Turkish youth play football in the chaotic streets of Istanbul. They dream of becoming the best, and to one-day wear the jersey that represents their football crazy nation.

During the Euros, these young fans idolize Arda Turan, captain of the national team, “the son of Istanbul”, who grew up playing in the streets of Bayrampasa and who now plays for Barcelona.

Focus groups reinforced that these young footballers differ to the average fan. They live for the game and know everything there is to know about the players, products and brands. To engage these fanatics, we must offer them something more. Something unique, something only Nike could…

…Exclusive access.

These fans want to be closer to their idols. To experience first-hand what it’s like to be part of the national team and to stand side-by-side with Arda Turan.

So that’s exactly what we gave them.

Turkey vs Sweden. The day of the national team kit launch.

This would be the match moment for Nike to hijack the half-time break.

The whistle blew, players left the pitch and the commercials began with Nike first in break. The 60” TVC showed the Turkish team inside the dressing room catching their breath. Arda began his galvanizing half-time speech, referring to ‘the kids who dream of wearing this shirt’.

During this TVC the audio automatically activated the 360° video on viewer’s smartphones, made possible through Tagvance’s watermark technology and a leading app network. This put the fans in the dressing room at that exact moment, allowing them to navigate the room and witness Arda’s speech in person (albeit virtually).

Nike then gave the fans a voice, scaling an online tool allowing users to customize and share their own national jersey with messages of support to the team.

Expensive airtime meant re-inventing Nike’s TV approach to create standout for the 60” TVC. Engaging fans during a pivotal moment was no easy task, yet hijacking half-time delivered 1M real-time views of the 360° experience, leading to 14M total views. TV reached 9.6M (75% 1+) in one night and total 60” views reached 25.7M.

The campaign generated social conversation and fan support. Arda’s half-time speech became a national motto: “we don’t lose when we lose, we lose when we give up” leading to 533 PR stories and 328k social interactions.

“Insights into fan viewing and mobile behaviour led us to hijack half-time. Creating the perfect moment to engage fans when football passion and national team pride were peaking. The national jersey sold out on Nike.com during this match, making it the best product conversion on Nike.com/turkey with 55% retail sell-through in week 1”.

Daan Lammers, Nike Football Brand Director CEE