| Title | PLAY BASKETBALL ON A SOCCER FIELD |
| Brand | YUM! RESTAURANTS (CHINA) INVESTMENT COMPANY |
| Product / Service | KFC'S BASKETBALL COUNTER-ATTACK |
| Category | A06. Use of Special Events And Stunt/Live Advertising |
| Entrant | BBDO CHINA Shanghai, CHINA |
| Entrant Company | BBDO CHINA Shanghai, CHINA |
| Advertising Agency | BBDO CHINA Shanghai, CHINA |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Waifoong Leong | BBDO China | Executive Creative Director Of Greater China |
| Awoo Lai | BBDO China | Executive Creative Director |
| Frank Zhao | BBDO China | Group Creative Director |
| Ben Guo | BBDO China | Associate Creative Director |
| Army Xie | BBDO China | Creative Group Head |
| Oni Zhang | BBDO China | Strategic Planner |
| Rachael Tsai | BBDO China | Business Director |
| Jocelyn Zhu | BBDO China | Associate Account Director |
On the event day, around 2000 people came to the site to watch the 11on11 basketball game, attracting live coverage and reports from 31 media outlets (including CCTV 5),reaching over 253 million people, earning an equivalent media value worth RMB16.6 million.Also, it caused quite a stir in social media. The hashtag #Play basketball on a soccer field#was read by over 5 million timeson Weibo, reasulting 30,000 discussion-more than six times achieved by hashtags released by a competing brand-an official partner of the World Cup.In addition,this event created the record of “the biggest basketball court in China” awarded by China Records
On June 19th, 2 weeks before the KFC 3on3 grand opening, 1.we launched on Hupu forum-the feasibility of a 11on11 football game on a soccer field.Also,which was forwarded to several other popular sports forums ( Tianya, Xici.net, Sina sports forum, iFeng sports forum, etc.) raising more attention and discussion. 2.We also created the hashtag #Play basketball on a soccer filed# on Sina weibo, and the influential CCTV sports show host Yu Jia also joined the discussion. 3.When it became a popular topic on social media, we triggered the second round discussion by reposting the discussion through KFC official Weibo account, and Yum official Weibo account. 4.On Jun 21, the official teaser video, “Basketball Counterattacks Soccer” was released by KFC 3on3 official Weibo account, indicating the opening of the core event. 5.On Jul 6th, we turned the soccer field of Beijing Dongdan Stadium into the biggest basketball court in China.
Since its inception in 2004, KFC 3on3 has been the most well-known teenage basketball tournament in China with the coverage of more than 500 cities and over 1.3 million teenagers (aged from 16-19) participated in. It has brought outstanding brand awareness to the KFC brand for years among teenagers. However, in 2014, we were faced with an unprecedented challenge. In the year of the World Cup, the entire world was focused on soccer, and millions of brands spared no money and efforts to grab this golden opportunity to join in the soccer carnival and get young consumers’ attention. Hence, when the young Chinese consumers put all their attention to soccer, anything irrelevant to soccer may be easily neglected. Not to mention that this year’s KFC 3on3 grand opening was happening only days before the World Cup final.