Beko teams with Barcelona FC and influencer marketing to raise €1m for Unicef

Domestic appliance and electronics brand Beko has managed to raise €1m (£877,000) to help UNICEF prevent childhood obesity thanks to the power of influencer marketing. The firm collaborated with influencer marketing platform Whalar to create shareable content for its campaign, hitting its fundraising target even earlier than anticipated.

The Eat Like A Pro initiative, which seeks to inspire families to eat healthily, is part of a growing trend to utilise the power of influencer marketing for societal change.

As a major sponsor of Barcelona FC, Beko aimed to fuel sharing healthy eating habits and lifestyle content online, with €1 donated to UNICEF for each post shared using the hashtag #EatLikeAPro. The campaign focused on the excitement of El Clásico, the famous football fixture between Barcelona FC and Real Madrid, with Barcelona FC also promoting helath eating habits through its charity The FC Barca Foundation.

Working with Whalar, Beko connected with a range of influencers with connections to healthy eating, family, football and sport. Each influencer produced three pieces of content, one posted in the lead up to El Clásico and two on the day of the match. In addition, instead of the usual Beko logo on the Barcelona FC players shirts, the campaign hashtag was featured.

“The Beko Eat Like A Pro campaign worked so well because we were able to leverage the interest and excitement around the internationl event of El Clásico to build awareness of a topic that is utmost societal importance,” said James Street, co-founder of Whalar. “Beko, UNICEF, Barcelona FC and The FC Barca Foundation were aligned in their objective to end childhood obesity, and Whalar were able to find the right influencers to complement this, driving the campaign through social media.

“As influencer marketing continues on its upwards trajectory, changing the face of traditional marketing and advertising, the trend for using the power of influencer marketing to create socialetal change will only gather in momentum.”