Timed to coincide with the new Argentinian soccer season, Nike has rolled out a campaign – ‘Baptism’ – leveraging its partnership with leading Buenos Aires side Boca Juniors by reinterpreting the club’s annual new season ritual of shaving the heads of its new players.
The Argentine Primera División team’s tradition of giving its new players crazy hair cuts to celebrate their debut games is commonly referred to amongst fans as their ‘Baptism’.
And this initiative from Nike, the club’s shirt manufacturer, provides a fresh twist to this long established club ritual.
The work is lead by a stylishly shot ad featuring current starting players – including Guillermo Burdisso, Matías Caruzzo, Gonzalo Escalante, Emanuel Insúa, Juan Manuel Martínez and Leandro Paredes – all interpret the tradition by cutting their hair themselves.
Thus expressing their own pride in wearing the famous Xeneize jersey – the new season version of which is promoted by Nike in the campaign.
The moody ad by BBDO Argentina, which first aired on TV prior to Boca’s match against Belgrano de Córdoba, certainly captures some of the seriousness of the commitment to the club.
The spot includes the line ‘No matter how many games. No matter how many goals. No matter how many dribbles. No matter how many championships and many drinks. No matter who the opponent. In Boca you have to demonstrate how the newcomer starts’ and closes with the endline ‘Every game is like the first game’.
The TV work is further supported through a live fan experience in the city’s Dot shopping centre which encourages fans to shave their hair and offers a salon specially for the purposes and gives away free new Boca shirts to those who go under the barber’s razor.
Comment
With new shirts appearing every season (and teams now having three or more strips a year), it can be a genuine challenge for the equipment partner to develop fresh campaigns that resonate in a meaningful and powerful way.
But this Nike work certainly meets that challenge successfully.
Placing deep-seated club-specific insights at the core of a campaign is a must for a brand aiming to engage with football fans. And involving supporters in a player ritual further boosts the team/player/fan/brand connection.
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Boca Juniors Website
