Barry Keoghan became a household name when he danced naked to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor at the end of the movie Saltburn.
Now, Manchester United are trying to tap into the actor’s growing appeal by having him launch next season’s kit in a promotion campaign.
Keoghan is a United fan from Dublin who grew up wanting to be a footballer or boxer. The 31-year-old, who won the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Banshees of Inisherin, will help United as their kits enter a new era. From this summer, U.S. brand Snapdragon will be the front-of-shirt sponsor.
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It is not the first time United have turned to a celebrity to help boost the club’s image. Keoghan, whose second cousin is the former Manchester United striker Frank Stapleton, follows in the footsteps of Stormzy. The British rapper helped announce Paul Pogba’s return from Juventus to great fanfare in 2016. Manchester rapper Aitch also wore last year’s kit while performing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival.
The Saltburn star Barry Keoghan has been spotted filming on a Salford street this week.https://t.co/JTk3tA8G3J pic.twitter.com/F8IvgNMBiT
— Salford Now (@SalfordNow) May 1, 2024
So what is it about the cult of celebrity that holds such appeal? Why did United pick Keoghan? And how do such collaborations benefit United commercially?
For United, a tie-up with an upcoming actor such as Keoghan gives them the chance to widen their reach and target new audiences.
This has been done successfully by teams such as Paris Saint-Germain with their Michael Jordan partnership — something United will have cast an envious eye on.
“It’s a fairly well-trodden path now,” explains Tim Crow, former head of international sports marketing agency Synergy. “You can tap into a different audience, or at least an audience that might not necessarily come first of all to the club, as well as generating additional PR.”
There is another aim, too. This involves building on those who are already plugged into football and support United by linking up with a public figure that makes their brand appear exciting, youthful and fresh. Shirt sales are also a significant chunk of revenue. Clubs have to come up with creative ways to convince fans to buy a new shirt every year.
Keoghan’s involvement was not by chance. He is a United supporter — something the club felt was important, as they ideally wanted someone with a connection to the club to maintain a level of authenticity.
“It shows that sport, entertainment, culture and media are just ever more entwined when it comes to sports marketing,” Crow added. “Not that long ago, no one would have thought of doing something like this, but now we’ve become quite used to seeing it.
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“There is no doubt a very considered strategy based on what Manchester United and Adidas know about not only their existing audience but people they would like to get to as well. This is all about turning fans into customers. That was a phrase that Peter Kenyon (the club’s former chief executive) famously coined. It didn’t make him popular but he was actually bang on because that is what this about.”
At a kit shoot, those involved will wear the gear and are normally allowed to keep some of the clothes they model. Sometimes they post them online or are photographed wearing them.
News of Keoghan’s collaboration with the club was revealed when his girlfriend, American singer Sabrina Carpenter, was spotted wearing the new United goalkeeping shirt last week. United insist this wasn’t planned but happened organically.
Sabrina Carpenter wearing Manchester United’s 2024/25 goalkeeper kit pic.twitter.com/E2WqrV5uZ1
— MUFC Scoop (@MUFCScoop) June 21, 2024
However, they will be fully aware a celebrity modelling their new shirt helps to ramp up interest and create an online buzz.
This was similar to last year when Aitch wore United’s new home kit on stage at Glastonbury before he performed his single 1989. This song includes a sample from Manchester band The Stone Roses’ famous track Fools Gold. Liam Fray, the lead singer of Manchester band Courteeners, then did the same with their away shirt while headlining Tramlines Festival in Sheffield the following month.
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“The defining factor in all of it is reach,” Adrian Wright, group chief executive of Sporting Group International, says. “If clubs are going to go down that (celebrity) route, they are purely doing it for land grab. We have seen Hollywood well and truly synergise itself with football in the UK — you only need to look at Ryan Reynolds and what he’s done at Wrexham.
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“You can pretty much go through all the clubs and at least 50 to 60 per cent of the Premier League will be trying to establish who their premium connections are. Take Aston Villa, for example – you’ve got Prince William and Tom Hanks. Whenever they can, if they’re in town, they’ll get leverage to the maximum and it opens up new markets to them. If Prince William is at the Villa game watching them play in Europe, it’s another outreach for them to another market.”
United’s kit launch with Keoghan follows a separate campaign with former player Eric Cantona to promote their new deal with Snapdragon. The Snapdragon deal is worth around £60million ($76.1m) a season.
They will replace TeamViewer, a Germany-based software firm, as United’s front-of-shirt sponsor. Snapdragon powers many of the world’s premium smartphones, PCs, gaming devices, connected cars, smart wearables and more.
United’s deal with Qualcomm, Snapdragon’s parent company, followed a £900million 10-year renewal signed with Adidas in July last year. That underlined the club’s ongoing commercial pull despite their recent struggles on the pitch.
As well as celebrities, United have also used decorated former legends in their recent kit releases. The video with Cantona followed Roy Keane making his first formal appearance in any media connected with United since he left the club in 2005. He launched their third kit last season, which made light of his ‘prawn sandwich’ jibe.
In February, Gary Neville appeared on the Adidas collaboration with The Stone Roses as part of a new clothing range to celebrate the city and their identity.
As Paolo Pescatore, a London-based media and technology analyst at PP Foresight, says: “It was a big week for Qualcomm because they released the teaser video with Eric Cantona, leading the awareness behind the fact there’s going to be a new front-of-shirt sponsorship.
“Football is a global franchise, Manchester United have a following of more than a billion people, one of the most highly-engaged football clubs around the world, and now you’ve got this new front-of-shirt sponsorship. So from a marketing perspective, you need to exploit it as best you can. Working with someone like Eric Cantona, one of the club’s greatest players, fits nicely with the Snapdragon brand in terms of what they’re trying to achieve on the pitch but also off it.
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“To then associate themselves with a Hollywood actor like Barry Keoghan ensures the brand remains premium. It’s about the association with leading, high-profile figures.
“You’ve got your own fanbase, but you’re trying to leverage these high-profile Hollywood global superstars to tap into new audiences.”
(Top photo: Getty Images)