TBWA/HAKUHODO for Adidas Japan recently won the 2014 Facebook Studio Awards! Discover The Highest Goal campaign promoting the final qualifier for the World Cup event (in Japan) – The experience created @ social media buzz through Facebook, and the event was broadcast live online so that football fans all over Japan—and the world—could participate. We’re still in the World Cup fever, so let’s take a look back at this beautifully executed social media/experiential campaign!
Campaign details
The Highest Goal
Client: adidas Japan K.K.
Brand: adidas
Company: TBWA\HAKUHODO, Tokyo
Target: Japan · Asia Pacific
Language: Japanese
Category: Retail
Objectives: Awareness
Media: Online, OOH, Email
The final qualifier for the World Cup—a must-win to earn a World Cup berth. As an official sponsor and supplier, adidas Japan wanted to turn the event into an opportunity to make a connection with its audience, using the unifying theme of football.
The objective was to create an event that unites and engages football fans throughout Japan in support of their national team. During football matches, fans rely on their ever-present smartphones to stay connected with each other—whether at home, in sports bars or even at the arena—and communicate in real time, collecting information and sharing reactions.
During the week before the March 26, 2013 game against Jordan, Japanese people began to grow interested in football, little by little. Coinciding with the increase in public interest, we released the teaser movie for the campaign, announcing the gigantic projection on the wall of a Roppongi building in Tokyo on game day. The teaser movie created a buzz on social media, mainly among football fans. Various football sites and online news also caught and helped spread the campaign information.
The campaign strategy was to generate dynamic connections among football fans in support of their team. To achieve this, we created an event with big live impact but that could also be shared and engaged with via smartphone. Our solution was to create an interactive projection 200 meters above the ground in Tokyo on the day of the crucial game for the national team.
Using Facebook Connect, fans used their smartphone to virtually ‘throw in’ a soccer ball towards the projection—a massive video of Japan star forward Shinji Kagawa, projected on the wall of a high-rise building. With each throw-in, Kagawa received the ball and made a shot on goal, using 11,700 different shot patterns. The thrower’s Facebook profile photo and support message were also projected. The adidas Facebook Page promoted the campaign and motivated fans.
Campaign Performance
The projection, featuring the thrower’s Facebook profile photo, started an hour before the kick-off, as the attention to football reached its peak. Fans craving football topics rushed to the campaign and created a buzz within the moment.
Media reporting on the excitement of football fans on the streets also caught the event, which took place in the center of Tokyo. As a result, the event earned extensive media coverage the next day. Many pedestrians stopped to watch the images appearing in the Roppongi sky.
The experience created social media buzz through Facebook, and the event was broadcast live online so that football fans all over Japan—and the world—could participate.
Over 1,000 people joined the event within the first five minutes of the game, and they stayed on the adidas site for an average of 30 minutes. The campaign was featured in several media, and more than 500,000 people enthusiastically enjoyed the event. The campaign earned media exposure worth approximately US$100 million.
Check the website (still live): http://adidas-check.imgsrc.co.jp/award/
Demo site: http://adidas-check.imgsrc.co.jp/demo/
Video featured on this post is the official teaser – watch it also here
