Brazilians live and breathe soccer: it’s said that Brazil’s children are born with a ball at their feet, and the national team holds more world titles than any other.

In 2014 Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup. Every World Cup football has a name and after a national poll, Brazilians chose ‘brazuca’ as the name for the 2014 championship – a word that expresses 'Brazilian-ness'.

Adidas, the official supplier of the balls, asked its PR team to develop a campaign to complement the official launch event. It needed to build an emotional bond between adidas, brazuca and the Brazilian people, beyond the sports press.

The team’s brilliant response was to give a brazuca to every baby born on the birthday of the Official Ball of the World Cup. On 3 December 2013, the team launched the brazuca to the Brazilian people at Amparo Maternal, the largest maternity hospital in Brazil. Every one of the 28 babies born in the hospital that day was given a brazuca: they truly were born with a ball at their feet, bringing the Brazilian saying to life.

The creative launch reached trending status on Twitter, with a potential impact of 5.8 million, as well as 111 pieces of media coverage – 20 of them from outlets around the world. Every baby born in Brazil on that day was entitled to their own brazuca when their parents presented a birth certificate at pick-up points. So far, 392 people from 88 cities have claimed their brazuca.

The team created buzz on social networks via influencers with the tweet: ‘Do you know any baby born today? He is a Brazuca baby and can win a #Brazuca!’

On December 3rd, the PR team was at Amparo Maternal from 00:01am to 11:59pm. São Paulo soccer player Osvaldo delivered balls to the first ‘Brazuca babies’ in person. That day, 28 babies were born, each presented with a Brazuca. The team created a ‘nursery’ in the maternity unit, with Brazucas covered with blankets like newborns. The blankets were removed to reveal the official ball to the assembled media at 9pm.

The team set up collection points in the 12 host cities for the World Cup on December 6th and 7th. Parent who brought their baby’s birth certificate along were given their own ball. Many of the pick-up points were at local radio stations, which also acted as media partners.

The people’s launch of the adidas Brazuca was a huge success:

Output

• Potential reach: 5.8 million on Twitter/Instagram, 57% above target

• 111 pieces of coverage, including ESPN, Fox Sport and SBT, the third biggest TV channel in Brazil

• 11 online front pages including the biggest news websites in Brazil: Globoesporte.com, UOL, LANCENET and Terra.

Consideration

• #Brazuca was trending on Twitter at 4pm, before it had even been launched that evening.

• The campaign reached a broad audience, including mothers as well as football-mad dads, and the campaign was covered in mummy/family blogs as well as the sports pages.

Action

• 132 social influencers got involved, leading to 580 RTs of the campaign tweet.

• 392 Brazucas were delivered to newborns, in 12 states, covering 88 cities in Brazil.