NOW brings Succession storyline to life with football partnership
October 18, 2021
To celebrate the return of season 3 of Succession, streaming service NOW is bringing a slice of the Roy family’s dysfunctionality to the UK with a Succession-inspired football ‘takeover’ in Edinburgh.
In the last season of the hit show, Roman Roy (played by Kieran Culkin) buys the Scottish football club Hearts to impress his father Logan (Brian Cox), only to awkwardly discover that his billionaire dad is actually a fan of Hearts’ biggest cross-city rivals, Hibs.
In a nod to this storyline, streaming service NOW worked with the high-flying Edinburgh club Heart of Midlothian on a partnership celebrating Roman Roy’s fictional takeover of the team. This partnership sees the name of the Roy family’s infamous company Waystar Royco added to the front of Hearts’ iconic shirts, as well as on branding within the club’s Tynecastle Park stadium.
The limited-edition Succession-inspired shirts were unveiled at Hearts’ Tynecastle Park stadium by the club’s manager Robbie Neilson and players John Souttar, Ben Woodburn, Stephen Kingsley and Beni Baningime.
Robbie Neilson, Manager at Hearts of Midlothian F.C. said: “The club has been so excited to feature in one of the main storylines of one the biggest TV shows on the planet and we’re thrilled to be working with NOW to help launch this partnership celebrating season 3 of the show today. Just like the Roy children in Succession, we’re a club battling for the one place at the very top. Unlike the Roys though, we know we can only get there by working together.”
In a season where a variety of interesting and unusual brands have found their way onto the front of football shirts up and down the UK, this partnership stands out as a world-first – the first time ever that the front of a major professional football team’s shirt has been sponsored by a fictional company.
Jamie Schwartz, Director of Brand, Marketing and Merchandising at NOW said: “We want as many people as possible to enjoy amazing, critically-acclaimed shows like the Succession on NOW and this partnership with Hearts F.C. is a great way of celebrating the show in a way that fans will love and that also raises awareness of this must-watch content among a completely new audience.”
Chief Executive of Hearts of Midlothian F.C. Andrew McKinley commented: “As huge fans of the show, we’re really excited to be working with NOW to bring this Succession takeover to Tynecastle. We love watching the Hearts-related storylines in the show, although we’re quite thankful not to have any members of the Roy family running the club in real life! Brian and Kieran are always welcome in the director’s box at Tynecastle as a guest of the real owners of the club – the fans.”