FIFA players are probably familiar with Stevenage by now, a team almost no one knew anything about until they saw its unusual popularity in online modes. That turned out to be just one part of Burger King's marketing strategy.
When it comes to burgers manifesting on people's torsos, they are usually associated with the extra fat that they didn't want but couldn't resist the juicy combo of red meat, veggies and soft buns. In the case of Stevenage, however, burgers manifested on the team's shirts as the fast food chain decided to sponsor this squad that was on the verge of relegation from the fourth tier of English football league system.
So, why sponsor a team that is virtually invisible? Well, someone in Burger King's marketing team knew they would appear in FIFA and decided to sponsor the squad for what we can only assume was chump change, compared to sponsoring top teams. The fast food chain got the entire front of the team's jerseys for themselves.
Now, the regular rules and hoops that a team in real life would have to jump through in order to ascend to the top of the football world would take years but in the case of FIFA, all of this could be done in a matter of weeks.
Players would set up their dream teams by signing the biggest stars and proceed to dominate with Stevenage. So why did everyone go for it? Why would players choose Stevenage exactly?
Well, Burger King gave them incentives. The Stevenage Challenge started appearing in the media, daring players to pick the team and perform feats such as scoring directly from a corner kick and record the replays in exchange for rewards such as Chicken Royale and Chicken Fries. Naturally, the players had to wear the Burger King shirts.
As a result, Stevenage highlights started flooding social media with all the players wearing BK shirts and the company received somewhat indirect advertising at the low price of sponsoring a team from the fourth tier of English league system and handing out fast food.
