When MLS announced that it would be returning to the pitch on July 8, the LA Galaxy were looking for a way to cut through the expected clutter of #MLSIsBack posts across social media.
“When we got word that MLS was back we thought that, being in L.A., we’d have an interesting opportunity to potentially tell a funnier story or do something different than the rest of the clubs would be doing,” Brendan Hannan, Galaxy vice president of marketing, communications and digital, said.
Given the club’s proximity to Hollywood, Hannan and the Galaxy celebrated the return by paying tribute to the local, world-renowned film franchise, Back To The Future. The homage – which was posted across the team’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter handles – stars Galaxy player Sebastian Lletget, who travels around Los Angeles in a DeLorean while wearing a Marty McFly-inspired outfit. Three dates are made visible to the viewer on the car’s ‘time circuit’: April 13, 1996, when the Galaxy made their league debut; March 14, 2020, when MLS went on pause; and June 10, 2020, the day that MLS announced its restart plans.
After driving through L.A., Lletget arrives at an empty Dignity Health Sports Park, the Galaxy’s home venue. Upon arrival, he departs from the DeLorean, looks down at his watch, and says, “we have to go back.”
From there, Lletget gets back in the DeLorean and immediately accelerates through the L.A. streets to July 3, 2020 – days before MLS hosts its first matches post-coronavirus pandemic.
Hannan says that Lletget, who had become a fan of the film series after he and his girlfriend watched it in quarantine, was the perfect player to include in the video.
“It was an opportunity for us to do something fun and to incorporate one of our players,” Hannan said. “And, who doesn’t want to rent a DeLorean for a day?”
The Galaxy’s #MLSIsBack video has generated strong engagement since its launch on June 10. As of June 17, the post has been viewed nearly 280,000 times across the club’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts. It also drew an additional 14,200 views from Lletget’s Instagram profile, which has more than 672,000 followers.
“He’s been able to post on his accounts, and I think that that only helps continue to keep folks engaged with the fact that MLS is back,” Hannan said.
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With the Galaxy inching closer to the July 8 restart, Hannan says that digital and social media content will be a healthy mix of varying topics, ranging from the team’s on-field coverage to continuing to post about the global pandemic and the country’s social justice issues.
When the team touches down in Orlando, Hannan and the club are going to prioritize telling a myriad of stories as opposed to sticking strictly to what’s happening on the pitch.
“We’ll continue to have stylized production around the key stories that we think are important to our supporters in our community,” he said. “We’ll diversify the content as much as possible, but we’ll continue to tell the vibrant stories that I think resonate with the vibrant and diverse population of the city of L.A.”
