Make the most of a unique opportunity
In the Summer of 2018 Denmark were going to the FIFA World Cup. As shirt sponsor of the national team, hummel saw a unique opportunity to both create awareness of the brand and generate sales.
Being a sports brand focused on the social aspects of sports (and not only saluting the stars) hummel wanted to communicate this specific brand value and celebrate not only the players but also the fans in the stands.
Our objective was to create awareness, strengthen the social aspect of the brand (long term) and drive sales of the new official jersey (short term).
A jersey celebrating the fans
Our solution was to create a one-off teaser shirt – designed to remind the Danes what a national jersey really means. And thereby pave the way for the official jersey (released later) as a “must have” for all fans. So, we asked the fans to give us their own well-worn football shirts. Then, we cut them to pieces and carefully sewed them together again, creating new shirts from all the individual pieces. Each little piece representing the dreams and dedication of a loyal fan.
Finally, before going to the world cup, the team played in the patchwork shirts as a sign of gratitude towards the fans and as a manifestation of the strong relationship between the two. The very relationship we wanted the fans to remember when the new official jersey was released later on.
New jersey sold out
The patchwork jersey generated massive awareness. Not only in most national media but the story also travelled internationally reaching a total of more than 1,300 mentions including The Daily Mail, Forbes, Mirror, The Independent, Sky Sports, NBC News, L’equipe, The Sidney Morning Herald and South China Morning Post.
When the new official shirt was released, the fans returned the favour, so to speak, as the new shirt was sold out in only a few weeks.
Reach:
+ 427,000,000 persons (source: Meltwater).
Estimated value of PR:
+72,000,000 DKK (source: Meltwater).
Sale:
x12 of previous shirt (sold out before opening game)