Creative Execution

We got the smallest team sponsor the largest share of voice, reaching 32,000,000 people in earned media (it was the largest share of voice of ANY Socceroos sponsor) A 2452% expansion in M.J. Bale’s social media footprint. 74% uplift in suit sales in the following month (highest monthly increase ever). 15 re-tweets from the official Socceroos Twitter account despite having zero access to this channel in the sponsorship agreement.

When Australia qualified for the World Cup, we took tweets of support sent by celebrity fans and grew them in hectares of grass. Then, we fed this grass to our sheep, sheared them and turned the passion-infused wool into official team suits. Our product and its provenance was the heart of the social idea. The entire process became social content tailored to and driven by each celebrity. The idea quickly caught their attention and they became (unpaid) ambassadors by sharing it their millions of followers. This in turn propelled the story into mainstream media, creating unprecedented demand for our suits.

M.J. Bale, an independent menswear brand, had taken out a low level sponsorship of the Australian soccer team at the World Cup. But, in their deal they had no naming rights, no superstar endorsements, no branding, no access to the Socceroos’ huge social media following. The brand was invisible. We had to develop a social idea that would gain maximum leverage from our minor sponsorship and engage passionate Socceroos fans to generate more suit sales. With a Twitter following of less than 1000 people, we had to reach 1 million Australians. Our strategy was to harness the support of Australia’s most-followed celebrity soccer fans, by turning them into brand ambassadors without paying them a cent. Note: The word ‘paddock’ is used in Aussie slang to describe both a grazing pasture and a football field.