UEFA regulations forbid entering football stadiums with coins, after many violent incidents injured referees and players during the games. Therefore, fans are obligated to throw their coins on the ground, at the arenas' entrance, thus wasting valuable money, all over the world.

CHALLENGE

Trapped in a wheelchair since 2011, Mihai Nesu- a former star football player for Steaua Bucharest, the most beloved team in Romania - ended his career because of a training accident. He started helping the lives of impaired children through Nesu Foundation - the most important sports charity foundation in Romania.

What If we could raise that wasted money at the stadium's entrance, in a country where 70% of people refuse to donate, invoking their lack of money? (GFK Verein European research,2012).

IDEA

Steaua Bucharest made it to the UEFA Champions League, playing 3 matches with lots of fans and wasted coins. So we partnered with UCL sponsor UniCredit Bank who donated to us their physical media space at the stadium and we installed a high-tech device at its entry, at the exact place where the coins are banned. People could give their coins to a good cause instead of throwing them, as stadium security asked them.

RESULTS

35,000 coins raised from a total audience of 70,000 spectators

6 million Romanians ??were reached by the idea, 300.000 Euros free media were earned with 0 investment ?

The same method got replicated by another big football club in Romania?? and a whole new method of fundraising was born.

A great context facilitated our campaign. After many years, Steaua Bucharest-the former team of Mihai Nesu and the most beloved team in Romania-qualified in the UEFA Champions League for 3 home matches. Many people were expected to come and many coins could be collected.

Still, communication around the stadium area is a privilege reserved only to the competition sponsors.

We convinced the UCL sponsor UniCredit Bank to donate their stadium media space in order to boost our desired behavior.

Therefore, we installed a high-tech device in order to count and collect the wasted coins in the most relevant place and moment: at the stadium entrance where coins are banned.

To raise fans' interest, we used the power of the most important and trustful sport media outlet in Romania which published pro bono advertorials, online display advertising and editorial content before the 3 matches played by Steaua at home.

After 3 matches played at home more than 35.000 coins were raised from a total of 70,000 spectators, despite the poor results of the team and bad winter conditions of the campaign.

Moreover, our campaign transformed the unobserved process of wasting coins into a real media story. The idea reached 6 million Romanians from a total population of 20 million and become a hot topic in social media: Steaua Bucharest Facebook page exploded in comments and shares, bloggers and personalities from show biz, opinion leaders from social, political and cultural areas promoted our idea and mass media main outlets generated 300.000 Euros earned media value with 0 investment.

As a result, our media story generated a bigger social story: The same method of saving coins from being wasted was replicated by another important football club in Romania. A whole new method of fundraising was born.