Real Madrid has unveiled its new third kit through an environmental cause campaign fronted by EA Sports FIFA virtual athlete and new Los Blancos signing Alex Hunter.
The hot pink, coral coloured jersey itself is made from recycled ocean plastic in what the sportswear giant, its ecology partner Parley For The Ocean and the club are describing as a tribute to earth’s endangered coral reefs.
The unique colour represents all the different shades of coral in the ocean and aims to act as a call to action to protect these aquatic ecosystems before they are killed off by plastics and pollution.
Adidas’ long term tie-up with the Parley For The Ocean project, sees the German sports apparel behemoth join the eco NGO for a long-term project that aims to clear the world’s seas of plastic debris (partly by recycling it into football kits, among other useful things).
The new Real jersey was initially unveiled at an exclusive, PR driven launch event at Hunters Point in New York City (where the team is on tour) by players including Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema which was also promoted across the brand’s social platforms such as Instagram
and Twitter.
At the event, Adidas, Parley and Real hosted a panel discussion and held workshops on how the public can reduce its plastic waste and this was supported by a digital and social video.
These stars are joined in the launch campaign by new Real Madrid signing and EA Sports virtual athlete Alex Hunter: the fictional FIFA 19 player, star of the game’s ‘The Journey: Champions’ series and Coca-Cola brand endorser (see case study).
The campaign is spearheaded by an in-game shot spot and supporting social media posts that sees Hunter, who previously played in the MLS and the Premier League (in the game), sign to move to the Bernabeu and chase La Liga and Champions League glory with Real Madrid.
Whilst wearing the newly revealed eco-friendly third kit of course.
The real-life Real will first donned the new kit when they take to the field against AS Roma in the International Champions Cup in New Jersey on 7 August.
Comment:
What do you do when your tent pole player and football’s biggest star leaves for another team?
Sign a Coca-Cola sponsored virtual athlete.
At least that’s the transfer strategy Real Madrid have opted for as part of its new third kit campaign.
The shirt itself is both good for the environment and easy on the eye?
Surely a winning marketing and cause campaign combination.
The latest statistics from Greenpeace estimate that 12.7m tonnes of plastic are dumped in the oceans each year and this campaign is the latest wave of eco led marketing undertaken by Adidas and Parley: all of which have highlighted waste plastic in the oceans.
Other initiatives in the project have included nclude the ongoing multi-pronged Adidas/Parley project: which includes ‘Run For The Oceans (see case study) and ‘Cliff Dive’ (see case study) and its tie-ups with major football clubs such as Bayern Munich (see case study).
Indeed, the real Madrid third kit campaign actually follows on from May’s release of Manchester United’s third kit and July’s Juventus third strip – which are both also produced as part of an eco-friendly Parley project.
In another related recent campaign in a different sports space, Team Sky (and kit partner) Castelli used its profile at the biggest cycling event of the season to raise awareness of the problems of plastic pollution and the dire health of the ocean to millions of people across Europe through its partnership with Sky Ocean Rescue (see case study).
Links:
Real Madrid
http://www.thedreamvr.com/theapp.php
https://www.facebook.com/RealMadrid
https://www.youtube.com/user/realmadridcf
https://www.instagram.com/realmadrid/
https://twitter.com/realmadrid
Adidas Parley Web:
http://www.adidas.co.uk/parley
Adidas
https://www.youtube.com/user/adidas
https://www.instagram.com/adidas/
Parley:
http://www.parley.tv/#fortheoceans
https://www.instagram.com/parley.tv/
https://www.facebook.com/Parleyfortheoceans
EA Sports FIFA 19
https://www.youtube.com/user/EAsportsfootball
https://www.facebook.com/easportsfifa
https://twitter.com/EASPORTSFIFA
https://www.instagram.com/easportsfifa/
