Gillette Football Club Launches Online Football Gaming with We R Interactive

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the global launch of the Gillette Football Club, Gillette has today announced a gaming partnership with UK-based social entertainment company, We R Interactive.

In the global, multi-layered partnership aimed at driving registrations to the Gillette Football Club, We R Interactive’s award-winning online football game, I AM PLAYR, will feature as the first and only game on the Gillette Football Club.

Gillette will also be woven into I AM PLAYR through a host of innovative narrative integrations available to I AM PLAYR users who subscribe to Gillette Football Club, starting with a Gillette Sports Science Centre. Focused around optimising match day performance and building confidence – a core Gillette brand value; the Gillette Sports Science Centre will give I AM PLAYR users opportunities to meet with the Gillette Sports Science Centre staff - a Head of Sports Science, Sports Psychologist and Elite Performance Director, who will provide specialised treatments that boost the user’s on-pitch abilities - such as shooting, dribbling and passing.

Gillette products will also be heroed in pre-match routine videos, to reinforce the link between the Gillette brand value of confidence and its relationship with elite sporting performance. Further future integrations will include I AM PLAYR users being offered the chance to become the face of Gillette as a virtual brand ambassador.

I AM PLAYR is the first online football game that lets the user play the life of a professional footballer both, on and off the pitch. Through a fusion of live-action video featuring top Premiership players, interactive story-telling and first-person perspective 3D game play, the game has grown a large global audience; with over 6.8 million players playing across 220 countries. The live video content complements the main benefit of the Gillette Football Club; to provide fans with HD quality goals and highlights from top football leagues and clubs in Europe.

Gillette’s long-standing association with football and I AM PLAYR’s audience of more than six million 16-34 year old males is a perfect fit. This is a first-of-its-kind partnership for Gillette that demonstrates its shift to using innovative digital platforms as part of its global brand building activity to establish lifelong, one to one, in real time relationships.

Alex Tosolini, Vice President, E-Business for P&G, says “Gillette has a long track record in bringing men closer to their sporting passions, and we have taken this to the next level with the Gillette Football Club. This new partnership with We R Interactive will enhance the experience for both football fans on Gillette Football Club and I AM PLAYR users, and builds on our vision to ultimately deliver the best a fan can get with a complete online football experience.”

Paul Whitehead, Global Commercial Director, We R Interactive commented, “We’ve built a growing global audience across our portfolio of games and have established a track record of creating innovative partnerships that allow brands to credibly engage with consumers on their own terms and to a much deeper level compared to other media. As a result, We R Interactive is quickly becoming the de facto home for global brands in gaming.”

I AM PLAYR is available to play in the Gillette Football Club at www.youtube.com/gillettefootballclub now. For more information on We R Interactive, go to: http://werinteractive.com.

About Gillette’s Sports Heritage and Gillette Football Club

In the early 1900s, Gillette had the vision to see the value in connecting the brand with top-tier sports and athletes. This was a key strategy that helped the company grow into the world leader in the male shaving category. Gillette was welcomed into many U.S. homes through the historic televised broadcasts of the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports. Throughout the years, Gillette added signature events in the U.S. including championship boxing matches, college football Bowl games, Major League Baseball, PGA Tour® and the Kentucky Derby. During the 1980s Gillette was global sponsor of the popular World Sports TV show. Gillette has also sponsored international events including the FIFA World Cup, Rugby, the Gillette Cup in Cricket and Formula One. In 2002, Gillette announced an agreement for the exclusive naming rights to the home stadium of the three-time Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots of the National Football League. Throughout the mid 2000s, the brand continued innovative marketing programs with international sports stars throughout the world. Earlier this year, Gillette introduced a team of 24 world-class athletes from 18 countries to represent the world’s leading male grooming brand at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The athletes included Roger Federer of Switzerland, Ryan Lochte of the United States and Sir Chris Hoy of Great Britain. The campaign marked the first program as part of P&G’s far-reaching 10 year partnership with the Olympic Movement. Today, Gillette continues its sports heritage tradition with sports marketing programs implemented in many regions throughout the world.

Gillette is the main sponsor of football content on YouTube in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Gillette Football Club (www.youtube.com/gillettefootballclub) is a new YouTube brand channel that changes the way fans enjoy, follow and share their love of football. Users have free access to quality football content including goals, highlights and behind the scenes footage from the top football leagues and clubs, tailored to their interests. The channel also includes exclusive entertainment programmes created by production company, Bigballs Films and will feature social gaming with We R Interactive’s I AM PLAYR the exclusive gaming partner.

About Procter & Gamble

P&G touches and improves the lives of about 4.4 billion people around the world with its portfolio of trusted, quality brands. The Company's leadership brands include Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Pringles®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun®, Fusion®, Ace®, Febreze®, and Ambi Pur®. With operations in about 80 countries, P&G brands are available in more than 180 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About We R Interactive

We R Interactive is an award-winning social entertainment company that brings global audiences together around their passions. It creates unique, immersive, shareable experiences for millions of fans across the globe by fusing high quality 3D gaming, with TV production and interactive storytelling.

The first game release from We R Interactive, I AM PLAYR, is the acclaimed online football game that lets the user play the life of a professional footballer on and off the pitch. Since launching in October 2011, I AM PLAYR has built a large global audience of 6.8 million players across 220 countries. More than 1.2million users play the game every month for an average of 44 minutes per day, 70% of the audience continues to play each month and the game attracts between 20,000 and 25,000 new players every day.

Global brands are woven seamlessly around the core narrative of I AM PLAYR, with established successful brand partnerships including Nike, Red Bull, Betfred, Alfa Romeo - and now Gillette. The platform drives product awareness and deep levels of engagement for global brands. Since launch 450,000 Nike boots have been trialled and purchased, 140 years worth of Nike-branded stories have been experienced and 220m training drills powered by Red Bull have been completed.

Top football talent featured in the game includes Steven Gerrard, Theo Walcott, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing and Aaron Lennon.

The company recently launched its second title, Lyroke - a first-of-its kind, online, interactive music game that lets music fans play along to videos from the world’s biggest artists. The game launched with the world’s leading music company Universal Music UK as debut partner.

We R Interactive is backed by high-profile figures from sport, advertising, music, film, finance and advertising including former leading City financier and MD of Liverpool FC Christian Purslow, Peter Mead, founder of Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and Elio Leoni-Sceti, former CEO EMI Music. Other shareholders include Eric Fellner, co-founder of Working Title Films and Paul Fitzsimons ex-media sector partner at Apax Partners. http://werinteractive.com / http://iamplayr.com / www.lyroke.com