TCL is Arsenal FC’s global Consumer Electronics Partner. Great logo lockup on a European broadcast. Harder to convert in a South African retail aisle where the audience is deciding between three TVs and a soundbar bundle.
The brief was to turn the Arsenal badge into a South African retail promotion – give the fan something worth doing, and give the TCL shopper a reason to size up.
Challenge
South African retail electronics is a price-driven category. The competitive set slugs it out on discount, bundle, and Black Friday timing. A sports sponsorship is emotional currency – it does not automatically translate into a bigger basket.
We needed to tie the Arsenal partnership to a specific commercial behaviour – buy a 75” or above TCL TV – without watering down the fan appeal. And it had to run cleanly across in-store print, paid social, and organic match-day content, all against the Premier League fixture calendar.
The work
We built the promotion around Go Big, Go Arsenal – a companion campaign line to TCL’s Bulls activation, so the brand’s sports sponsorship system starts to feel deliberate rather than opportunistic. Under it, a single clear offer: buy a 75” or above TCL TV and win a fully paid trip for two to watch Arsenal play live at the Emirates.
A1 in-store poster – the hero asset. Three Arsenal players emerging from a TCL TV onto the Emirates pitch, red and gold treatment locked to Arsenal’s palette, TCL Consumer Electronics Partner lockup with the Arsenal badge, QR entry code bottom-right for the frictionless in-store scan.
Match-day social system – 1:1 posts for every Arsenal fixture across the promotion window. Same TV-frame device, same players-in-motion treatment, adapted headline and opponent per fixture. Post cadence aligned to broadcast so the feed lands beside the live match.
Retail entry mechanic – Enter poster and social variants driving the QR scan, plus a monthly Arsenal original-kit prize draw for shoppers who did not hit the 75” threshold but still wanted in.
The whole system carries the same brand chassis as the Vodacom Bulls activation. Different sport, different fan base, same discipline – so TCL’s sports partnerships start to compound into a recognisable sponsorship voice.
In collaboration with Sensesix
Made in partnership with Sensesix, who lead the TCL account and manage the sponsorship activation portfolio. Sensesix owned the sponsorship strategy, retail integration, and the prize-mechanic legal. Creature of Habit was the creative partner across the campaign concept, key visual system, and rollout across in-store print, retail POS, and match-day social.
If your sponsorship is not translating into commercial behaviour, the badge is the easy bit. Talk to us about the activation that ties partnership to preference.
