Movistar, a telco brand under the Telefonica umbrella, leverages the virtual reality trend with a real-world twist with an in-store prank leveraging Rafael Nadal’s ambassador role around the 2017 French Open.
The stunt, amplified through a video carried across the brand’s digital and social channels, sees a Movistar representative fool consumers into thinking they were taking part in a demonstration of a new VR game featuring ‘The King Of Clay’.
But the twist is that Nadal is actually there standing right in front of them in person during the experience.
The campaign sees fans given VR headsets through which they see Nadal mimicking their moves against a backdrop of animated moving tennis balls.
But towards the end of the video, fans found that there were not actually playing a VR game, but that it was Rafa himself standing right in front of them mirroring their movements.
Towards the end of the video, the fans who took part found out that it was, in fact, Nadal in front of them.
As the 2017 French Open played out, the ‘Rafa Nadal Realidad Virtual by Movistar’ video ran across the brand’s YouTube channel in late May,
as well as on its other platforms such as Facebook,
and Instagram.
Linked by the #VamosRaf hashtag, other Rafa-led Movistar activations through Roland-Garros 2017 included a mobile game linked to a competition to win one of the racquets Rafa used during the French Open,
Último día para conseguir la raqueta de #RafaNadal. ¡Solo tienes que jugar! #VamosRafa https://t.co/utn8or4Vi2 pic.twitter.com/TjTFAkM3BP
— Movistar Likes (@movistarlikes) June 11, 2017
and, of course, harnessing brand and fan supporting during his games
(including one strand in partnership with Eurosport offering fans a chance to comment on the rebroadcast of the men’s final),
Hoy Rafa sigue su camino #APorLaDécima
Anímale en directo con @movistar_es en @Eurosport_ES #VamosRafa
https://t.co/yMWDZwhbAQ pic.twitter.com/2KaZYFhZzh— Movistar Likes (@movistarlikes) June 9, 2017
as celebrating his eventual 10th French Open performance and eventual victory both in-store
Desde la @Telefonica Flagship Store nos unimos a @rnadalacademy y enviamos toda la fuerza a @rafanadal en #RG17 #VamosRafa #Movistarlikes pic.twitter.com/CeJ80yEnWb
— Movistar Likes (@movistarlikes) June 9, 2017
and across all its channels.
¡Grande @RafaelNadal! Todo nuestro apoyo #VamosRafa #AporlaDécima pic.twitter.com/CVfjxIU9UC
— Movistar Likes (@movistarlikes) June 9, 2017
¡Ya entre los cuatro mejores de #París! Solo un paso más #VamosRafa #AporlaDécima pic.twitter.com/nkhzfqS8i8
— Movistar Likes (@movistarlikes) June 7, 2017
Activative Comment:
It seems like it is every day now that a sponsor brand or sports organisation releases a leading edge virtual reality initiative, but this campaign (much like the NHL’s recent Stanley Cup VR prank – see case study) adds a real-world twist
The tactic seems to have generated some solid engagement thus far – with 3.9 million views of Facebook and a further 130,000 on YouTube.
The project continues the Rafa/Movistar partnership which follows his appointment as an official brand ambassador by parent brand Telefonica in 2014.
As well as stunt pranks such as this, his recent work with the brand spans TV commercials and traditional ads, in-store work
¿Sabéis por qué @RafaelNadal ganó la final de Roland Garros tan rápido? Tenía episodios pendientes de #TwinPeaks pic.twitter.com/s6XqbylNxn
— Movistar Series (@movistarseries) June 12, 2017
and , in October of last year, the opening of the ‘Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar’ in his hometown of Mallorca.
Movistar has been at the forefront of VR experimentation and even launched Spain’s first festival focusing on the technology back in February.
Links:
Telefonica
https://www.youtube.com/user/vivetelefonica
https://twitter.com/movistarlikes
https://www.facebook.com/MovistarLikes/
https://www.instagram.com/movistar_likes/
