Player and legend appearances are often poorly used within club sponsorships, delivering the same tired formats with limited imagination, differentiation or impact. Instead of using them to promote a key initiative or campaign, they are often used as stand-alone content capture or PR opportunity. But these are often some of the most valuable team sponsorship assets since fans, especially younger ones, follow players more than teams and so deserve a more strategic approach.
Novotel, Accor’s founding hotel brand, wanted to drive cultural relevance across multiple markets to re-invigorate and reinforce the brand’s leadership position. Tapping into ALL Accor’s existing sponsorship of football club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Novotel turbo charged its brand fame in a unique, ambitious and relevant way. Novotel first created the world’s first purpose built permanent hotel room built inside an existing football stadium with a unique brand-curated guest experience. And then co-designed bespoke rooms with PSG legends – blending personal memorabilia and exclusive digital content for guests – in flagship Novotel hotels across eight international markets.
Other hotel brands have done pop up rooms in the past, but this was different. Players and legends were at the heart of it. Not only as part of the marketing campaigns, but they were also deeply involved in the room designs lending further credibility and authenticity.
The media loved it, and it became Accor’s most successful and talked about sponsorship activation ever, with YouGov naming Novotel France’s “Most Improved Brand” in 2025 despite no other major marketing initiative.
