💡 nutmeg fc #5
Today: (Some of) the best creative ideas from the football industry.
The Cannes Lions festival is where the crème de la crème of the world's advertising creativity is awarded. There are those who prefer (or feel that they have more prestige) other festivals, but Cannes is Cannes. Something like the Ballon d'Or and The Best.
Cannes Lions 2023 took place a couple of weeks ago, so I wanted to take the opportunity to share (some of) the best football-related ideas that were awarded.
I'm going to leave out the ideas linked to the World Cup because I want to do a specific post about it. And I also decided to omit the ones I already shared on nutmeg fc #1 or FinalScore.
Anyway, here they are...
FC Barcelona x Motomami (Spotify).
The sponsorship deal between Barça and Spotify sounded good from minute zero. It was the union of two love brands, the entry of a technological giant into football and it opened up a world of creative possibilities through the use of technology and data.
However, the star of this sponsorship is turning out to be one of the sports advertising formats that has evolved the least: the front of the shirt.
There are very few creative examples of this type of advertising that I can remember.
In Argentina, Quilmes beer, which sponsored both River and Boca, changed its logo to the names of the players' mothers in a Superclásico played on Mother's Day. This was twenty years ago, but it made an indelible impression on those of us who saw it live. I don't remember how the match ended, but I do remember that Cuchu Cambiasso's mother's name is Tita.
In Brazil, Fluminense de Feira of the Serie D used the shirt numbers to promote offers from a supermarket that sponsored the team. This initiative had a lot of impact, but it is not for just any team, as it can lower their price (🤡).
The case of Barça and Spotify is also a success. Replacing the Spotify logo with the logo of different artists in each El Clásico renews interest in the sponsorship and gets them back into the conversation, something very difficult to achieve so many months later. In addition, they earn a few extra euros by selling limited edition jerseys, some of which cost over €1,000 a piece.
Maybe the success of this idea will motivate other clubs to follow suit. I can already imagine Gosbi, the pet food brand that sponsors Girona, giving their space to a local animal shelter on International Pet Adoption Day ( November 9th). Each jersey could have an illustration of a different breed of dog or cat to give them more emotional value and make them collectible. Even after the match, the used jerseys could be auctioned off and the proceeds donated to the shelter.
A hand ball that could save your life (Borussia Dortmund).
In the article I wrote for FinalScore I shared an idea from Brazil in which they turned basketball courts into works of art to prevent them from being destroyed. In the end I wrote that it would be nice to see more creative interventions on the playing fields, as this is where the focus is on during the games.
Well, Borussia Dortmund have already done that.
The testicular cancer suffered by Sébastian Haller, the striker they signed to replace Haaland, gave them the microphone to talk about the importance of getting a medical check-up. They could have made a video with Haller talking about his experience and it would have been fine, but they went further: they added a lump to the centre circle.
Not only did they take advantage of the moment and their ability to effectively reach their target audience to deliver a relevant message, but they found an impactful and memorable way to do so.
Hopefully they will follow up on this idea and next year we will have a limited edition Borussia Dortmund crest shirt with a lump on it.
Fabric of England (Show Racism the Red Card)
Football has this ability to bring people together, to equalise and to give them meaning that makes it the ideal tool to combat racism (or sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc). But because it is such a passionate world, it also tends to make these problems bigger.
For the latter not to happen, we have to find ways to convey an anti-racism message in a creative way that is relevant to the target and, above all, emotional.
Data helps, but racism is not something rational, it is something that we carry deep inside us and that is activated at times of emotional instability. Therefore, in order to deactivate it, we must also appeal to emotions and not expect quick fixes.
Show Racism the Red Card is an NGO that uses the power of football to gradually deactivate negative emotional reactions to people of a different race.
After the online abuse received by the three players who missed penalties in the Euro 2021 final (Saka, Rashford and Sancho), Show Racism the Red Card decided to reimagine what the England shirt would look like if it truly represented the origins of those who make up the team (and those who make up the country).
I have a weakness for T-shirts with storytelling, so this is, without a doubt, one of my favourite ideas from this edition of Cannes Lions.
Home (Nike) & He's coming home (Women's Aid).
Argentinians who have some memory of Italy 1990 have a visceral relationship with Un'estate Italiana, the World Cup theme song. We only need the first chords to get goosebumps and nostalgia overflowing. It is not only a symbol of Argentina's epic fight to reach the final, but also of the moment when we realised that we would no longer see the Maradona of old and that we had to start dreaming of the arrival of the next Diego.
Something similar happened to the English fans with Three Lions (Football's Coming Home), the hit song of Euro 96 played in England. The song put music and lyrics to the national feeling that the title that had been denied for thirty years was going to come at any moment.
But while Argentina did find the next Maradona, England continued without winning a senior title and with successive frustrations came the obsession and the need to give a new meaning to It's coming home.
Rethinking an element of popular culture is a very effective creative resource that serves to use the hook of this element to convey a bigger message.
This year, Cannes Lions awarded two ideas that turned The Lightning Seeds' song on its head and went beyond the joy of sporting success.
Nike and women's football.
During these almost thirty years without titles, the English obsession was focused exclusively on the men's football team, but Nike showed that not only men can bring home the glory.
Women's Aid and defeats.
While the song emphasises the impending victory, Women's Aid used it to draw attention to what often happens after a defeat.
That's all for this week. There are several more winning ideas that I will be sharing in the coming weeks to keep this article from getting too long.