On 7 November UK brewer BrewDog launched a bold stance against Qatar 2022 with an aggressive, controversial ambush marketing campaign called ‘Proud Anti-Sponsor Of The World F*Cup’.
Built primarily around a London-based OOH strand backed by digital and social media support, plus a PR push, the campaign was created by Saatchi & Saatchi UK.
It features bold, strong copy lines, including: ‘Proud anti-sponsor of the World F*Cup,’ ‘The Beautiful Shame,’ ‘Eat, Sleep, Bribe, Football’ and ‘First Russia, then Qatar. Can’t wait for North Korea.’
We're donating all profits made from Lost Lager sold during the World Cup to causes fighting human rights abuses. pic.twitter.com/5OTA9Gn71G
— BrewDog (@BrewDog) November 7, 2022
“Football is meant to be for everyone. But in Qatar, homosexuality is illegal, flogging is an accepted form of punishment, and it’s OK for 6,500 workers to die building your stadium,” stated the BrewDog campaign press release.
Executions also seek to drive viewers online to a campaign web hub where users can read up more about BrewDog’s stance on the tournament, learn about the campaign’s human rights fundraising strand and also use a geolocation FanZone finder tool to find the nearest BrewDog pub with a dedicated viewing area described as ‘the perfect place to enjoy the tournament on big screens in a big atmosphere with a great selection of beer, burgers or pizzas’.
In what seems a tough bridging tactic between two seemingly opposing objectives – promoting the company’s values-led opposition to the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, while simultaneously driving on-premises footfall and sales by getting people to enjoy and watch games at company venues – BrewDog has unveiled a cause campaign strand whereby profits from sales of its Lost Lager brand during the tournament will be donated to charities (a group of registered charities that demonstrably and directly help those who have been affected by human rights injustices and violations in Qatar) to fight against human rights abuses.
As the brand’s webpage states: “This isn’t a World Cup. It’s a World F*Cup. Football’s been dragged through the mud, before a single ball’s been kicked. Let’s be honest: Qatar won it through bribery. On an industrial scale. Football is meant to be for everyone. But in Qatar, homosexuality is illegal, flogging is an accepted form of punishment, and it’s OK for 6,500 workers to die building your stadium. That’s why we’re kicking off. We’re proud to be launching BrewDog as an anti-sponsor of the World F*Cup. To be clear we love football, we just don’t love corruption, abuse and death. So join us. Let’s raise a glass to the players. To the fans. To free speech. And two fingers to anyone who thinks a World Cup in Qatar makes sense. And we’re putting our money where our mouth is, with all the profits from our Lost Lager sold during the tournament going to fight human rights abuse. So come watch the live games at ours, the official Anti-Sponsors. Big screen, big atmosphere. And with all profits from our Lost Lager going to fight human rights abuses, it’s the perfect place to show your love for the game… and your anger at who happens to be hosting it.”
Comment
This is a big, bold, divisive, conversation-starter of a campaign which will divide the public and the market industry as to whether it really lives up to its promise of ‘100% Live Football. 0% Qatari Corruption. No sportswashing – guaranteed’?
Can any campaign truly bridge the divide in response to a challenging brief to simultaneously promote showing Qatar 2022 in its pubs (profiting from sales of food and drink – other than Lost Lager) whilst also condemning the tournament and its organisers?
Sceptics might argue that BrewDog shouldn’t piggy back the tournament to simultaneously virtue signal and drive sales, while realists might say that it’s essentially the same stance that millions of football fans themselves will take in terms of condemning the rights holders and hosts whilst still watching hours of the tournament on TV.
We will leave that up to you to decide!
Although, at Activative, we can’t help but wonder why BrewDog didn’t specifically name its human rights partner charities, why it didn’t avoid using easy puns in its copy, or whether it might face legal action from the notoriously litigious FIFA?
Whatever side of the debate you sit on, we’re pretty sure this campaign involved plenty of strategic planning and robust debating.
Of course, we’ve seen similar World Cup ad approaches before: for example, back in 2015 Aussie sportswear brand Skins declared itself an ‘Official Non-Sponsor’ of FIFA after that year’s corruption scandals within football’s global governing body.
While Danish kit partner Hummel made a powerful protest statement in October with its own ‘We Don’t Wish To Be Visible’ Danish kit launch that saw the Scandi sportswear brand fade down its logo and famous chevrons on the Danish national team’s ‘toned down’ tournament kit, arguably the stand-out anti Qatar 2022 campaign thus far has been the powerful Blankspot and Forza Football ‘Cards Of Qatar’ project.
This shirt carries with it a message.
We don't wish to be visible during a tournament that has cost thousands of people their lives.
We support the Danish national team all the way, but that isn't the same as supporting Qatar as a host nation. pic.twitter.com/7bgMgK7WzS
— hummel (@hummel1923) September 28, 2022
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