The Match
SKY Deutschland
Issue 36 | September 2015
Agency
serviceplan
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Alexander Schill Executive Creative Director Matthias Harbeck Creative Directors Sandra Loibl, Thorsten Voigt Art Director Thomas Heckenberger Art Director/Screen Design Damian Sturm Production Company Neverest
Date
April 2015
Background
Werder Bremen vs Hamburger SV was a major event in the football year. Though geographically close, supporters of both teams were deeply divided. Even though tickets were sold out long before the game, fans still turned up at the stadium hoping to pick one up.
Idea
On 19th April, rival fans turned up to discover they
could get to see the match. But only by pairing up with a supporter of the other team. Via a QR code, fans could get to watch the match on their smartphones, screened live by SKY. But only half the picture. The other half was broadcast on the phone of a rival.
Despite the mutual antipathy, many Werder-SV pairs were formed. And at the end of it the winner was football, the love of the game.
Results
"The Match" was one of the trend topics on Twitter and Facebook. The idea generated unpaid media worth about €5.1m. The number of subscribers to SKY's football packages increased by 7.8 percent compared to the previous year.
Our Thoughts
Maybe the agency should have entered this in Mobile. In Direct and Promo it was shortlisted but no more than that. Elsewhere, ideas that tried to change behaviours were picking up Gold, Silver and Bronze. But this actually DID change behaviours, stopping fans from fighting and getting them together. The fact it also had real commercial objectives should have worked in its favour.