Instagram is where sports fans connect with brands.

Instagram Business helped get AdWeek Europe 2018 off to an inspirational start on Monday with a talk hosted by Sunil Singhvi, Instagram’s UK Strategic Partnerships Manager, with Russell Stopford, CDO from Paris Saint Germain, and Nick Lewis, Brand Strategy Director from COPA90 to discuss how Instagram helps brands to tap into global moments and develop valuable relationships with audiences with a passion for sport.

Instagram is now the place to go for breaking sports news and highlights. A remarkable 1 in 3 accounts on Instagram follow a sports-related account or individual athletes, and engaging more and more during global sporting events in real-time. Instagram is where sports fans consistently go to get amped about upcoming matches and enjoy insider access to exclusive match-day footage.

The interests of sports fans are not confined to the sporting world. Fans share their passions on Instagram, making it the perfect place for brands and businesses to connect with audiences on emotional levels and create deeper relationships.

With an international, always-on sports fan community, sporting events are being amplified in ways that have never before been possible, and bringing the sports world closer together. Now that fans can not only watch live at the stadiums, but also be there digitally through their smartphones, viewing habits have changed so that more of the match is consumed more intimately on smaller screens. This has created a desire for authenticity and a preference for video—and Instagram is where sports fans go to when they want live, authentic and video content.

Brands connect with passionate sport fans all year long, finding success not just during a sports event, but pre and post as well. From creating authentic moments on the platform, to harnessing the power of Instagram Stories to engage in real time, businesses have learned how to use Instagram creatively to achieve their goals.

As a platform powered by visual expression, Instagram fires the imaginations of sports fans and is now the place where passion reaches fever pitch—before, during and after every match.

Striking visual imagery combined with precise demographic targeting gives advertisers on Instagram the power to tap into key moments and transform aspiration into awareness, and passion into sales—with a success rate that can be measured.

Discover for yourself how Under Armour, Gatorade, Golden State Warriors and many more sports-related businesses use passion to bring their audiences closer, as well as gain actionable tips and insights into successful Instagram advertising strategies by downloading your copy of Top Of Your Game now.