NewsLFC and Kodansha awarded for record-breaking World Book Day campaign
Liverpool FC and Kodansha received a top honour at the 2025 Sports Business Awards, winning the 'Excellence in Content Marketing' award for their standout World Book Day campaign.
The Sports Business Awards celebrate the creativity, innovation and strategic expertise of the teams behind the scenes, meanwhile this category rewards work that successfully drives brand awareness, engagement and loyalty through compelling storytelling.
The partnership's World Book Day campaign aimed to improve literacy rates in Liverpool by uniting the worlds of football and literature.
At its centre was the World Book Day surprise content piece, featured below, which saw Liverpool FC Academy children surprised by first-team stars, demonstrating how creative, surprise-driven content can redefine literacy marketing.
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Watch on YouTubeThe literacy-first content featured genuine moments of awe and joy that resonated worldwide, achieving 33.1 million organic video views and 49.8 million impressions, becoming the highest-performing World Book Day content ever produced by a sports team.
The campaign significantly boosted Kodansha's profile in the UK and globally, introducing the brand to new audiences and strengthening its connection with existing fans while further cementing its impactful partnership with Liverpool FC.
Kodansha complemented the content with workshops for more than 100 participants from its LFC Foundation programme Creative Works at Anfield, under the banner "My Future is Bright", encouraging children to dream, express themselves and connect with others through storytelling.