In Spring/Summer 2023 Brazilian beer Brahma, a brand with a strong soccer heritage, teamed up with the country’s football stakeholders and the local Ukrainian community (the largest in Latin America) to keep the relocated FC Mariupol playing and champion the club’s story via the #FCMariupolLives ‘The Exiled Team’ campaign by agency Africa and Who Are You.
Territory: Brazil & Ukraine
Agency: Africa & Who Are You
Objective/Background
Brazilian beer brand Brahma has been a major partner of football in Brazil since 1953 – through sponsorships of the Brazil National Teams, all of the country’s 27 regional federations and 35 major professional clubs (including all top division ‘Series A’ teams) – and has a history of soccer-led social and cultural impact on and off the pitch.
Not only was Brahma a main partner of the Brazil national team when it won the FIFA Men’s World Cup five times, but in 1969 the brand backed Brazilian football when it helped stop a war in Nigeria and in 2004 when Brazilian football helped stop a war in Haiti.
Brahma – which believes that ‘football has already stopped some wars, but no war will ever stop the spirit of football’ – sought a way to show its support and solidarity for Ukraine following the brutal Russian invasion.
The brand understood that not only was football the number one sport in both Brazil and Ukraine, but Brahma also knew football plays a powerful community role and that Brazil had the largest Ukrainian community (largely in its southern Prudentópolis Region) in Latin America.
So, in 2023, Brahma teamed up with the wider Brazilian soccer community and the Ukrainians who live permanently and temporarily (as refugees feeling the war) in Brazil by pledging to keep FC Mariupol alive after the Ukrainian city was invaded by the Russians.
The initiative also brought to life’s Brahma belief that: “Football is not just a game. It is a vital necessity of our existence as humans. A common ground that bonds every single person on Earth.”
Activation/Campaign
In response to the brief, São Paulo ad agency Africa worked with Associação Atlética Batel (AA Batel – a traditional football team from the Prudentópolis Region) to rename the club FC Mariupol. This was backed up by an integrated, multi-phase campaign telling the story of how the Ukrainian community embraced FC Mariupol.
The integrated ‘The Exiled Team’ campaign – which included a video, a website, out-of-home, digital ads, plus experiential and in-person initiatives all linked by the hashtag #FCMariupolLives – rolled out both in Brazil and Ukraine between April and June 2023.
The new FC Mariupol initiative was hubbed around a website at https://www.fcmariupollives.com/ and the campaign itself kicked-off with a teaser Mariupol and AA Batel tribute on 23 April followed by the launch of a hero #FCMariupolLives spot.
“Football has the power of bringing people together under the same passion. So we can keep their hope alive until FC Mariupol can come back home” said CEO and CCO of Ukrainian agency Who Are You Agency Illia Balaban.
“We’re so grateful for this warm welcome by AA Batel,” added FC Mariupol VP Andriy Sanin. “The war has been devastating to our city. Our schools, theatres, and sports teams were all destroyed or displaced in the conflict. But to have this football team from halfway around the world offer to keep our name alive during this dark time in our history — it’s impossible to express how much this means to us.”
‘The Exiled Team’ was created for client Brahma by a team at agency Africa which included Chief Creative Officer Sergio Gordilho, ECDs Nicholas Bergantin, Gustavo Victorino and Rodrigo Marangoni, Creative Directors João Corazza, Bruno Reis, Raphael Santos and Henrique Martins, Art Directors Gustavo Victorino, Rafael Teixeira and João Corazza, Copywriters Giovanna Carvalho, Nicholas Bergantin and Bruno Reis, VP of Client Service Heloisa Pupim, Client Services Team Members Rafael Marques, Vivianne Santos, Luísa Pires and Giulia Fernandes, VP of Special Projects and Creative Content Juliana Leite, Director of Special Projects Lica de Souza, Project Managers Thays Miranda and Theo Etlin, Creative Producers Giovanna Lima, Lais Cattena and Luiz Carlos Knuppel Junior, Awards Director Isabela Levy, Awards Assistant Valentina De Luca, Head of Talent Fernando Alonso, Producers Bruna Cicolino, Paola Arnelas, Giovanna D’Agostino, Leandro Motta and Gabriella Marlene, CTO Fábio Palma, Digital Project Manager Beatriz Stalchmidt Marques, Director of Sustainability and Institutional Relations Raphael Vandystadt, Head Of Insight – Innovation and Creative Research Eduardo Berardinelli, Senior Researcher Arthur De Wolf, Junior Researcher Mana Black, Content Lead Gustavo Stevanato, Art Director Beatriz Alpoim, Copywriter Aline Fucs, Community Manager André Moraes, Filmmaker Thays Miranda, Content Editor Heleno Florentino, Agency Producers Rodrigo Ferrari and Tais Olhiara, Agency Editors Ernesto Neto and Fabio Maczka, Motion Designers Vinícius Ale, Fabio Holtz and Fernando Freitas, Photographers Rodrigo Pirim and Thays Miranda and Ukrainian Director Yevhenii Dudnik.
The film production company was Moonheist with Director Willy Hajli, DOP Vitor Bossa, Executive Director Henrique Carvalhaes, plus Executive Producters Ariel Hidal and Manu Fenerich.
Post-production was handled by Space Gorila with Editor Lucas Cainã, Colourist Henrique Reganatti, Finisher Gabriel Guedes and a VFX team which included Valdo Caetano, Francinaldo Lemos, Felipe Lopes and Cadu Cipolla Luca.
Sound production was by Satelite Audio with Musical Director Roberto Coelho, Account Managers Fernanda Costa, Daniel Chasin, Camila Guedes and Mariana Tardelli, plus musical producers Hurso Ambrifi, Adilson Koiti and Mike Vlcek, Sound Designers Iran Ribas and Vithor Moraes, Finishers Iran Ribas and Vithor Moraes and Voiceover Artist João Piccoli.
Ukrainian translation was run through Oleg Kukhtinov, while PR was by VSK Public Relations, Felipe Borghese and the Who Are You Agency. The Sports Influencers Agents were Rodrigo Castro and Mario Bini, while the Press Conference Live Stream was run through NetShow.Me with Director of Streaming Flávio Bonanome, Customer Service Officers Alison Vinicius and Xavier da Costa, Account Executive Victor Novais and Host/Commentator Cléber Machado.
The football match live stream was produced by Louder with CE Leandro Bernardes, Executive Producer Luana Andrade, Producers Raphael Nascimento and Eduardo Junior, Camera operators Luiz Theodoro, Leandro Frutuoso, Ricardo Brito and Ricardo Correa, Transmission Tech Wesley Fernandes da Silva, DTV Tiago Ferreira, Technical Director Adryano Fortien, Director Joao Gabriel Salvatore, Ukrainian Narrator Yevhen Shkriada, Brazilian Narrator Fernando Camargo, Brazilian Host Bruno Laurence and Photographer Reinaldo Reginato.
The Ukrainian agency was Who Are You Agency where the team included CEO/CCO Illia Balaban, Strategy Director Oleksandr Katkov, Creative Director Anna Launets, Art Director Artem Markov and Producer Dima Bondar
Outcome/Results
The response was widespread in both countries and around the world with footballers, journalists, influencers and fans across the planet showing positive sentiments and support and the initiative generated press coverage in Ukraine, Brazil, the United States, the UK and Spain.
The campaign statistical highlights included:
· $123m in earned media
· 2.7bn media impressions
· 99% positive mentions in social media
· +7% life in ad awareness
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