We began by capitalising on the busy pre-Christmas retail environment by offering thousands of Brisbane shoppers a free-gift wrapping service.

But what the shoppers failed to notice was the paper’s design actually featured inconspicuous illustrations making fun of their own team. Details of the match were also printed on the inside of the paper (only visible once gifts had been unwrapped).

Shortly after, we tipped the media off, laying blame with the Gold Coast. Sports blogs went into meltdown as fans vented their anger.

The wrapping paper became a form of ‘latent media’ – a candy-coated time bomb, designed to go off only when we knew it could inflict the most damage.

We then used mass media to spark an uproar between the rival cities, which then translated into a frenzy of ticket sales. This enabled us to create awareness that stretched way beyond what the budget allowed.

$100,000 in free media coverage, with an outlay of just $15,000.The match attracted nearly 11,000 – the season’s highest home game attendance (nearly 300% up on the average).

With the profile of football in Australia still growing, any results that indicated support for the game was immensely important for the FFA, who are currently driving Australia’s bid to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.