What happened
Every time the Argentinean National Football Team play at home their passionate fans in the stadium throw confetti whilst, in the days leading up to the match, thousands of messages of encouragement (which are never seen by the players) appear on Twitter. During Copa America 2011 therefore, as part of their sponsorship of the Argentinian National Football Team, Coca-Cola created ‘Papertweetos’ to bridge these two well-observed audience insights.

Through a designated hashtag which was promoted via Coca-Cola’s Twitter page, fans tweeted their support and each tweet was then printed. 2 million “Papertweeetos”, were then launched in to the air at the Argentina vs Peru Game as the players walked onto the field, filling the stadium with fan-generated messages of encouragement.

Alongside this ’Papertweetos’ activity, Coca-Cola set up fan zones across bars in Argentina under the name of El Alentómetro (the ‘cheer-o-meter’) which challenged fans watching the Copa America to keep on singing because if the bars went quiet then the image on the screen cut out! Using a sound system linked up to a large screen, the footage would start to dim the quieter the fans got, but as soon as they started cheering, it would pick up again. I can imagine that it would be slightly annoying to watch a full 90mins like this but would also guarantee an in-bar atmosphere to match the one inside the stadium.

Why We Love It
These activations that Coca-Cola carried out to show their sponsorship of the Argentinean Football Team during the Copa America were fantastic for the fan during the live experience (whether in the stadium, watching on TV or following on social media) so Coca-Cola were able to connect across multiple platforms. Like all good sponsorship activity, these initiatives gave something back to the fans and improved their live experience; a privilege that non-sponsors don’t have access to.

‘Papertweetos’ took tweeting to the next level by making it a physical part of the live experience (something Cadbury’s have also achieved during the Olympic build up). Some critics argued that it was a waste of money, effort and paper but I loved the idea they had that “when you tweet, you encourage” and it was also a nice fit for Coca-Cola’s brand mantra of happiness.

El Alentómetro was a brilliant activation in the fan zones across Argentina and really touched on the nation’s emotion and passion for the national team . This gave Coca-Cola a strong emotive connection with the Argentina and the national football team outside of the stadia as well as in.

This was all great for Coca-Cola but not enough to help Argentina win the tournament as they lost in the Quarter Finals to Uruguay!

By Adam Shapland on April 2nd, 2012

Tags: Default, Football, Football Sponsorship, Twitter

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