Challenge: Energy supplies in favelas are unreliable meaning that it is unsafe for local children to play football at night without adequate lighting.

Strategy: Launch the world’s first human powered football pitch with the world’s greatest living footballer in Morro da Mineira, a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Inspire a generation to think differently about science, whilst providing a state of the art sports ground for the local community with a sustainable energy solution.

Execution: Using kinetic tiles under the pitch and solar panels on the roof to power the floodlights, ‘Campo Shell Rio’ in Morro da Mineira became a safe haven for kids in the local community.

Key Brazilian stakeholders and international media joined Pelé at the launch, and were able to experience the innovation first-hand by walking on the pitch and witnessing the floodlights being turned on.

Once the news of the pitch left Rio, our innovation in action quickly gained traction across the world, capturing the imagination of international correspondents, delivering instant global traditional and social media coverage.

Outcome: Local children in the favela now study the incredible technology solution that powers the pitch in their science lessons at school.

Shell put Morro da Mineira on the map with a sustainable CSR initiative, and created a brand story that touched and inspired millions of new hearts.

An exclusive video featuring Pelé, made in just 12 hours, was the most successful Shell Facebook post in 2014, with 47m impressions and an engagement rate of 18.9%.

The first-of-its-kind pitch was unveiled to the world’s media at a launch event on 10 September 2014 – including a press conference and exclusive interview opportunities with football legend Pelé.

Key Brazilian business and community stakeholders and 68 media attendees from 34 global and local Brazil news outlets were hosted on-site, and able to experience the innovation first-hand by walking on the pitch and witnessing the human and solar powered floodlights being turned on.

Photo and video content was created to share with media beyond those in attendance, and across Shell and Pelé owned social channels.

Overnight, we produced a short, emotive, experiential film focused on Pelé, which was used by 25 key online outlets, including Metro UK, BrandRepublic, and Fox Sports.

Sparking interest in one favela and a single moment in time, Shell broke through a crowded news agenda globally to drive awareness of the human powered football pitch and #makethefuture.

More than 320 global earned media placements garnered across 20 countries. The first 48 hours saw 114 pieces of coverage globally.

68% of all original coverage included third-party endorsement, 58% included Shell or #makethefuture branded visuals, and 19% included video content.

There were 1,250 mentions of #makethefuture globally during September 2014, generating more than 6.6 million impressions.

3,370 global mentions/posts related to the Morro da Mineira pitch and launch event, with more than 15.9 million impressions generated from social conversation.

The Shell Facebook Page post featuring a video from the event was the most successful promoted post in 2014 for Shell, with 47 million impressions and an engagement rate of 18.9%, compared to an average of 7.6%.