Adidas All Blacks – Titanium & Integrated Cannes 2009 Bronze

In this post I´ll only say that the Adidas – All Blacks relationship won another prize, this time with “This is not a Jersey” And, just like the post about Nike and the Hong Kong basketball league, I´ll let the image above and video below do the rest.

Viagogo Wimbledon – Boosting Sales and Relationship

Viagogo, Europe’s leading secondary ticketing company, launched a promotion / challenge that will surely boost its Wimbledon sales and strengthen its relationship with the British people.

All those who bought Wimbledon Men’s Final tickets on Viagogo will receive a 100% refund if Andy Murray becomes the first British to win the tournament in more than 70 years. According to estimates, the company expects to pay out around a million pounds in case that happens. This year the company has seen an increase on sales of more than 300%, which is credited in great part to Murray’s good chances.

Apart from the increase in sales and relationship strengthening with the British public, the proposal has had great repercussion. Considering that Viagogo will only have to pay if Andy Murray wins, the idea is just brilliant!

Nike Hong Kong Basketball – Cannes Design GP Winner

In this post I’ll only say that this Nike activation for the Hong Kong basketball league won the Cannes Design GP this year. The rest is up to the images above and video below. It’s not necessary to say more; that’s for sure.

Adidas Chelsea – Sports and Social Responsibility Together

Adidas, Chelsea sponsor and provider, went beyond the sport partnership with the club also supporting the club’s social responsible activities.

Chelsea has a programme (Blue Pitches) which provides free-to-use pitches to incentive young people in west London to participate in grass roots sport. The link with the club is made clear by the colour of the pitches, blue (picture).

To promote this activity, of course, Chelsea used the team players who also took part in some training with the youngsters (video below).



The returns with such activations are diverse (from the social itself to brand image) and Adidas, the main Chelsea partner, is right and smart to be in it.

Subway Baseball – The Strange History of the Prizewinning Homer

I know that the purpose of this blog, as explained earlier and followed since, is to disseminate the best practices in sports activation. However, this time, I’m going to talk about one that had the potential of being great, generating free media and positive visibility and stimulating other actions, but ended up doing the opposite.

Subway, the American fast-food chain, has got, on the Minnesota Twins stadium, a target that awards a fan with 25 thousand dollars when hit by a ball in home-run hits.

During the game between the Seattle Mariners and the Twins, Ken Griffey Jr., one of the greatest baseball players in history, a Mariners’ athlete, hit a home-run in the Subway target. However, Subway informed that the promotion is only valid for home team players and, therefore, was not going to pay the money.

I don’t know (and I’ve searched for information about it) how, where, etc. the rules of the promotion were disclosed, but regardless, the role thing was not well handled. What was supposed to have great impact ended up generating an awful return.

Please, if any of you has more information about how this history ended, share with us. The blog is opened, of course, for members of the company to clarify the facts, in case they do not reflect the truth.

Guinness Rugby – Taking up a Sport

Some posts ago I spoke of what Heineken did with UEFA Champions League, using icons of the competition (especially the theme song) to take up the event.

Guinness with Rugby, however, went even further. Through a long partnership with the sport, the brand consolidated deeply in the rugby universe and its fans minds (the video below is part of the 2007 Rugby World Cup activation).



Guinness was able to be so inside rugby that today it’s got a full range of rugby like clothing with its brand for fans (pictures below). Demonstrating, once again, that investment in sport serves as a tool for leveraging revenue, this time through the extension of the brand to new markets.

Ale Rally dos Sertões – Modernizing the Cliché

Ale, a Brazilian fuel distributor, found a way to renew a cliché activation, but which is still effective.

The company owns the Ale Rally Team and, to promote its participation on the Rally dos Sertões (the biggest rally competition in Brazil), is using the famous strategy of encouraging people to send motivational messages to its athletes. The difference and, why not, the innovation is the use of Twitter.

A simple, cliché, but effective way to leverage engagement and amplify the sponsorship. To access the Ale Team page, click here (unfortunately, it is in Portuguese only).

Nike Brazilian National Team/Ronaldinho – Recalling Great Moments

Since I’ve talked about Nike in my last post, I’m now going to remember two brilliant activations the brand has done.

The first one is from a series of very fun videos made with the Brazilian national team, in which it shares a bit of the behind the scenes with the general public. The brand used the team very well and made clear its relationship with it, further strengthening the relationship between the team, and therefore the brand, with the Brazilian people. Watch it below.



The second was a spectacular viral that the company created (more than 29 million views) taking advantage of a moment of brilliance from Ronaldinho. The video in which Ronaldinho kicks the ball several times in a row on the post spread through the web in an unbelievable way, generating spontaneous media, an intense discussion about its veracity and content to competitions created by various players. Watch it below.

Nike Canarinho – Branched Sponsorship

Nike was able, sort of indirectly (maybe not so), to add even more value to its Brazilian National team sponsorship, generating greater involvement with the brand target and increasing revenue.

The company launched the Canarinho Movement (http://www.movimentocanarinho.com.br/), which praises the Brazilian way of being, highlighting some of our people main characteristics, like the swing and irreverence, always referring to football.

Within this movement there are several nuclei ranging from radio stations to art exhibitions. Of course, there is also a whole range of products with the theme, with fun and playful designs (pictures below).

P.S.: Canarinho is a small yellow bird very common in Brazil which happens to be the Brazilian national team nickname.

Jet Blue and the Dodgers – Clever

On the opening day of the Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the most traditional baseball franchises in the United States, current season, the team and its sponsor Jet Blue had a very clever idea.

In the traditional line-up announcement, instead of the players coming out of the dugout, they came out of the stands. And, for them to descend from there, a ladder just like the ones used by the airline in its aircrafts was placed (picture besides, from www.partnershipactivation.com).

A very creative, simple way to leverage visibility for the partner, while bringing fans closer to their idols.

Timex and Avon Ironman – Turning Sponsorship into Revenue

Several times, in sponsorship agreements, companies overlook important rights such as brand usage and licensing, which could transform the deals into revenue generators.

This, however, didn’t happen to Timex, that, a long time ago, launched a watch that became an icon in the running and fitness universe, the Timex Ironman (at least in Brazil it went this way). I myself had one, the first model (I unfortunately couldn’t find its pic).

Avon is now following the same path with its Ironman perfume, which, I’m pretty sure, if well advertised to the right public, will achieve great results (the sweat/good smell relationship can be very creatively explored).

Unfortunately, I don’t have any company numbers about these products. If one of you does, please, share with us.

TAM Brazilian Soccer National Team – Reinforcing the Relationship

TAM, a Brazilian airline company which sponsors the Brazilian soccer national team, in June, took advantage of some of the communication channels it already has with its consumers (its on board TV and magazine “TAM on the clouds”) to reinforce its close relationship with the national team.

In this issue of the magazine, the cover (image below) displays Robinho, his partner Elano and leads to more than 20 pages of content about the team, its players and inside information

The on board TV showcases some of the players talking about soccer, the national team and trip tips in the countries where they live (in my case, I watched Julio Cesar, Inter Milan’s goalkeeper), a simple and playful way to link with the company’s business.

Considering that Brazil will play two World Cup qualifiers games and the Confederations Cup in June, the date couldn’t fit better. With relevant content and entertainment, the company was able to reinforce its position and relationship with one of the biggest Brazilians passions.

Click on the cover below to access the magazine webpage and its content (also available in English).