adidas was one of the main sponsors of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in South Africa this summer, and the German sportswear giant called on Can Communicate to help maximise this golden publicity opportunity…
adidas’s association with the beautiful game sits at the heart of its global marketing strategy, and today the sportswear firm is linked with some of the biggest names in football. Right now adidas is the official kit supplier to Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid and AC Milan, to name just four.
This is to say nothing of the firm’s sponsorship deals with galaticos like FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Kaka, David Beckham, Barcelona stars David Villa and Xavi, and a host of Premier League names like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry and Jermain Defoe.
And the iconic brand, which also owns Reebok, was well represented at this summer’s World Cup in South Africa. Among the 47-plus teams supplied by adidas were Germany, Maradona’s Argentina, host nation South Africa and eventual winners Spain.
So when it came to maximising their publicity at the world’s biggest tournament, it was vital that adidas got it right. That’s why they turned to Can Communicate (CAN) to support their World Cup PR campaign.
Groundwork
The adidas PR team set up camp in Johannesburg, South Africa throughout June and July. Here they created an exhibition space to showcase their products, which doubled as a venue for hosting conferences for media and press.
The adidas team’s key objective was to deliver mobile, TV and online PR material to broadcasters around the world in a bid to highlight the company’s involvement in the tournament.
CAN has forged a strong relationship with adidas over the years, and in the months leading up to the event we produced video news releases (VNRs) of selected players from each of the 32 Countries competing in the Finals. These comprised interviews and behind the scenes footage of players matched for each game in the Group stages of the competition. For example we previewed the opening match of South Africa Vs Mexico by releasing a VNR featuring pre tournament interviews with Steven Pienaar (South Africa) and Guardado Hernández (Mexico)
The challenge
So when it came to the tournament itself, it made sense to maximise this content we had captured with the adidas football stars in the lead up to the tournament and supplement it with content generated in South Africa. Our role was to capture and create top-quality footage that reflected adidas’s central involvement in this massive sporting event and publicise their PR activities throughout the World Cup.
This footage was then produced and distributed as video packages in double-quick time so that it could be made available to broadcasters worldwide to use in their programming.
The solution
CAN’s team comprised 6 people, including a director, producer, local producer, editor, camera technician and a sound engineer.
We flew out to Johannesburg to operate as a mobile film crew, on hand to react quickly to unplanned footage opportunities, and to capture key moments from adidas PR schedule. Each day we filmed a mixture of adidas events, interviews, press conferences and local colour.
The outcome
During the World Cup CAN produced 35 features based around this current content and supplemented by assets created in lead up to World Cup to create relevant & timely football and adidas related features that were released on a daily basis.
Working closely with the adidas PR team, we were able to take advantage of branding opportunities and to ensure that VNRs were easily accessible by major global newscasters and FIFA. Content and scripts were also uploaded to the adidas News Stream and Can On Demand web services, from where it could be previewed and downloaded free of charge by broadcasters & program makers around the world.
Among the many broadcasters to take advantage of the service was BBC’s Match of the Day, and according to Helen Grey, Account Director at CAN, the project was deemed a huge success. “adidas were thrilled with our ability to promote their brand effectively,” said Helen. “The fact that the majority of our work was digital meant the production and transmission of film could be completed very quickly. This film was then transmitted around the globe, and most importantly it carried the adidas logo! They were delighted.”
“The media material provided by your team during World Cup 2010 was invaluable, and included some of the most newsworthy soundbites from any company in South Africa. Once again the high quality of pictures and audio provided by CAN made the adidas VNR’s stand out. Unsurprisingly Al Jazeera made use of at least one of your interviews in almost every sports bulletin throughout the tournament.
James Pratt - Executive Producer, Sport - Al Jazeera English | Doha, Qatar
“The technical side worked really well, though, so we were able to check each story out and decide then whether to use it or not. All in all, we were really pleased with what you provided and your coverage and contact has become an extremely useful additional source at the big events for us.”
Michael Brock – Producer - Thomson Reuters
“We thought the content was of a very high standard and we made extensive use of the material, particularly the pre-tournament interviews and first match previews”
Jim Grice - Editor, Video - The Press Association