China Tour recognised with prestigious award

The Club has been recognised for its work on digital platforms during last summer's tour of Shanghai, China.

We came out winners in the ‘Best China Tour’ category – also entered by Manchester United, Inter, Juventus, PSG and Wolfsburg - in Mailman's 'Red Card 2020 report'. The report ranks the performance of European clubs, leagues and players online in China. We were also featured in the 'Best Use of Influencer' and 'Best Use of Fan Clubs' categories.

We flew out to Asia in July, first to Singapore, where we beat Juventus 3-2 in the International Champions Cup in front of over 50,000 fans at the Singapore National Stadium. From there, we travelled to China to face Manchester United in another ICC match in Shanghai, this time losing out 2-1 at the Hongkou Stadium.

Our Tours are not just about the matches - last summer's visit to Asia also gave us the opportunity to engage with our growing fanbase in Singapore and China, including Official Supporters' Clubs in both countries. This was our first-ever comprehensive pre-season tour to China and our first visit to mainland China for 10 years.

With the mission of 'turning Shanghai Lilywhite', the Club's 'Fan Chant' campaign with celebrity fan Jason Gu became our most successful content on Weibo so far, with an estimated total viewership of over 30 million. We also launched an ecommerce store on Tmall and attracted over 70,000 users on WeChat - Weibo, Tmall and WeChat are all huge digital platforms in China.

A number of hugely-successful player appearances that creatively embraced popular Chinese culture helped us become the fastest-growing team on Weibo during our time in Shanghai as we actively supported our key commercial partners in the region, particularly AIA, our Global Principal Partner, celebrating its Centennial year, and Nike, our Official Kit Provider.

Award submissions were based on three categories; Uniqueness, Relevance and Performance. The final shortlist was judged by 10 expert judges from China’s top sports broadcasters, agencies, media, digital platforms and rights holders.

About Mailman

Established in 1999, Mailman is a global sports digital agency and consultancy. Mailman helps the world's leading sports organisations serve their audiences and build their businesses. Headquartered in Shanghai, with offices in SE Asia, London and the United States, Mailman has over 200 experts working across 100+ global sports clients with services spanning digital agency, consulting, commercial and production.