Following the successful 2020 #MessFreeChallenge, General Mills brand Old El Paso again teamed up with Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios (and his NK Foundation) for a 2021 iteration based around a basketball Slam Dunk viral challenge to demonstrate that its Tortilla Pockets deliver a mess-free Mexican experience and raise funds for Food Bank Australia.
The global campaign, created by Thinkerbell (with European agency Space), swaps tennis for basketball and invites hoops stars and athletes around the world to ‘join the movement to address food insecurity in Australia and around the world’.
The challenge itself is to hold an Old El Paso Tortilla Pocket in one hand, while Slam Dunking with the other and it was initially laid down on 8 July when Kyrgios addressed his 1.7 million followers with an Instagram post
This was then supported by the brand itself via cut down clip launched early on 14 July before the campaign’s hero spot rolled out a few hours later.
The social media movement/campaign initially gained traction in Australia as local stars such as Andrew Bogut and Lauren Jackson took up the challenge.
30,000 Mexican meal kits were committed by Kyrgios to Foodbank Australia via his NK Foundation and for every Instagram share of Kyrgios’ slam dunk challenge on Instagram an additional meal donation was made.
While every fan that posted their own #MessFreeChallenge inspired dunk also helped donate 10 Mexican meal products.
“After the success of the 2020 #MessFreeChallenge, I wanted to be able to continue giving back,” commented Kyrgios. “Everybody knows I love basketball and so this time round I’ve switched courts to again partner with my favourite Old El Paso to take it up a notch, from hitting tweeners with the no-spill Old El Paso Tortilla Pockets from last time, to now dunking mess-free with these pockets.”
Old El Paso Australia Brand Experience Manager Rafa Husain added: “We were very excited at the prospect of reuniting again with an inspirational personality like Nick Kyrgios, who shares our mission to be a force for good. He has helped us take the #MessFreeChallenge to the next level and we’ve been ecstatic to see the uptake off the back of Nick’s mess-free slam dunk efforts. Not only in Australia, but with basketball stars, fans and consumers across the world, who are binding together to help us combat food insecurity.”
The Australian work was then followed by a series of local market initiatives in countries around the world featuring an array of athlete ambassadors such as Sandrine Gruda and Tony Parker (France), Temi Fagbenle and Ashley Banjo (UK), Andre Drummond (USA) and Andrew Wiggins (Canada).
Local markets ran their own bespoke initiatives which linked to the central global creative. For example, in the UK Old El Paso’s #MessFreeChallenge invited the nation to ‘Dunk for Donations with Ashley & Jordan Banjo’ in support of FareShare (the UK’s largest charity for fighting hunger and food waste).
Through a basketball-themed and social media-centric activation supported by a pop-up billboard complete with a basketball hoop with the launch event held at London’s Westfield Stratford. Shoppers at Westfield were invited to grab a free Old El Paso Tortilla Pocket from the Old El Paso food truck and show off their best slam dunk – all while keeping the pocket-free of spillage (made easier by its revolutionary sealed bottom) which will be captured on a special dunk cam. Set to take on the challenge will be Diversity Dance Troop members and basketball-loving brothers Ashley and Jordan Banjo. Every dunk scored allowed Old El Paso to donate 10 meal products to FareShare, and fans further doubled the donations by sharing their dunk cam moments on Instagram with the #MessFreeChallenge hashtag. Fans who could not be at Westfield also shared their own challenges from their homes and local courts, any of which will be eligible for 10 donations from Old El Paso. Through the initiative, the brand is hoping to donate over 35,000 products to support UK families in need.
Old El Paso | #MessFreeChallenge from Space on Vimeo.
The campaign was created for a General Mills marketing team which was led by Arjoon Bose (Head of Brand, Experience & Culture ), Bryan Diehl (Regional Brand Experience Manager), Audrey Noel (Regional Brand Experience Lead), Bronwyn Cheng (Head of World Foods and Baking) and Rafa Husain (Brand Experience Manager) by Thinkerbell.
The team at the agency, which handled PR and influencer work as well as the creative itself, included Chief Creative Ben Couzens, Lead Creative André Pinheiro, Creative Cale Berry, Designer Jack Dinsmoor, Chief Thinker Adam Ferrier, Head Thinker Jessica Graham, Thinkers Jiaan Koch and Rosie Bourke, Lead Thinker (Earned) Taylor York,
Thinker (Earned) Charlie Marchant, Head Of Production Di Nash, Producers Katie Ayling and Alexis Cook, plus Editor Terry Mann.
The European creative agency working on the project was Space where the team included Associate Director Sean Kelly, Account Director Louis Collin, Head of Brand Experience Jim Carless, Brand Experience Producer Samantha Hardy, Executive Creative Director Greg McAlinden, Creative Head Ethan Kennedy, Designer Georgina Martin and Editor Justin Batchelor.
Production was handled by Brightworks.
Comment:
This 2021 basketball challenge followed on from the success of the brand’s previous campaign in 2020 which saw 20,000 meal kits to vulnerable people across the UK alone and 100,000 donations worldwide
In direct response to Nick’s Instagram post, several basketball stars across generations have picked up the challenge, including legends like Tony Parker from France and Andrew Bogut from Australia. Popular Swiss star Thabo Sefolosha as well as current players like French Olympian Sandrine Gruda and New Zealand Breakers and Tall Black Tom Abercrombie – all of whom have pledged donations to their local food banks while encouraging their followers to get behind it and challenging their peers. UK’s basketball community representation is being fronted by Britain’s only ever WNBA champion Temi Fagbenle, who also represented Team GB in London 2012 who will be pledging 4,000 donations to Fare Share for her challenge.
During the campaign period from July through to August, 65,000 food donations were provided to Foodbank Australia and 200,000 food donations were committed to food banks worldwide too.
Old EL Paso’s pre-launch goal was to double its donations globally and reach 200,000 donations by the end of the challenge.
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