Manchester’s driven has created and produced a new campaign starring footballing legends David Seaman and Paul Merson for Fishing Republic.
Yorkshireman and former England, Arsenal and Manchester City keeper Seaman is an ambassador for the national retailer, and the campaign captures him introducing Merson to fishing.
Nicknamed “The Magic Man” in his football career, Merson shows he can turn his hand to fishing with surprising success as the duo have a great day’s fishing for Barbel and Chub on the beautiful River Wye in the Welsh borders.
Merson was sceptical at first, but was soon converted to fishing when he hooked into one of River Wye’s famous Barbel.
Fishing is one of the UK’s most popular pastimes, with over 3m anglers across the country. Reports show it’s a great activity for keeping healthy by providing benefits like increased vitamin D, improved concentration and cardiovascular health. The nation’s army of anglers is well served by Fishing Republic shops, with over 70 outlets across the country, many in GO Outdoors stores.
“David is a huge fisherman, so was the perfect person to show Paul the ropes. Being ex-teammates, the relationship was great from the start and Paul fished really, really well. It’s a lovely piece of content for us that I’m sure will be popular with fishing and football fans alike,” Said Carly Czuba, group marketing director at JD Outdoors.
Graham Drury, Partner at driven, added: “Most anglers know there’s no better way to discover freedom than to go fishing. David and Paul show how it can be a great stress reliever and really thrilling at the same time. Some anglers don’t ever catch a Barbel, so for Paul to land an eight pounder as his very first fish is pretty special.”
The campaign breaks today on digital channels and will run throughout Take a Friend Fishing month, run by the Angling Trust. This offers a free one-day licence to new anglers who are taken fishing by an existing licence holder until September 2.
