One Shot for Glory
Issue 14 | March 2010
Agency
Clemenger BBDO
Creative Team
Creative Director: Paul Nagy, Art Directors: Martin Hermans, Ronojoy Gosh, Isaac Nana, Copywriter: Dan Moth, Digital creative: Terry Williams-Willcock, Designer: Peter Montgomery, Photographer: Lindsay Keats
Production Team
Digital Producer: Jo Gilchrist, Producer: Scott McMillan, Web Design: Salted Herring
Other Credits
Account Service: Jill Pinfold, Jonothan Hales, Mike Higgins
Date
15th November 2009
Background
The last time New Zealand got through to the finals of Football’s World Cup was back in 1982. In 2009 they got another chance. First, however, they had to beat Bahrain in a qualifier, a side ranked 22 places higher in the world listings.
The objective was simple. Fill Wellington Stadium for the do-or-die match.
The problem was that New Zealanders are rugby mad, passionate supporters of the All Blacks rather than the soccer-playing All Whites.
Idea
The proposition was, ‘Come to the match and join us in the biggest team photograph ever taken’. It was, literally, one shot for glory.
Online and offline advertising drove traffic to the website where viewers could interact with the team and buy tickets for the big game.
‘One shot for glory’ acquired a life of its own as a line, appearing on graffiti everywhere and one radio jock even recorded a song based on the idea.
At the game, a photo was taken of the team and of all the supporters and 100,000 prints were given back to the fans who had stood behind them.
Results
Weeks before the game, every ticket was sold. Extra seats were put up and they too were taken up within minutes. 35,146 New Zealanders saw their team win 1-0 and qualify for the Finals in South Africa.
Our Thoughts
How to fill a stadium is an intriguing problem to be given. You can measure the success of failure of your idea by the number of bums on seats. Here’s one way of doing it, encouraging people to be a part of the team, to be in on the achievement. It’s all about us whereas the Aussie way is all about them, the opposition. Have a look at Lowe Sydney’s campaign for the FFA earlier in this issue.
I once worked with a client who believed there was only ever one solution to a problem and he drove us mad looking for it. Mark, here you have it, mate, proof there are always as many solutions as the fertile mind is capable of devising.