2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

One of the major activities that happened in Riyadh Season was a friendly football match between the 2 giants of the south American continent (Argentina and Brazil). Usually people are excited about football matches in Saudi Arabia, however, the concept of it being a friendly match sometimes takes an edge off the willingness to attend.

Background

Football is the number one sport in the world, and Saudi’s following of the game is no different. The top activity practiced by men in the Kingdom is always revolving around football. Either watching it on tv, attending league matches in the stadium or even playing it on their play stations. Lately a lot of international football teams have been coming to play friendly matches in Saudi as part of the General Sports Authority’s goal to expose the kingdom and its people to new high standard experiences. However, it’s been noticed that when international teams come for friendlies the matches aren’t as competitive and the fans don’t enjoy the full action-packed experience as when there are stakes like points or trophies even when top tier stars come along.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

One of the top activities that guys in the city do on their spare time is renting football fields for matches between friends and family. They like to put their skills to the test and at many times the competitiveness rises to high edge. So in order to capitalize on the excitement and competitiveness we took over one of these matches and turned it into a legitimate experience by dressing the players with unified team kits representing Brazil and Argentina as well getting a referee and VAR system and flooded the stands with fans and spectators.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

On a regular day, a group of ordinary friends reserved a football field to play their usual friendly football match. These ordinary friends are like almost every Saudi Male, they are football fans, admirers of the sport and the athletes. We came in with 4 buses filled with 300 cheering fans to cheer them on as they play, referees, VAR screen, Brazil and Argentina football uniforms, branding material such as flags, an arch and toblerones. The ordinary friends and their friendly game was highjacked and turned into the game of their dreams. So to make this friendly cup game relevant to them and assure them that it will have all the excitement they crave, we hijacked the match and uplifted it to meet the level of energy that they can expect on match day.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We branded the pitch with toblerones around the field with ads just like in the real games, that had the images of all the stars who are coming to Riyadh. Also, we made sure to let them know where to buy the tickets and also the main message that NO, it’s not a regular friendly. There will be a cup given at the end of the match! And its called the Superclasico Cup!

List the results (30% of vote)

- Over 1 million views on social media in less than 48 hours - Tickets were sold out (stadium capacity was met at 25,000 seats) - 85% of tickets were sold after launching the activation video