It was back at the start of 2013 that we began to see the first advertisers in the sports space begin to test messaging apps as legitimate and powerful platforms and one of the earliest examples came in January when Messi and Ronaldo fronted a WhatsApp themed commercial for Al Jazeera Sport’s coverage of Spain’s El Classico match.
A slew of messaging apps have appeared through the last 18 months – from WhatApp and WeChat, to LINE, Kik and SnapChat – but with more than 400 million users WhatsApp arguably has the greatest reach.
Marketers from bo0th the sports and music sectors continued exploring messaging platform initiatives through the year.
For example, in June Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’ video saw the singer use WhatsApp to share the song’s lyrics with fans.
A mark of the excitement around the app’s growth was the fact that, despite appearances to the contrary, there was no costly product placement or celebrity endorsement fee for WhatsApp to appear in the video.
By July was the Argentina and Barcelona striker was back fronting a messaging app campaign – this time starring in a profile-raising 15-market international campaign for China’s popular messaging app WeChat.
The multi-platform campaign is spearheaded by two TV spots starring Messi and themed around the subject of fatherhood.
One commercial depicts the footballer swap voice messages with Grandma who is soothing his crying baby son. The striker gets the baby to stop crying and start laughing by performing football juggling tricks depicted via WeChat’s video chat function.
The second spot sees friends around the globe sending Messi good luck messages before he heads out the door pushing a baby stroller.
The campaign’s objective was to show Messi in relatable, down-to-earth scenarios so that the consumer can identify with him and his use of the product.
The first video was also posted on YouTube and generated 1.6 million views in the its first week.
The campaign also includes press and outdoor work, as well as digital content and mobile marketing.
It is rolling out across 15 countries: Argentina and Spain (where Messi plays his football), plus Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey.
Comment
Developed by internet outfit Tencent, WeChat has previously been marketed to countries such as Thailand and India with campaigns fronted by local market celebrities.
Its Messi campaign marks the first time Tencent has used a single ambassador to front one campaign across multiple markets.
‘He’s well known in a lot of markets globally. He is a WeChat user and he’s used the product for a while,’ Tencents spokesperson Katie Lee.
‘He’s always away, playing football everywhere. The commercial highlights (how) he can be connected with family and friends no matter where he is.’
WeChat itself already boasts 300m-plus registered users – 70m of whom are outside China (almost entirely in other Asian markets).
Initially it began as a messaging app similar to WhatsApp, but in recent months has evolved to include video calls, photo sharing, location-based services and other social features also make it similar to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Skype.
Links
TVC 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R31sPRnf0ps
TVC 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj8IgjlLs6I
WhatsApp Website
http://www.whatsapp.com/
WeChat Wensite
http://www.wechat.com/en/
