‘The End of Football’ is Manchester City and Xylem’s latest effort
to educate one billion people globally about urgent water challenges
RYE BROOK, N.Y-Wednesday 29 July 2020 [ AETOS Wire ]
(BUSINESS
WIRE)-- Manchester City stars Sergio Agüero, Phil Foden and Raheem
Sterling all feature in an emotive new short film that aims to bring
home the reality of the global water crisis to football fans across the
world. Released on World Conservation Day, ‘The End of Football’ is the
latest campaign by global water technology company, Xylem (NYSE:XYL) and
Manchester City, to drive awareness of escalating water challenges
among the Club’s huge fan base.
For many football fans the
reality of living with extreme water scarcity is now just one generation
away. The latest UN data estimates that almost 5 billion people
globally could be living in areas of water scarcity by 20501. The UK
Environmental Protection Agency forecasts that, due to mounting
pressures such as increased demand, aging infrastructure and climate
change, parts of England could run out of water by 2045 – a warning
echoed in a recent UK Public Accounts Committee report on the country’s
water supplies2.
The End of Football film, featuring multiple
Manchester City footballers, aims to capture the imagination of football
fans by depicting a world without water. Filmed in the Club’s iconic
Etihad Stadium, the video highlights the detrimental impact that water
complacency can have on society, including football, as it tracks one
girl’s journey as a Manchester City fan.
Patrick Decker, Xylem
President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Water sits at the heart of
human health and the sustainability of our planet. Through our
partnership with City Football Group, we’re focused on mobilizing the
global community to actively join us in safeguarding this precious
resource. Together, we have a powerful opportunity to turn the tide on
challenges like water scarcity and flooding and build a water-secure
future.”
Pete Bradshaw, Head of Sustainability at Manchester
City, said: “Xylem is doing incredible work to address water
sustainability issues and Manchester City is proud to support them in
this new campaign.”
Joseph Vesey, Senior Vice President and Chief
Marketing Officer at Xylem, added: “Though the End of Football campaign
was conceived and shot before the coronavirus pandemic brought a
temporary halt to football, the message behind the campaign has never
been more appropriate. With the support of the Club and its legions of
fans, we have the power to elevate the conversation on water
conservation and create a more sustainable future for all.”
Fans
can learn more about water conservation through the Manchester City
‘Water Hero Playbook’, which contains simple, everyday actions on saving
water – along with advice from public officials and industry – to
protect our future and the future of football.
As part of its
multi-year partnership with Manchester City, Xylem has partnered with
the Club to deliver clean water towers, WASH education, and sports and
leadership training to communities around the world. In less than two
years, the partnership has already directly provided access to clean
water and WASH education to over 10,000 children across India, Thailand,
China, Australia and the United States.
Global sports marketing
agency SPORTFIVE and its creative agency partner Brave developed and
produced the End of Football campaign. As Xylem’s retained agency,
SPORTFIVE has been helping the global water technology company and
Manchester City FC to raise awareness of water complacency since 2018.
About Xylem
Xylem
(XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to
developing innovative technology solutions to the world’s water
challenges. The Company’s products and services move, treat, analyze,
monitor and return water to the environment in public utility,
industrial, residential and commercial building services settings. Xylem
also provides a leading portfolio of smart metering, network
technologies and advanced infrastructure analytics solutions for water,
electric and gas utilities. The Company’s more than 16,000 employees
bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying
comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New
York, with 2019 revenue of $5.25 billion, Xylem does business in more
than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands.
For more information, please visit us at www.xylem.com.
About Xylem Watermark
Xylem
Watermark, the company’s corporate citizenship program, was initiated
in 2008, with a focus on protecting and providing safe water resources
for communities around the world and also educating people on water
related issues. In 2016, Xylem Watermark launched a three-year program
focusing on employee volunteerism globally to drive rapid growth in
employee engagement in providing social value within our communities.
About Manchester City Football Club
Manchester
City FC is an English Premier League club initially founded in 1880 as
St Mark’s West Gorton. It officially became Manchester City FC in 1894
and has since then gone onto win the European Cup Winners’ Cup, six
League Championship titles, including four Premier League titles (2012,
2014, 2018, 2019), and six FA Cups. Manchester City FC is one of nine
clubs comprising the City Football Group and counts New York City FC and
Melbourne City FC among its sister clubs.
Under manager Pep
Guardiola, one of the most highly decorated managers in world football,
the Club plays its domestic and UEFA Champions League home fixtures at
the Etihad Stadium, a spectacular 55,000 seat arena that City have
called home since 2003. Today, the Stadium sits on the wider Etihad
Campus, which also encompasses the City Football Academy, a
state-of-the-art performance training and youth development facility
located in the heart of East Manchester. Featuring a 7,000 capacity
Academy Stadium, the City Football Academy is also where Manchester City
Women’s Football Club and the Elite Development Squad train on a daily
basis and play their competitive home games.
For more information, please visit www.mancity.com
About SPORTFIVE
SPORTFIVE
is a global partnership marketing agency fuelled by the expertise,
experience and privileged access of a global leader in sports,
entertainment, media and lifestyle.
We help brands engage with
their audiences and fans through partnerships, as we believe that
partnering with things that people truly care about is the best way for
brands to remain relevant and impactful.
About Brave
Brave
is an award-winning creative agency that de-risks commercial
decision-making by being creatively courageous, strategically forensic,
digitally progressive, data smart and behaviour driven. We make
progressive ideas feel safe – through a belief that creativity and data
have a complementary relationship. We pioneered the use of biometrics
through the development of our proprietary ‘Bravery Index’ tool. This
has helped us optimise our work ever since, by letting us emotionally
test, qualify and validate our campaigns for a greater chance of
enjoying commercial success.
In 2017 Brave was acquired by
SPORTFIVE , which provides a global footprint and access to the world’s
most sought-after rights holders, talent, OTT (streaming)
platforms/broadcasters and brands. Brave have taken the stage at
prestigious events all over the world including; Cannes Lions,
Advertising Week, IAB Engage, Eurobest and Dubai Lynx. For more
information, find us at Brave.co.uk.
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1 https://www.wateraid.org/uk/media/un-warns-around-5-billion-people-could-face-water-shortages-by-2050-wateraid-response
2 https://www.nao.org.uk/press-release/water-supply-and-demand-management/
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200728005532/en/
Contacts
Houston Spencer
+1 (914) 240-3046
Houston.Spencer@xyleminc.com
Olivia Dempsey
+353 (0) 85 118-2288
Olivia.Dempsey@edelman.com
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