Hibs marketing chief Greg McEwan blown away by NHS shirt response as he hails ‘friends of club’ who helped initiative come to fruition

One of the key figures behind Hibs’ popular NHS strip says he has been blown away by the response.

Greg McEwan, who was appointed as the club’s Head of Marketing and Brand Partnerships in December, was heavily involved in developing the kit, which has become a huge hit with fans and the wider community.

Initially suggested by non-executive director, Bruce Langholm, the idea quickly took off and following discussions between the Easter Road club and NHS representatives, it was agreed that next season’s home strip will display a ‘Thank You NHS’ message in place of the usual sponsors logo.

It has already become Hibs’ fastest-selling top in history, with fans buying in their droves, while the gesture has drawn widespread acclaim across the world.

“The announcement has gone way beyond anything that we’ve ever experienced before,” McEwan said.

“We saw coverage in Spain, Portugal and CNN were interviewing our owner. It took the club engagement levels through the roof.

“When you’ve got Hibs fans like Andy Murray putting it out on his Facebook and Twitter feeds it certainly helps with your reach.

“As a brand exercise it’s certainly served us well, but that wasn’t the reason we did it.

“We did it because we wanted to show our support and thanks to the NHS but clearly it’s helped the club off the field in terms of raising awareness and we’ve certainly made a few more friends across the country and across Europe.”

The partnership has also attracted interest from clubs south of the border, with McEwan saying: “I’ve ended up on calls with Championship and League One clubs down in England who’ve got in touch to ask how we managed to do it because everybody is looking at ways to show their support for the frontline.”

Supporters have the option to add the ‘Thank You NHS’ transfer on their shirt for £5, with all profits being donated to the health service.

“Sales on the opening day went beyond anybody’s expectations,” McEwan said. “And over 95 per cent of the kits have been bought with the logo which is 15 per cent more than average years.

“It’s great support from the fans and all-in-all it makes more money for NHS Lothian. Sales have continued to go well and hopefully that continues.”

McEwan also hailed the anonymous backers who helped make the project possible.

“The shirt sponsorship is clearly your biggest asset as a football club and we’d been having a number of conversations with big brands,” McEwan said.

“Then Covid-19 hit and some of these conversations were parked until businesses knew how they were going to be coming out the other end.

“Fortunately we’ve got a few very good friends of the club that allowed us to make it happen, so they stepped in and donated a little bit to help the club out so we didn’t lose the full value of the front of the shirt.

“That allowed us to approach the NHS and we’re lucky that we had the former chairman of NHS Lothian on the board (Brian Houston) so he was able to advise us very quickly on the right channels to follow.

“We got that turned around pretty quickly, and got the go-ahead from them. We explained how we didn’t just want it to be a gesture on the front of the shirt to say thank you, we wanted it to be much more than that.”

As well as donating £5 from each strip sale with the NHS message, the club is also offering 100 free tickets to each home match next season for NHS and other front line workers, while other fundraising initiatives are also in the pipeline.

“We very much believe we’re a community club and I think we’ve shown that in many different ways over the years,” McEwan added.

“Hibs were founded way back in 1875 to serve the community and nothing has changed since then. We’re still here for that reason.

“That’s part of the reason why we’ve also launched the Greenest Club initiative, because we’re a responsible citizen, not just to ourselves, the club, players and fans, but to everyone around us, to Scotland as a whole, and the world.

“The same goes for this. The NHS, care workers, and all other frontline workers have been doing a phenomenal job keeping the country moving and this was a perfect opportunity for us to show our gratitude and support to them.

“We’ve got a number of fans who work for the NHS and we fully support everything they are doing for us, and look forward to welcoming them all to Easter Road in the coming months.”