The brief
Never one to shy away from bold strategies, Umbro wanted nothing less than to own football online! Hence, we were tasked with launching not one but three highly interactive and complex rich media campaigns at the same time. First up was 'Have Your Say', a series of display ads that highlighted the company's grassroots passion for the game and invited the audience to take part in a global football debate. The second was 'Bring It On', communicating Umbro's ongoing brand manifesto, and finally, there was the small matter of the new England away strip to promote, too. Together all three campaigns would provide a rich brand experience with bags of attitude, helping to alter perceptions of Umbro in the marketplace.
The approach
Before we began generating ideas, we generated insight. Our planning team investigated thoroughly how our audience behaved online, the sites they visited and the type of creative executions they would find most appealing. Only then did we set about developing three pioneering campaigns that blurred the line between display advertising and content.
Interactive leaderboard to overlays and expandable MPUs helped to grab attention across a host of sites including Sky Sports, Yahoo Sport, Fantasy Football and Maxim. One ad for the new England kit even featured a QR code - a first for the sector - that enabled access to exclusive behind the scenes footage of the England team, whilst another contained an entire competition including questions and entry mechanism within itself.
Social media was widely used too. In Facebook, we targeted men who had football in their profiles, placing ads in their newsfeed to ensure our content went viral via user profiles. In MSN we employed a Monster banner that featured audio and video footage of Alan Shearer and Michael Owen, and invited viewers to debate the merits of club versus country. The complexity of the creative executions and the high production values involved in all the campaigns prompted one media company to declare they were the most ambitious banners they'd ever seen.
And we didn't stop there. To showcase Umbro's new water resistant SX boot, we took existing footage of Barcelona superstar Deco submerged in the James Bond water-tank at Pinewood studios, and filmed an intriguing top and tail sequence that ensured the downloadable video became a must-see viral.
The result
Our commitment to innovation paid off handsomely, with fans fully embracing all the online activity. Our 'Have Your Say' campaign snowballed into one of the most comprehensive football surveys undertaken, with the findings made ready for a presentation to FIFA. The QR code was an instant hit and received extensive coverage in the national media. And our Deco video has gained almost 100,000 views on YouTube to date, making it one of Umbro's most successful virals ever.