Samsung and mobile operator Personal, both sponsors of Argentina’s national rugby team, aimed to boost support for Los Pumas via a campaign that asked fans to co-create a new team anthem.
The joint initiative, called ‘Todo gran equipo necesita aliento’ (‘Every great team needs encouragement’), was developed with agency P-per Argentina.
It revolved around a series of videos, directed by Máximo Dupont and starring Argentinean actor and singer Peter Lanzani and star player Juan Martin Hernandez, which invite and incentivise fans to write their own lyrics for a new team song.
The opening YouTube film saw Lanzani and Hernandez outline the competition and begin singing a new Los Pumas anthem before driving fans online to complete the song themselves.
Subsequent films continued to urge consumer participation through humour and song.
To take part fans were asked to enter their own verses via a Facebook application on the Samsung Fan Page and then complete the verse.
Once they had written their own versions, consumers were encouraged to share them with friends across social channels.
Both Samsung and Personal customers were given an advantage in the contest via a promotion that enabled those who entered an on-pack code from a new Samsung/Personal mobile package were automatically advanced to the competition semi-finals.
Activation includes the presence of promoters and actors with drums, horns and megaphones, encourage people to sing and enter the application. In addition, attendees will enjoy an inflatable game.
Moreover, the campaign is also rolling out during domestic rugby matches in Argentina’s ‘BTL URBA Highlights Top 14’ and for Pumas games in the ‘Personal Home Rugby Championship’.
The contest, which ran through late summer to leverage excitement around the new rugby season, offered daily rewards for the entries that received the most votes.
A jury will select five finalists and the public will choose by a vote winner.
At the end of the competition, Los Pericos (a well known Argentinean band who have enjoyed a degree of international success) will write the music to accompany the winning consumer-created lyrics.
The winner will then sing the new song alongside Los Pericos at the Pumas vs All Blacks on 28 September at the Estadio Unico de La Plata.
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The campaign, one of several sponsor-led supporter anthem based competitions to be rolled out in recent years, is part of Samsung’s wider rugby work that saw it supply Pumas team members with Personal Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphones for 2013.
Personal, the largest mobile communications company in Argentina, and Samsung, are official sponsors of the Union Argentina de Rugby Los Pumas.
Rugby is gaining traction both in Argentina in particular and around the world – as crowds grow and TV coverage and investment increases.
Not only did the last IRB Rugby World Cup gain huge viewing numbers (despite the time issues associated with a tournament run in New Zealand), but more specifically in 2012 Argentina began playing in the southern hemisphere’s annual The Rugby Championship competition alongside Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Samsung is using rugby as a platform for its global positioning and reach in Argentinia and beyond.
For example in Australia it recently signed on as an official partner of the Qantas Wallabies, Test Rugby and Super Rugby Competition – a long term partnership (which will go through to the end of 2015 and include the next Rugby World Cup hosted in England) that includes signage at all matches, hospitality, digital rights and player appearances.
It even has a product/device series called Samsung Rugby.
Links
YouTube 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELJXNFYBBbg
YouTube 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDFngRk7tdQ
YouTube 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCs4p_gQ9w
Samsung
Personal
