Adidas Anthropomorphic Bruzuca World Ball Tour

Adidas is adopting an anthropomorphic approach to its marketing of the official ball of the 2014 World Cup – the Brazuca.

A special version of the Brazil 2014 Brazuca was created for the campaign with no less than six cameras embedded into the ball – nicknamed ‘Brazucam’ – which was then sent on a personalised tour of the football world.

The sports brand and official FIFA sponsor, in tandem with agency TBWA, developed a multi-country tour for the World Cup ball and filmed its adventures across key football markets (a mix of countries in which either adidas or Nike has the national team’s shirt deal) as it made its way to host nation Brazil.

The ball’s World Cup tour – spanning England, Spain, Germany, Japan, Mexico and the USA – produced country-specific ball’s-eye football footage which aimed to offer soccer fans a fresh 360º perspective of the game and its star players.

Rolling out web-episodes from each market featuring pick-up games, behind-the-scenes footage and starring Adidas player ambassadors (including Xavi Hernandez, Dani Alves, Christian Tello, Philip Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger) all shot from the ball’s perspective.

Fans can follow the ball’s journey via Twitter at @brazuca (http://twitter.com/brazuca) for real time tour updates.

The name of the anthrophormised ball is a play on the official World Cup ball’s name, Brazuca – a Brazilian term referring to both national pride and Brazilian expats.

After the ball’s initial integrated and interactive launch campaign late last year (see case study), the tour is introduced in late March 2014 with an initial ‘I Am Brazuca’ film (689,000 YTVs).

This ad saw the humanised object invite fans to ‘come join me as I meet some of the world’s best players, attend matches and play with fans. With six eyes and 360º views, I will see and share the love of football around the globe like never before’.

The initiative then rolled out individual films from Spain (7 April – 176,000 YTVs),

Germany (14 April – 130,000 YTVs),

England (21 April – 67,000 YTVs),

Russia (28 April – 69,000 YTVs),

Japan (5 May – 82,000 YTVs),

USA (10 May – 26,000 YTVs),

and Mexico (19 May – 144,000 YTVs)

The initiative then subsequently blends with adidas’ main global World Cup campaign thread which launched on 24 May to leverage with the UEFA Champions league Final (see case study).

Comment

The anthropomorphic approach to ball marketing initially seems inventive and original.

But perhaps the relative drop off in the YouTube views as the episodes rolled out suggests its more of a one-off bit of fun rather than a new camera angle that adds to ongoing football coverage.

The technology is certainly clever and the perspective on the game itself seems fun and fresh – momentarily.

But from the campaign’s web film footage, don’t expect football fans to start campaigning for permanent ball cameras to be added to their everyday football TV consumption.

Links:

I Am Brazuka Website

http://adidas.com/brazuca.

Adidas Football Brazuca Retail Platform

http://adidas.com/go/DqAAA

I Am Brazuka Music Sites

https://soundcloud.com/adidasfootball…
http://paulwhitemusic.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/PaulWhiteMusic

Adidas Football YouTube
http://a.did.as/17hC6R2

Adidas Football Twitter

https://twitter.com/adidasfootball

Adidas Football Facebook

https://facebook.com/adidasfootball