Instagrammer desperate to get married buys advertising spot at international handball match

KAUNAS, Lithuania - April 29, 2021 - PRLog -- When Lithuanian men's handball team steps on the court at Avia Solutions Group arena in Vilnius on Thursday night, the eyes of the audiennce will focus not only on the teams but also on rather unconventional advertising sticker. 'Looking for a wife' says the one in Lithuanian and 'Marry Me' says the other in English with the handle @opinijus directing target audience toward the bachelor's profile on Instagram.

While traditional advertising buyers are hesitant to purchasing advertising space at our matches, we decided to search for sponsorship elsewhere and look at it creatively says Donatas Pasvenskas, president of the Lithuanian Handball Federation.

According to him, we should make a clear difference between sponsors and those buying advertising space. The sponsors are usually more involved and passionate about the sport they are willing to sponsor. They are more loyal as well, which is of utmost importance in the long-term period says the president.

One of such sponsors is a mysterious Instagram personality @opinijus.

Over the past year influencer marketing became a multi-billion business with companies spending huge parts of their marketing budget on it. However in the case of the Lithuanian Handball Federation the tides have turned and the sponsorship is coming from the Instagram personality. Should we call it outfluencing then?

According to @opinijus the idea behind this campaign is to bring awareness to the sponsorship issues Lithuanian handball has to deal with. With basketball being by far the most popular sports in Lithuania other team sports are struggling to find sponsorship.

'I like handball, sports in general and have an unconventional approach to life' says the person hiding behind @opinijus. 'I like what Lithuanian Handball Federation is doing and wanted to help them with their cause. The initial idea was simply to promote my Instagram account but then we decided to spice it up to bring the topic to a wider audience. And make no mistake, I am really looking for a wife, explains @opinijus.'

'With the game being live on TV in Lithuania, Iceland and also on free to air internet platform EHFTV.com I think the sponsorship provides really good bang for buck' adds @opinijus.