Manchester United

Paddy Power unveil emergency Sir Alex Ferguson outside Old Trafford

Scott Goodacre

Scott Goodacre

— 2 min read
Paddy Power unveil emergency Sir Alex Ferguson outside Old Trafford

Paddy Power and ‘cheeky’ are pretty much synonymous these days, and as the online betting firm unveiled a waxwork model of Sir Alex Ferguson outside Old Trafford following Manchester United’s 3-1 loss to Chelsea we’ve no doubt it’s an adjective that’ll be thrown their way once again.

Contained inside a glass box with the phrase ‘in case of emergency break glass’ adorning the front, the full size waxwork – which, coincidentally, only bears a passing resemblance to the man himself – was teased on Twitter shortly following the game.

Although that’s a Tweet claiming to have been sent at 1803 – less than 20mins after the game ended – the fact it’s daylight in the photo suggests they’d had this one planned for a short while now. The actual model was then unveiled the following morning on Twitter, and the photo was gleefully retweeted by thousands.

Once again Paddy Power are getting themselves some brilliant coverage by being bold and tapping into the mindset of football fans worldwide – including those of Manchester United who appear to be growing increasingly frustrated with the direction of the team under new manager David Moyes. In a recent interview with The Drum, the company’s Global Marketing Director Christian Woolfenden claimed that if Paddy Power “don’t get complaints [about campaigns] we’re quite disappointed”. The article also reveals that the Advertising Standards Agency received 121 complaints about 49 of the firm’s adverts in 2013, but the Agency didn’t formally investigate any of the claims.

Woolfenden also teased that the brand have plans a foot for more mischief at this year’s World Cup in Brazil, stating that “the mischief that we’re planning for that can’t be done at short notice”. We can’t wait.

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