Tunisie Telecom - RUSSIA WE’RE COMING

CHALLENGE

November 11th 2017, Tunisia is playing against Libya for a spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. 3 days earlier, on November 8th, Tunisie Telecom, our client and national Telco operator, unexpectedly lost its decades long sponsorship of the Tunisian National Football Team, beaten by direct competitor Ooredoo. Tunisie Telecom’s reply had to be adaptive, memorable and wide reaching despite an insufficient budget.

INSIGHT/IDEA

Music can reach everyone, a good song would be played by both football fans and non football fans.
Chants have always been associated with sporting accomplishments.
The best chant lyrics strike a balance of wit and emotion and are directly related to the particular event they’re written for.
The “Kalinka” is the most popular Russian music with a recognizable and unforgettable beat.
Broadcasting a song on radio or a music video on TV would be easier to negotiate favourably to make up for the lack of budget.

The idea was for Tunisie Telecom to become a sponsor for the supporters of the national team. A chant to get them excited and hopeful for Russia 2018 was the best thing we could offer the supporters as their sponsor while ensuring brand reach, appreciation and memorization. A strikeforce instigated, led by Mindshare Tunisia and including the client and its communication agency was formed to bring this idea to life. We had 3 days to get it done and the risk of Tunisia not even qualifying hanging above our heads.

DELIVERY

As soon as it was ready, we knew the song would be loved. But we only had a budget for a handful of TV broadcasts, not enough to get the expected reach, impact and compete with Ooredoo. So we shifted the entire budget to digital where the paid push, targeting primarily football fans, was enough to kickstart a national digital movement. In 24 hours, “Russia we’re coming” became the most viewed brand content ever in Tunisia. It wasn’t just a football anthem, it was the n°1 hit song with people humming it in the streets, not just in the stadiums. The digital success gave us leverage for never seen before deals on traditional media and the adaptive solution translated into an adaptive execution.

RESULTS

Russia We’re Coming was negotiated for free broadcast 112x on TV and 208x on Radio.
It became the opening credit of the most popular football TV show. Then a jingle in the 2nd most popular one.
Earned media value was 100x the value of paid media.
The campaign reached a record 89% of Tunisians. It was memorized by a record 61%.
Brand appreciation doubled from 19% to 38%.
Tunisie Telecom was more successful with one adaptive solution crafted in 3 days, than in decades of sponsorship of the team.