With the later award winning ‘Escape the sofa’ television ad planned for its first Irish airing in October 2001, Reebok were primarily in search of a ‘property’ that would amplify the ‘Escape the sofa’ positioning and moreover, increase the level of involvement that the ad would have amongst its 16-24 male audience.

In short, make the broadcast message come to life.

Make it memorable. Make it physically touch people.From a quantitative perspective Naked were charged with achieving a 50% awareness level of the event amongst Dublin’s 16-24s on a media budget of just UK£40,000!

From a broader business perspective however, it was important to prove to Reebok’s key sales account - JD Sports - that Reebok as a brand was ‘moving forward’. With the Classic as the flagship shoe however, Reebok had accrued issues concerning saliency and audience relevancy within the Irish market. The brand was fast becoming ubiquitous with pub culture and footprints left at the scene of burglaries. Reebok needed a stepping-stone from the leisure to the sport arena and moreover, communication that captured the target audience’s imagination. The continued transformation of sofas as iconic advertising mediums began…Young Dublin were encouraged to 'Escape the sofa' for seven hours of football and beats on the 3rd November 2001 – registering for tickets and/or their 5-a-side team at www.sofagames.ie.

Naked transformed sofas into goals for a 16 team 5-a-side tournament and into urban street furniture for local-pro skaters and BMX riders. The Reebok Sofa Games fell between the pitch and the kerb - cushioned by an Irish backdrop of beat-based dance music, visuals and breakdancing.

From a communications perspective, there were two key aspects to the campaign:1. To ensure a good cross section of young Dublin - from the football beer blokes, through to the style bar set and skate and break scenes. Naked took a unique approach to each lifestyle group:For the football community, branded sofas were taken to games for spectators and freestyle football matches in which sofas were transformed into goals took place in central Dublin.

For the music community, a local record shop and label - Carbon Records became the music partner for the Sofa Games, with DJ Vadim (Jazz Fudge/Ninja Tune) headlining to provide mass-niche credibility amongst young Dublin.

For the BMX/skate community, customised sofas were placed in local skate parks along which they could ‘grind’ – and were later incorporated into the Sofa Street Course at the event. Naked also actively recruited local skaters and BMX riders from Dublin’s Ramp City Crew to provide a stunning backdrop to the football and beats.

Finally for the break dance community, Naked sort the moves from Dublin’s TML B-boys – with local graffiti artist Solo 1 commissioned for the Sofa Break Mat.2. Phasing and integrating all aspects of the communications. The first phase of the communications were concerned with noise generation, PR and stunts – featuring a motorised sofa driving around town with local hero and event MC Brendan Courtney, freestyle football matches and branded sofas placed in central Dublin – along with ‘recruitment’ sets on pirate radio stations by Dublin’s Carbon Records. Ryan Giggs even appeared on television performing seated sofa keep-ups.

The second phase was concerned with the recruitment of young Dublin on the web, in-store and through media promotions – taking a more ‘traditional’ urban approach, with a combination of;Flyering, inserts and reader competitionsEmailPOS: windows at Lifestyle SportsFlyposters6 sheetsBuilding drapeLocal radio co-promotion (FM 103) to drive awareness Conceived by flipping sofas in the office to form goals with a graffiti can in a back pocket just six weeks before the event took place, the Reebok Sofa Games was media led from the start. Amidst an incredibly competitive sportswear marketplace, London based Naked believed that the curation of a brand space within which consumers could feel Reebok’s pulse - would provide a powerful way to leapfrog competition.Tasked with an unfamiliar Irish territory, the relationship between Reebok and young Dublin had to be understood in order to gauge how far Reebok’s reserved brand behaviour could be ‘pushed’. After frequent visits it became apparent that this was a market that appreciated its cultural subtleties. The ethnographic approach subsequently informed the third partner strategy and the approach to communications: ‘always actively and honestly involve the local communities’.

The communications strategy was born…Naked was responsible for orchestrating all aspects of the campaign to ensure that the correct tone of voice was delivered. From the media and PR strategy, to creative and event briefing, through to physically writing the copy across electronic, aural and print media – Naked’s fluid collaboration between agents ensured that there was unity between creative, brand and media. Five aspects set the Reebok Sofa Games apart from other ‘events’:1. A single-minded creative focus and seamless integration from television ad - through to street, store and event.

2. The creation and communication of a proposition that successfully traversed both mainstream and leading edge young Dublin, with positive word-of-mouth stimulating over 60% of the event attendees.

3. With over 8,000 unique visitors to the ticket registration web site ensuring a 2,000 pre-event sell out – it is hardly surprising that over 130 teams registered for the 16 team 5-a-side tournament.

4. Qualitative research during and after the event showed that the Sofa Games had shifted Reebok’s (no.3) brand perception ahead of Adidas (no.2) for the first time – and placed them ahead of Nike (no.1) in terms of ‘growing in popularity’.

5. The Reebok Sofa Games in Dublin proved to be a winning formula and has subsequently progressed to form the cornerstone of the Reebok UK consumer marketing activity in 2002. Rolling out to Glasgow, Manchester and Brighton in April/May – early signs show that the success had in Dublin will be superseded, with the expanded 5-a-side tournament selling out in Glasgow within the first two weeks of the five-week campaign.

Conceived by flipping sofas in the office to form goals with a graffiti can in a back pocket just six weeks before the event took place, the Reebok Sofa Games was media led from the start. Amidst an incredibly competitive sportswear marketplace, London based Naked believed that the curation of a brand space within which consumers could feel Reebok’s pulse - would provide a powerful way to leapfrog competition.Tasked with an unfamiliar Irish territory, the relationship between Reebok and young Dublin had to be understood in order to gauge how far Reebok’s reserved brand behaviour could be ‘pushed’. After frequent visits it became apparent that this was a market that appreciated its cultural subtleties. The ethnographic approach subsequently informed the third partner strategy and the approach to communications: ‘always actively and honestly involve the local communities’.

The communications strategy was born…Naked was responsible for orchestrating all aspects of the campaign to ensure that the correct tone of voice was delivered. From the media and PR strategy, to creative and event briefing, through to physically writing the copy across electronic, aural and print media – Naked’s fluid collaboration between agents ensured that there was unity between creative, brand and media.