The Situation:

Coca-Cola’s volume growth had begun to slow down, despite being the market leader. Coke knew it could not recruit from its competitors, as overall Cola Growth Volumes had been declining in the market. With a maturing target audience, Coke needed to recruit younger to secure future volume. To do this, it needed to touch upon a passion point for centennials, which very often differs from that of millennials.

The Brief:

The challenge was to come up with a creative idea that could achieve the objectives outlined below:

• Behavioral: Reverse Declining Teen Recruitment (down by 0.3% to 61.2%) to 62%

• Perceptual/Attitudinal: Maintain BLS which was at a 2 year high of 5.11

Furthermore, to gauge social change, we knew that whatever content was created would have to have massive engagement, and it should tangibly trigger social change that could be seen in the area of society targeted.

We let an aspiring Pakistani footballer live out a seemingly impossible dream during the FIFA World cup 2018 and gave Pakistani football a ray of hope.

We decided to send more than just footballs from Pakistan and went looking for someone who could represent Pakistani passion on a global stage. We looked to Sialkot, the city producing 50% of the world footballs and upon a ‘passion’ hunt, met Ahmad. From a family of 3 generations of football makers, Ahmad lives, eats, and dreams football! He was the perfect candidate!

Partnering with Oscar Winner Sharmeen Obaid, we followed Ahmed’s journey from Sialkot to Russia where he mingled with fans, shook hands with his idol Neymar Jr. and became the first Pakistani to kick-off a FIFA World Cup game with the coin toss.

By making the impossible possible for Ahmed, we wanted to breathe life into the budding dreams of the nation.

Insight

Pakistanis have mad love for football, but little support from the government and media has resulted in growing frustration. There was a need for a champion of the sport and those that are passionate about it.

Message

Passion always wins

Audience

Primary: Centennials (SEC A & B), for business and social change goals.

Secondary: Millennials.

Creation and distribution of assets

Started with a post on Facebook on June 21st, about a Pakistani boy going to Russia to conduct the coin toss for a FIFA world cup match, something Pakistan had never done before.

Seeded posts on digital news platforms and our own assets a day before the match between Brazil and Costa Rica, where the initiative gained more traction.

3 weeks post the match, the film, ‘Stitching a New Dream’ was launched and immediately gained traction due to the life-changing story of a boy getting to live his dream.

‘Stitching a New Dream’

Awakening the spirit:

We started by creating news with a post on Facebook on June 21st, telling the audience about a Pakistani boy going to Russia to conduct the coin toss for a FIFA world cup match- something Pakistan had never done before.

We seeded posts on digital news platforms a day before the match between Brazil and Costa Rica on 22nd June. We posted on our owned assets (FB, Instagram & YouTube) on the day of the match between Brazil & Costa Rica from where the initiative gained more traction.

Driving Engagement:

On July 18th, 3 weeks post the actual match between Brazil and Costa Rica, the main film titled ‘Stitching a New Dream’ was launched and immediately gained traction due to the powerful life-changing story of a boy getting to live his dream.

Growth for the Coca-Cola brand:

•Our brand love score achieved an all-time high of 5.3

•Wanting to Reverse Declining Teen Recruitment, we achieved 63.1% against target of 62%.

Results around Ahmad’s journey:

•2.6 million+ views

•Total reach of 5.5 million+

•Engagement rate 32%

•2880 conversations within a day with 99.99% positive sentiment

•Audience retention rate of 54%

Growth for Football in Pakistan:

•The German ambassador contacted Coca-Cola to secure Ahmad’s footballing future.

•News agencies like BBC contacted Ahmad to share his story with the world.

•Ahmad and 2 other deserving kids that are selected by PFF scouts are being sent to Paris Saint Germain (France), a summer football training camp.

•More kids are now freely living their football passions on the ground that was curated by Coca-Cola in Sialkot.

The dream to bring Pakistani football to the forefront is now well and truly underway.