

If a brand wants to sponsor the best football players, they have to pay millions. But Burger King found a way to endorse them without paying them a single penny. It sponsored a team at the bottom of English football’s fourth division: Stevenage. BK knew that if its logo was on their shirt, it was going to appear in FIFA 20 too. The brand then launched the #StevenageChallenge, inviting gamers to play with Stevenage and sharing UGC of the likes of Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Mbappé, Neymar and other superstars scoring goals and wearing the BK logo, in exchange for rewards on the Burger King app. It turned a small team in real life into the biggest team online.

Around the world there are 3 billion gamers.They are all very different, but there is one thing that they have in common and that is the desire to compete. That's why they always want to overcome challenges that they find online.Therefore, 2 years ago, we became the main sponsors of Stevenage, one of the worst teams in the fourth division from England.

This was a brilliant move, because we knew the team was going to be part of FIFA20, the most played video game in the world, and if the team was going to be in it, then, so were we. Once our logo was on the shirt of one of the FIFA20 teams, the following move was to launch the #StevenageChallenge.We invited gamers around the world to play with our team, sign the best players and score goals with them, to get free food through the Burger King app

The #StevenageChallenge was launched in October 2019 in markets such as France, Brazil, Germany, United States, Mexico, China, Russia and Spain.

It was so well received that it will be reactivated in April 2020 in different countries in the aforementioned countries and more.

#StevenageChallenge achieved over 2.5 million earned media and over 250k global impressions. The players shared over 25k videos of goals on Twitter and most importantly became Burger King's most talked about campaign in the gaming world.

But beyond the brand, the small and modest Stevenage F.C. team also benefited greatly. For the first time in history they sold out all their shirts and made their first shipments to countries such as France, Brazil, Germany, United States, Mexico, China, Russia and Spain... all countries where the campaign had been implemented.