Currently in Asia to play in the International Champions Cup in Singapore against Arsenal and Atletico Madrid, and then on to China to play the French Supercup against AS Monaco, PSG are running a massive digital strategy to make their Asia tour a success.

A new social platform

The club’s Asian Tour started at the beginning of July when the French Champions lauched their official account on social media platform Dongqiudi, the largest football media and online community app in China. After the launch of their Weibo and WeChat accounts some years ago, the two biggest Chinese social platforms, PSG is one of the first European clubs to go on Dongqiudi, and the first one in France. The platform represents a real opportunity for the club to share content and news frenquently to Chinese football fans and to be part of the development of Chinese football.

Ranking 11th among all top European football clubs in terms of fan community in China behind Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC and others with 1.4 million fans, PSG made the country a top marketing priority. Digital is definitely the perfect tool according to the club to interact with all their Asian fans.

Videos to entertain

To accentuate their visibility in Asia, PSG are publishing during their tour a series of videos on their YouTube channel dedicated to Asian culture.

Shot before the World Cup in order to get the participation of international players like Di Maria, Kimpembe, Meunier or Draxler, these videos look like a collection of challenges including quizzes, games in Mandarin – recalling the fact that for the last Chinese New Year, PSG had changed the players’ names on the backs of their shirts to read in Mandarin during a game – or an Asian food test, similar to Manchester City’s Chinese food test.

A jersey launch

More than two months after unveiling their new home kit for the next season, PSG have waited until their Asian tour to reveal their new away jerseys.

To launch it, the club organised a friendly game betwen some players, such as Marco Verratti, and club legends like Maxwell as well as influencers and media from Singapore and Thailand. It’s a smart, digital-friendly PR activation including the presence of local influencers who can help the club to be more popular with young people in Asia.

???? #PSGAsiaTour

GAME ON!! 7️⃣ away jerseys ???? 7️⃣ home jerseys with influencers and journalists from Singapore ???????? and Thailand ???????? and our Parisians Maxwell, Zoumana Camara, Marco Verratti and @c_nk97!

???????? #ICICESTPARIS pic.twitter.com/ek9obui4xd

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) July 26, 2018

⚽️7️⃣????7️⃣

Marco Verratti, @c_nk97, Zoumana Camara et Maxwell ont joué un match avec des influenceurs et journalistes d’Asie ????

???????? #PSGAsiaTour pic.twitter.com/GZWyjvWLef

— Paris Saint-Germain ???????? (@PSG_inside) July 26, 2018

With a social media penetration of 64% in Eastern Asia and 55% Southeast Asia, against 54% in Western Europe, the potential in terms of community for PSG and other football clubs in Asia is massive. China itself represents 911 million active social media users – many of whom are football-mad but who maybe don’t yet have a specific team to support.

Outside of social media, Ligue 1 decided also to take benefits of Asian audience by planning, from 2020, a game at 1pm each Sunday in order to optimise some games for the Asian market, bringing themselves in line with other European leagues who have done that for years – like La Liga. Moreover, with the Chinese Super League becoming more and more attractive, as well as the J-League with the arrival of football superstars like Andres Iniesta and Fernando Torres, Asia is definitely a place for the biggest football clubs to keep in mind.