The King scores in Spanish soccer league

Just saw this over at the Partnership Activation blog and wanted to share it here. Burger King has signed a 1 year, $1.8 million dollar deal with Spanish soccer club Getafe in La Liga. That's not necessarily the interesting news as sports sponsorships are sold every day. What's interesting is the implementation of the sponsorship on Getafe jerseys.

Burger King has taken the extra step of printing pictures of The King on the inside of player jerseys so that when players celebrate a goal by pulling their shirt over their head as many soccer players are prone to do, it will appear as if The King is participating in the celebration. Love him or hate him, this use of The King in this way is genius and Burger King deserves big kudos for it's unique implementation.

The King still freaks me out - especially in those ads where we he's in bed with customers as they wake up - but you can't discount his value to the Burger King brand. The fast food company has done a fantastic job of making him the official spokesperson, even though he doesn't speak, and as a result he's now a recognized icon across the world.