The Dacia Family Project leveraged its partnership with Serie A club Udinese through an initiative which set out to persuade Udinese supporters’ to start a family (and thus grow the fan base) by giving away a seasonal ticket for them and the future supporter too.
Territory: Italy
Agency: Publicis Italy
Objectives
The background to the campaign was anchored in the Italian football trend through the 2000s for ultras to be the dominant fan type attending matches in person. Something which has caused an increase in supporter disturbance and stadium violence and which led to national and local governments working to keep violent fans out of the stadiums – which resulted in declining attendances.
So low cost family car company Dacia, after eight years of sponsoring Udinese, set out to mark its new title sponsorship of the team’s stadium by stimulating positive new support at the ground to encourage new fans to go to games.
Dacia, which primarily makes budget vehicles, sought to use its Udinese partnership to increase brand affinity with young families (beginning with club supporters, but also reaching out to all Italian football fans) ahead of the launch its new limited vehicle range for families.
To achieve this, Dacia launched a Family Project with the objective of encouraging a new generation of Udinese fans – literally.
Activation
The multi-channel campaign, which ran through the 2015/16 season, saw the Renault owned auto brand set out to encourage Udinese fans to start a family through a direct marketing campaign which started with the creation of a special pregnancy test (distributed to fans at and around the stadium) which featured the familiar Udinese black and white stripes to indicate a positive result.
The test was supported by a bespoke branded calendar-led web app which matched the team’s fixture list with the fan’s fertile days.
As well as at-stadium signage and an outdoor display campaign focused on fans, there was a series of online videos featuring players thank fans for their ‘future supporters’.
The initiative also leveraged the club’s fan database, PR and social channels to engage fans and the Italian media (both the national and local sports newspapers and online football publications).
The campaign reached a climax during the home game against Napoli where a section of the stadium was roped off for the initiative’s contest winners: with VIP seats in the section for more than 100 pregnant women (20 of whom lined up with the team ahead of the opening whistle all wearing a special shirt with a small Udinese black & white jersey across their stomach/baby bump).
The initiative was developed by Renault Italia in tandem with creative agency Publicis Italy, media agency OMD Milan, with PR handled by Mslgroup-Publicis Consultants Italia (Milan) and production was by Bedeschi Film (Milan).
Outcome
According to the club, around 1.5 million watched the Udinese-Napoli game on the television and 95% of national television and press covered the story and the initiative added 150 new Udinese fans and drove a rise in regional car sales.
In terms of media impressions, the campaign generated:
€2m worth of free media
+15% growth of Dacia Facebook fans
+20% growth of Dacia Twitter followers
3.5 million total media impressions with the #daciafamilyproject hashtag
+12% sales rise of family cars in the Udinese region during the campaign
