Tag: football

T-Mobile Netherlands: The Rematch

A tiny final that deserved a real crowd

In European telco marketing, the strongest brand stories often make connectivity feel human: it is not about coverage maps, it is about helping people reconnect what mattered.

Martijn, a 39-year old carpenter, attempted to bring back his football team from 1997 for a rematch of a 13-year old championship final that was then witnessed by a grand crowd of three people.

This time, he wanted his entire village to be there to see him win. A dream enabled by T-Mobile Netherlands.

How the rematch premise worked

The mechanism was classic. Take an unfinished personal story, add a clear goal, then remove the practical barriers that made it impossible before.

Reuniting a team after 13 years is not just a scheduling challenge. It is a social one. Finding people, persuading them, coordinating them, and turning “we should” into “we did.” T-Mobile positioned itself as the enabler that made that coordination real.

Why the story lands emotionally

The psychological pull is simple: redemption.

The original match mattered deeply to the people who lived it, but it happened almost unnoticed. Three spectators is not a crowd. It is practically private. The rematch reframed the same sporting moment as something the whole village could witness, validate, and share.

It also taps into identity. A village team is not just sport. It is belonging. Bringing everyone back together turns an individual need into a community event.

The business intent behind enabling the dream

T-Mobile was not selling minutes or data here.

The intent was to associate the brand with making real-life reconnection possible. Helping people organize, mobilize, and show up. In a category where offers are easy to copy, emotional ownership is the differentiator.

What to steal for your next brand film

  • Start with a concrete, human objective. A rematch with a real stake beats any abstract message.
  • Make the “before” painfully small. Three spectators sets up a powerful contrast for the payoff.
  • Let the brand enable, not star. The hero is the person. The brand removes friction.
  • Scale the moment socially. A private memory becomes a public event. That is where shareability comes from.

A few fast answers before you act

What is T-Mobile Netherlands’ The Rematch about?

A 39-year old carpenter reunites his 1997 football team for a rematch of a 13-year old championship final that only three people watched at the time.

What is the core mechanism of the idea?

Identify an unfinished personal story, then use the brand to remove coordination barriers so the dream can happen at scale.

Why does it resonate with viewers?

It is a redemption story with community payoff. The same moment gets the crowd and recognition it never had.

What business goal does this serve for a telco?

Owning the emotional territory of reconnection and coordination, rather than competing only on interchangeable plans and pricing.

What is the main transferable takeaway?

Make the brand the enabler of a human goal, and build the narrative around contrast: what it was then versus what it becomes now.

Pepsi: Oh Africa Football Superstars

Football stars set to Akon’s “Oh Africa”

A Pepsi ad featuring Akon’s “Oh Africa” and football stars like Henry, Messi, Drogba, Arshavin, Lampard and Kaká.

How the spot is built: soundtrack plus star density

The mechanism is pure scale. A single anthem-like track sets the emotional tempo, then a rapid parade of elite players does the rest. It feels bigger than a product message because the film is structured like a football event, not a traditional brand pitch.

In global FMCG sponsorship marketing, music and star power are used as compression tools to deliver tournament-level energy in seconds.

Why it lands: it turns a commercial into a moment

This works because the viewer already understands the code. Big match atmosphere, heroic framing, quick edits, and a track that signals “anthem”. The brand does not have to over-explain anything. The audience fills in the meaning.

What Pepsi is really buying with “Oh Africa”

This is about cultural association, not product features. The “Oh Africa” release is also positioned as more than entertainment, with proceeds linked to helping underprivileged African youth via Akon’s Konfidence Foundation. That adds purpose framing to what could otherwise be a straight celebrity-sponsorship film.

What to steal if you are building a sponsorship-led campaign

  • Use one strong audio spine. A recognisable track can carry mood faster than copy.
  • Front-load recognisable faces. Star density buys attention when the viewer is scrolling or channel-hopping.
  • Make the brand platform legible. If there is a “bigger than the ad” idea, thread it through the film rather than adding it at the end.
  • Keep the message simple. Sponsorship films win when they feel like culture first, brand second.

A few fast answers before you act

What is this Pepsi ad in one sentence?

A football-superstar Pepsi spot set to Akon’s “Oh Africa”, designed to feel like a World Cup-scale cultural moment rather than a standard commercial.

Which stars are featured?

The legacy post calls out Henry, Messi, Drogba, Arshavin, Lampard and Kaká as featured players.

What is the core mechanism that makes it work?

Star density plus a strong audio spine. Recognisable faces arrive fast, and the track carries mood without needing heavy explanation.

What sponsorship job is the film trying to do?

Transfer event energy to the brand by making the work feel like culture first and branding second, so the sponsorship reads as “belonging”.

What is the most transferable takeaway?

If you are building a sponsorship-led spot, keep the message simple, front-load recognisability, and use one cohesive audio-visual spine to carry the moment.

Puma: HardChorus for Valentine’s Match Day

When Valentine’s Day lands on match day

This year 14 February, Valentine’s Day, fell on a Sunday. For men everywhere this presented a dilemma. Love or football. Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona, Manchester City vs Liverpool, Napoli vs Inter, or romance with a loved one?

A love song delivered like a terrace chant

Puma recognized this dilemma as “They want to be in your arms. You want to be in the stands”, and so with Droga5 created the Puma HardChorus.

A crowd of football supporting men, assembled in a pub to sing Savage Garden’s Truly Madly Deeply, which then football fans could send to their loved ones while enjoying the game. An Italian version was also created where a similar group sang Umberto Tozzi’s 1977 hit Ti Amo.

In European football culture, match day is a ritual with its own language, loyalty, and emotion.

Puma HardChorus English version:

Puma HardChorus Italian version:

Why it works: it turns the conflict into a gesture

The genius is the tone swap. It takes the toughest-coded environment in the brief and makes it do something unexpectedly tender. That contrast creates surprise, and surprise creates shareability.

It also gives the viewer control over the trade-off. You are not choosing between football and your partner. You are converting match-day energy into a message that says, “I’m here, I’m thinking of you, and yes, I’m still going to the game”.

What Puma is really selling in the background

This is not about listing product benefits. It is about aligning the brand with a lived tension and resolving it in a way that feels culturally fluent. Puma borrows the credibility of the stands, then uses it to deliver romance without embarrassment.

What to steal for your next “two audiences, one moment” problem

  • Name the real conflict. This works because the tension is true, not manufactured.
  • Use a familiar cultural code. Stadium chanting is instantly recognisable and instantly readable.
  • Flip the code without mocking it. The humour is in the contrast, not in making fans look stupid.
  • Make it easy to pass along. If the output is meant to be sent, it needs to stand on its own.

A few fast answers before you act

What is Puma HardChorus?

A Valentine’s match-day idea where football supporters sing romantic songs like stadium chants, which fans can send to their loved ones while they watch the game.

What is the core mechanism in one line?

Turn terrace energy into a love message, then make it easy to share directly with the person who feels “second place” to football.

Why does the idea feel funny and effective?

Because it flips a tough-coded cultural setting into a tender gesture. The contrast creates surprise, and surprise creates shareability.

What is the audience “problem” it solves?

It resolves a real conflict between two priorities by converting match-day behaviour into a signal of care, rather than forcing a binary choice.

What is the most transferable takeaway?

If you have two audiences competing for the same moment, design a simple action that transforms the conflict into a gesture one person can send to the other.