Last week FGH Security secured the UEFA Champions League trophy as it toured the length and breadth of the country, courtesy new sponsors BT Sport. The UEFA Champions League is one of the most famous tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club competition in European football. The final each year draws in excess 300 million television viewers worldwide, making it one of the year’s most watched sporting events. As part of BT Sport successfully winning the rights to broadcast the matches this year they have worked with UEFA to bring the trophy to the UK. This formed part of their internal marketing drive running up to competition opening.
BT staff were allowed to pose for photos with the trophy, with our staff on hand to provide information about the trophy’s history, ensure it was protected and safeguard its journey across the country. The first leg of the tour saw the trophy arrive at BT’s Head Office in London and in the afternoon it was taken to the BT Sport studio at the Olympic park. Here it was photographed for promotional shots and filmed for material that will be broadcast alongside coverage of the competition. The trophy attendant team then drove through the night to Liverpool and visited one of BT’s largest call centres in the heart of the city before making their way to Warrington and then across to Doncaster and Sheffield. The trophy tour then moved up to the north east and visited sites in Newcastle and South Shields. The final leg of the tour saw the tour conclude in Scotland, Dundee for one last round of promotion before UEFA collected the trophy and flew it back out of the country.
FGH staff members Dave Hassall and Raymond Nelson were in no doubt about the prestige of the project they were working on and were particularly struck by the trophy’s effect upon all those who viewed it. “The BT staff were well aware of the history behind the trophy” explains David, “not to mention the famous players who have held it over the years and the clubs who have won it. This created an electric atmosphere at each site. We’ve estimated that in excess of 2,000 people had their photos taken with the trophy. People were frightened to get too close to the trophy itself; one gentleman deleted photos of his new-born son from his phone to free up enough memory to store his selfie with the trophy. We travelled in excess of 1,000 miles during the course of the week but it was great to see each site looking forward to us arriving and the efforts everyone went to welcome us. My colleague and I were ecstatic to be selected to represent the company and well aware of the responsibility placed upon us. This included actually cleaning the trophy between shoots; it is the little things that show we are willing to go over and above the call of duty to ensure we deliver an added value service to our clients”.
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