Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

The Away Armband is an activation project that redefines the influence football fans can have on the game. For the first time, the courage displayed in their lives can inspire courage in their national football captain - for real. Selected via nominations on social, the most worthy fans experienced what it's like to see themselves represented on the actual Captain's Armband worn by their national captain during a penultimate live semi-final away match.

Background

Situation: In 2018, the Asean Football Federation introduced the home and away format for the AFF Suzuki Cup - the most prestigious tournament for countries in Southeast Asia. Brief: While the game itself isn't world class yet, the fans in Southeast Asia are fiercely passionate and the home crowd atmosphere is fearsome to say the least. We were tasked to promote the new format and engage the fans by appealing to their pride as the 12th man on the pitch. Objectives: Business Objective - Increase revenues from tickets, merchandise, sponsors & partners Marketing Objective - Increasing stadium attendances & TV audiences Communications Objective - Positioning the Suzuki Cup as a premier sporting cultural event in football-loving Southeast Asia

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

The captain of the away team must inspire courage. But who will inspire him? For the final four teams of Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines, we got fans to nominate their fellow countrymen/women whom they felt were symbols of courage and would help inspire their National Football Team's captain to display courage under fire. For the first time, the actual match day Captain’s Armband for the leader of the away team was designed and made using fabric worn by their most courageous fans. An Away Armband that their captain would take to the field with - Live, for over 90 minutes. As the captains armband became the fabric of a nation's courage.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In Southeast Asia, the beautiful part of the game isn't what's happening on the pitch, but away from it in the stands. For context, Premier League Champions Manchester City enjoyed an average of 54,054 match day attendance for the 2017/2018 season. For the AFF Suzuki Cup, Malaysia hosted Vietnam with a capacity crowd of 88,482. So our strategy is to focus on the fandom to make fans truly feel like the 12th man on the pitch. That they are the highlight of the tournament. To do so, we focused our spotlight on the home grounds. Short content stoked pride as we called out the fear factor that each home stadium was capable of evoking. The central theme of fear then allowed us to activate the participation platform of Away Armband. Where fans could play a huge part during a time when their team captains needed them most.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

The campaign began by first creating content that celebrated how fearsome the various home grounds were. That reinforced the intensity of fandom in each country. By the end of the group stages, we sent out a call-to-entry film, requesting fans to submit their vote for a courageous supporter. Within one week, we had to source the fabric from the selected fans and create custom-made armbands for each of the semi-final games. In total there were 4 armbands created, for the final four teams of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines. Selected countrymen ranged from policeman to philanthropist, vigilante to physically impaired activist and many others. The matches took place across one week from 1 Dec 2018 - 6 Dec 2018. The armbands were heavily viewed on social media through the captain's presentations as well as receiving airtime during the matches, receiving an average viewership of 14,187,871 during the semi finals.

List the results (30% of vote)

On social media, the campaign had: Total reach of 10.3M across Facebook and Twitter 236k of engagements 3.8M video views across Facebook The away armbands received an average viewership of over 56 million via live telecast during the semi finals. Semi Final Stage - Viewing via telecasts 1. 1 Dec – Malaysia vs Thailand (1st Leg) = 14, 295, 192 2. 2 Dec – Philippines vs Vietnam (1st Leg) = 12, 176, 854 3. 5 Dec – Thailand vs Malaysia (2nd Leg) = 17, 214, 353 4. 6 Dec – Vietnam vs Philippines (2nd Leg) = 13, 065, 083 The project was so well received by the Captains themselves that for the Final between Malaysia and Vietnam, the respective Football Associations requested for a new piece of the Away Armband to be provided for their Final Away Legs.

Please tell us how you designed/adapted your campaign for the single country / region / market where it aired.

For the Southeast Asia region, the standard of the game played isn't world class yet. For context, Vietnam is the highest ranking Southeast Asia nation according to the latest FIFA rankings. But it is only ranked 97th. Madagascar is 96th. However while the game play isn't the best, the fandom is up there with the very best. For context, Premier League Champions Manchester City enjoyed an average of 54,054 match day attendance for the 2017/2018 season. For the AFF Suzuki Cup, Malaysia hosted Vietnam with a capacity crowd of 88,482. In the absence of superstars, the grass root fans are in turn deeply connected with their homegrown players. Hence for the region's biggest football tournament, we designed a campaign that could further build the sense of community and influence between fans and teams. A level of camaraderie that is harder to find amongst the world's biggest teams and their fans.