The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2023–2024
Xbox hires a Football Manager fan for Bromley FC — promotion, 190% player growth
Xbox hired Football Manager fan Nathan Owolabi as Bromley FC's real tactician — the club won promotion and the campaign won Cannes Grands Prix.
Xbox · Bromley FC · Football Manager
What it had to solve
To launch Football Manager 2024 on Xbox Game Pass in the game's 20th anniversary year, Xbox wanted to prove that virtual tactical skill is real. Bromley FC, a Vanarama National League club chasing a historic first promotion, offered the perfect stage.
How it works
When Football Manager 2024 arrived on Xbox Game Pass for the series' 20th anniversary, Xbox and McCann London built the launch around a dare: give the game's skill a real test. They announced an open recruitment drive for a 'Support Performance Tactician' role at Bromley FC, a fifth-tier club, with applicants required to win a domestic league in FM24 and submit a video explaining why they deserved the job.
The winner was Nathan Owolabi, a 23-year-old Wembley tour guide who had never coached professionally. He passed interviews with Bromley manager Andy Woodman and signed a fully paid five-month contract, working full-time in the backroom staff from January 2024 while TNT Sports filmed a three-part docuseries. The campaign treated the hire as genuine rather than decorative: Owolabi prepared tactics, analysed opponents, and worked under Woodman through the season.
The season ended in a storybook climax. Bromley reached the National League play-off final and beat Solihull Moors 4–3 on penalties to reach the English Football League for the first time in their 132-year history, with Owolabi's analysis of penalty takers part of the preparation. FM24 became the most-played edition of Football Manager ever, with a 190% increase in players on Xbox, and Cannes Lions 2024 gave the campaign eight awards, including Grands Prix in Entertainment for Gaming and Direct plus a Titanium Lion.
Why it lands
- The campaign treated gamers as a genuine talent pool instead of an audience to advertise at — a real job, real contract, real backroom role.
- Because the outcome was unscripted, the documentary had stakes no fictional ad could fake.
- The mechanic mirrored the product: the tactical skill the game claims to model was tested in the real world, on camera.
- It launched FM24 with a story that outlived the launch window — awards, press and culture kept telling it all year.
What it did
Bromley finished its best season since 1892 and won the National League play-off final 4–3 on penalties — a first EFL promotion in 132 years, with Owolabi's penalty analysis part of the story. FM24 became the most-played Football Manager ever, with a 190% increase in players on Xbox. At Cannes Lions 2024 the campaign won eight awards, including Grands Prix in Entertainment for Gaming and Direct and a Titanium Lion.
What you can take
Give the audience a real stake, not a stunt: when the 'ad' is an actual job at an actual club, the game's credibility is proven on the pitch and the launch story writes itself.
Since then
Bromley entered the EFL with their new tactician's story attached, and Owolabi's penalty analysis became part of the club's promotion folklore. Xbox supported him in pursuing UEFA coaching qualifications, and he was profiled on BBC Radio 5 Live. The campaign became one of 2024's most decorated pieces of marketing: eight Cannes Lions including two Grands Prix and a Titanium Lion, plus coverage as a case study in gaming, sport and advertising press. For the industry it demonstrated that a launch campaign could create a real job with real consequences rather than a simulation of one.
Sources
- Go From Game Pass to Game Day With Xbox, Football Manager & Bromley FC
- Microsoft: Xbox Game Pass — The Everyday Tactician
- Xbox's 'Everyday Tactician' Celebrates Bromley FC's Promotion to The English Football League
- Microsoft: The Everyday Tactician (case study)
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