United Airlines on Tuesday (May 21) debuted the latest launch stemming from its sponsorship of Wrexham AFC: limited-edition amenity kits and pajamas available to select travelers starting June 1. The airline since 2023 has served as the front-of-jersey sponsor of the Welsh soccer club, which has exploded in popularity since being purchased in 2020 by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney and was recently promoted to English Football League One.

“Wrexham’s story is one that has been documented and celebrated these last few years, so we’re thrilled to now give United customers team-branded gear they won’t be able to find anywhere else,” said Peter Wolkowski, director of onboard product design at United, in a press statement.

The gear includes Wrexham-branded amenity kits that include an eye mask, toothbrush and toothpaste, and Therabody skincare products for travelers in premium cabins on long-haul international flights, as well as team uniform-inspired pajamas for United Polaris customers on flights 14 hours or longer. The products are the latest way that United is leveraging its partnership with Wrexham and demonstrate how the airline has tried to tap more into cultural conversations under Chief Advertising Officer Maggie Schmerin, who took on the role in June 2023 after more than six years at the company.

“One thing that we’re really focused on at United is expanding the definition of advertising,” Schmerin said. “What is modern day advertising in a world when there are more ways than ever to ignore ads?”

Marketing Dive spoke with Schmerin about “opening up the aperture” of its Wrexham sponsorship and how the airline is working to remain culturally and contextually relevant in an evolving marketing landscape.

The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

MARKETING DIVE: Stepping back from today’s news, what drove United’s decision to become the front-of-jersey sponsor for Wrexham?

MAGGIE SCHMERIN: We have a real focus on ‘let’s go where the ears are, let’s go where the eyes are’ — what are people watching and how can we really make sure that United is showing up as a culturally relevant brand? Wrexham absolutely checks the box on pop culture and sports relevancy. 

We were really thinking about new ways for the brand to pop and we thought, ‘Let’s actually insert ourselves in the content.’ If we are front-of-jersey in this show, ‘Welcome to Wrexham,’ and in the social media content that Rob and Ryan are going to put out, you truly can’t ignore that. 

I often say that it just so happens that one of America’s most popular soccer teams plays in Wales. Wrexham has become this beloved story, thanks to the documentary and Rob and Ryan and their social channels. It’s such a feel-good story that you can’t ignore, and that was really exciting for us. We don’t fly to Wales, we’ll probably never fly to Wales, but it wasn’t about that. It was really about that modern approach to marketing.

With Wrexham, United gets two ready-made brand ambassadors in Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. What has that partnership been like?

SCHMERIN: They are truly the ultimate collaborators. They are great partners. It really starts with that shared vision of what they’re trying to accomplish with this club, both the product on the pitch and also what they’re looking to do in the community of Wrexham.

When we do an announcement like this and create content with them, it really is collaborative. There’s a lovely back and forth. We’re working with some of the best creative storytellers out there, and they always come with a vision for how we might go to market with something; they have great teams that work alongside them.

Speaking of pop culture relevancy, how did United’s ad around the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” film come about?

SCHMERIN: We had so much fun with that. That’s why I love working on this team and working in this industry, because every day it’s a new challenge to say, “Okay, what do people care about today on the internet, and how can we go make the brand relevant?”

We like to think of it as a dinner party conversation: You’re not going to insert yourself into a conversation if you truly have nothing additive to say, but with the Taylor Swift example, we have a lot of great footage of our United Aircraft flying above SoFi stadium [where her film was shot] and we are flying tons of people to these concerts domestically. We already had a cinema buy at that point in time. We were going to run another ad, but we said, we can really quickly make an ad that feels so relevant to the Taylor Swift fan.

The industry is already talking about next year’s Super Bowl ads. How has United approached the big game?

SCHMERIN: We’ve had a lot of fun “hacking” the Super Bowl the last couple of years. We have taken the local market approach which has been really interesting for us. We’re obviously a national brand, we’re a global brand, but when you think about how airlines are set up and operate, we have seven hub cities in the U.S., and then a bunch of other cities that are equally important to us. What do we want to say [with a Super Bowl ad]? Who needs to hear from us, and where are they? 

We got rid of change fees in August 2020. Not everyone knows that. People think it was a pandemic thing or that we may be waiving them for time being. [We went] into these markets, where we either are the dominant airline or where, in some cases, a competitor might be the dominant carrier, to remind fliers in that market that you can change your mind, free of charge on United Airlines. 

United has reportedly been looking at getting into the retail media game. How do you think about being both an advertiser and a company with its own ad channels?

SCHMERIN: We do sit on top of a lot of channels as an airline... whether that’s on the back of a seat on your screen or in the airport.

We used to do some of our sponsorship messages in our airports. But if you stop and think about it, is that really the most important message that you need to hear on your day of travel? If you’re a fan of a specific team or sport, we can find you digitally and have that message reach you there. At the airport, we should tell you to have the United app because that is how you’re going to have the best travel day. 

We [have] a ton of opportunities to be contextually relevant and that’s something we're continuing to find new and better ways to do that.