In 1996, when I still believed I could become a professional footballer, Bill Gates said that content was king. Almost thirty years later, that king has become an omnipresent god.
Take football, for example. Every day they create more tournaments and add more teams to the existing ones. Then they complain that people watch highlights. Of course we watch highlights, we would have to give up our jobs to watch the huge amount of games every week. And they are about to add extra large versions of the World Cup, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
The same goes for series (and their spin-offs), movies (and their sequels and prequels), social media content, podcasts and newsletters.
I'm subscribed to quite a large number of newsletters. They are very good, but I don't have time to read them all and they end up piling up in a folder in my Gmail waiting for a miracle.
So, understanding the shortage of time and not wanting to get lost in a haystack of newsletters, I have decided to change the format of nutmeg fc.
Starting today, every Monday I will send a creative idea related to football. It can be current or old, the important thing is that it brings something to the table. A shorter format that can be seen quickly and helps to start the week with a creative touch.
In addition, from time to time I will continue to share the Gibraltar to the World Cup chronicles and some thoughts on football, creativity, branding and communications.
Sorry for this long intro. Let's get down to business with this week's idea.
A racinguista song that can save lives (Real Racing Club + Sociedad Española de CardiologÃa)
While the players are playing their hearts out to bring Racing back to the Spanish first division, the club has decided to launch a campaign to help save lives.
To that end, they created a football chant to the rhythm of La Vida es un Carnaval (by Celia Cruz), released it to their fans and when everyone was singing it, they explained that following the rhythm of that song is key to correctly perform CPR manoeuvres if necessary.
It has an extra point because the lyrics of the song also give a nod to its actual purpose:
‘Ooohhhh, aaahhh, we've got to cheer,
La Gradona won't stop,
the beats are increasing...
Ooohhhhh, aaahhh, we have to cheer,
La Gradona is not going to stop,
my heart is green and white’.
The glass-half-empty types will remember that a few years ago there was a very similar campaign with ex-footballer turned actor Vinnie Jones, who taught how to do CPR to the rhythm of Stayin' Alive. I'm a glass half full kind of guy and I like it when clubs try creative initiatives, even if they are not 100% original.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the person behind Racing Santander's initiative is Pablo N. Ruiz, who joined the club in September as marketing director and who, in his previous role at Racing Argentina, had developed campaigns such as this one: