Bengaluru FC launch a campaign to help local businesses affected by COVID-19
BENGALURU FC HAVE LAUNCHED a new campaign that will use their platform to promote local businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The club launched a video featuring skipper Sunil Chhetri that announced this unique effort, titled #BackOnOurFeet, which is expected to run throughout the season.
This season, as we look to lift ourselves up, we will also take with us small businesses in the city that are struggling to stay afloat. That tiny bookstore, the dosa joint that blends love and batter, the matchbox-sized trinket store - all.
— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) August 10, 2020
Bengaluru, we'll get #BackOnOurFeet pic.twitter.com/j2XW04TSpG
A detailed multi-step approach has been formulated by the people behind BFC's media and social engagement team to help local businesses - from restaurants to bookstores - some much needed publicity to drive up their sales.
To begin with, people from the club are already in conversation with local enterpreneurs about how best to feature them on the BFC social media platforms. They'll share restaurant menus, top suggested books available at local shops and also shoot videos to be shared across the web, helping increase their visibility to fans and the local populace at large.
The campaign will also see Bengaluru FC players personally patronize these businesses. They'll occasionally visit cafes and restaurants to have a meal or a snack, buy products from the shops and share their experience with the fans.
Afterwards, the club's official merchandise will also come with a free booklet that will carry the names of these establishments, their addresses and contact details; a de facto guidebook for some of the coolest local cafes, restaurants, bookstores and other places to hang out.
Sunil Chhetri, who starred in the video and will participate in the campaign throughout, spoke about the campaign in a press release issued by the club,
"This is a campaign that we hold close to our heart, because this city and its people have been synonymous to our club and any success we have enjoyed. These are testing times for all of us, but it is the proprietors of small businesses that have taken the biggest hit. This season is dedicated to them, and we hope to, in a small way, be able to help them find stability once again.”
From their inception in 2013, Bengaluru FC have found success not only in winning silverware or creating a sizeable fanbase from the start but also in connecting with the people of Bengaluru. A campaign like this which demonstrates sensitivity to how the city has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic and what it needs for the familiar liveliness to return to its streets.
With this, the club's ever-deepening relationship with its home city - which saw the Blues fight hard to prevent a possible eviction from the Kanteerava Stadium at the start of last season - seems to have turned a corner. From being a club trying to connect with the community, they have become an insitution that playing a leadership role in the community.
