Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Die-hard football fans support only one team in a football league. There are no second favourites. Using a listening tool, we found that 1500 die-hard fans of rival clubs were also supporting the Real Kashmir FC. We targeted them and used them as our non-commissioned influencers to find us more fans like themselves. We designed 'The Shared Jersey' for them. The world's first reversible football jersey, with the fan's favourite club's jersey design on the outside and Real Kashmir FC's jersey on the inside. The fans could now openly share their loyalties for their favourite club with us.

Background

Situation: Real Kashmir FC, a 3 year young club from the most militarised region in the world, was a strong contender for winning the National Football League (i-league). But they were had to play their home games away from home because of communal disturbance in their home state. Being a young club, RKFC did not enjoy the kind of support the 100 year old rival clubs did, especially, away from home. Brief: To get more support for RKFC, the youngest club in the 100 year old National football league, especially when they play away from home. Objectives: To help fans show their support for RKFC without compromising on their main club.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Die-hard football fans support only one team in a football league. There are no second favourites. But, in India, Adidas & Real Kashmir FC noticed a never seen before fan behaviour during Real Kashmir Football Club's debut in the National football league. Through a social listening tool we found that there were hardcore fans of rival clubs who were also supporting Real Kashmir FC.We decided to use these unique fans to find more such fans. We designed 'The Shared Jersey' for them. The world's first reversible football jersey, with the fan's favourite club's jersey design on the outside and Real Kashmir FC's jersey on the inside. The fans could now openly share their loyalties for their favourite club with us. These fans appreciated and posted 'The Shared Jersey' on social media and became our non commissioned influencers activating more such fans to show their shared support for RKFC.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Using a listening tool we went through all the conversations around football in India on the internet during the previous season. We found that, strangely, there were some fans of rival clubs who were supporting RKFC. In fact, 1500 of them. We targeted them. We called them the 'Unreal Fans of Real Kashmir'. We then designed and sent them 'The Shared Jersey'. The world's first reversible football club jersey, with the fan's favourite club's jersey design on the outside and Real Kashmir FC's jersey design on the inside. The fans could now openly show their shared support for RKFC. These fans experienced, appreciated and posted 'The Shared Jersey' on social media and became our non commissioned influencers. They then activated more fans like themselves who could now show their shared support for RKFC. We even made them our brand ambassadors and the faces of our campaign.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Die-hard football fans support only one team in a league. There are no second favourites. Using a listening tool, we found that 1500 die-hard fans of rival clubs were also supporting the Real Kashmir FC. We targeted them and used them as our non-commissioned influencers. We made them our brand ambassadors and the faces of our campaign. We called them the 'Unreal Fans of Real Kashmir'. We then designed and sent them 'The Shared Jersey'. The world's first reversible football club jersey, with the fan's favourite club's jersey design on the outside and Real Kashmir FC's jersey design on the inside. The fans could now openly show their shared support for RKFC. 1500 Shared Jerseys 41% Social Followers Increase 6266 Social Conversations 24K video shares 1.1 Million Content Engagement 36 million campaign impressions 3.7 million views 24% Content Engagement 35% View Through Rate 120s Average Time Spent on the website

List the results (30% of vote)

The campaign led to an astonishing 41% increase in Social Followers A lot of conversations started around the RKFC 6266 Social Conversations The videos that we created using these unique Unreal Fans garnered great results: 24K video shares 1.1 Million Content Engagement 36 million campaign impressions 3.7 million views 24% Content Engagement 35% View Through Rate 120s Average Time Spent on the website page

Please tell us about the social behaviour that inspired the work

Die-hard football fans support only one team in a football league. There are no second favourites. But, in India, Adidas & Real Kashmir FC noticed a unique, never seen before fan behaviour during Real Kashmir Football Club's debut in the National football league. Through a social listening tool we found that there were hardcore fans of rival clubs who were also supporting Real Kashmir FC. This unique behaviour of these fans inspired us to create the 'UNREAL FANS OF REAL KASHMIR' campaign. With the Shared Jersey these fans could now openly started showing their shared support for RKFC.