Motorola, as the jersey sponsor of a football team in the most important Italian league, occupies a space of considerable visibility, especially among a male target audience. The PR team has long recognized the potential of utilizing this visibility to endorse a social cause. Hence, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the PR agency proactively suggested to Motorola the idea of replacing the commercial space on AC Monza's footballers' jerseys with messages aimed at raising awareness among men about the issue of violence against women. The decision was prompted by the alarming rise of violence against women in Italy, with football being identified as the most impactful platform to engage and sensitize men effectively. Objective was clear: to actively support a socially significant campaign in the Italian market, thereby enhancing Motorola's reputation as a locally responsible brand engaging end users, media, istitutions

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we replaced the space typically allocated to the jersey sponsor (a commercial campaign by Motorola) of an Italian football team with an social responsibility campaign. During an official match, broadcasted live on TV, AC Monza football players took to the field wearing 11 shirts displaying 11 real messages collected by a women's association that assists victims of violence. Each message represented a different form of violence against women. The campaign leveraged the influence that footballers hold among Italian men, turning them into authoritative ambassadors to give the voices of women who are victims of violence, generating extensive visibility for the issue and engaging various male opinion leaders, istitutions, creators, media to amplify the awareness and hold men aware. The jerseys with the messages became objects of reverence and were auctioned off, with the proceeds donated to the women's association.

To effectively combat the issue of violence against women, raising awareness among men is crucial. Gaining access to typically male-dominated environments to address the problem directly and constructively is often challenging. Through this initiative, voices of women who are victims of violence were amplified by showcasing 11 real messages of suffering (representing various forms of domestic violence) on the jerseys of 11 football players during an official Italian league match. This directly engaged men, fostering an impactful awareness-building process.

The messages displayed on the jerseys not only transformed the players – male idols – into credible ambassadors for the fight against violence towards women but also achieved significant virality across all communication channels. This project was made possible through Motorola's decision to relinquish their sponsorship space on the jerseys of AC.Monza, a top Italian football team. Phrases were collected by an organization providing phone support to women victims of violence

The PR team strategically leveraged three pivotal moments of visibility: before, during, after the match.

1) The project was unveiled through a joint press conference involving Motorola, TelefonoRosa (association for victims of violence), ACMonza, garnering widespread attention and building anticipation for the match. Content included research highlighting the severity of the issue, sharing real-life cases of violence, and quotes from women victims (featured on players' jerseys, such as "He was the man of my dreams, he turned into my nightmare").

2) On match day, many journalists and influencers attended the stadium, providing live coverage through TV broadcasts and stories. Other influencers and opinion leaders (as the football players) posted photos on their social media platforms, donning replicas of the jerseys previously sent to them.

3) Following the match, visibility surged even further, resulting in significant viral spread. Auctioning off the jerseys and subsequent charity work generated another peak of visibility

The awareness campaign reached: 25,000 spectators who attended the match at the stadium, 1,1 million viewers who watched the match live on TV, 250+ articles covering all the Italian national broadcasts, print and online media , with more than 280M earned reach and 16M social media impressions. The match was also attended by 12 tier-1 mainstream, lifestyle, male and sport media outlets (SportWeek, Vanity Fair, Elle, MarieClaire, GQ, Gazzetta dello Sport, Sky, Rai, Mediaset Sport,..). A senator of the Italian Government, Adriano Galliani, spoke about the project at an institutional level, on his own social media channels, and in the media, amplifying and increasing the project's credibility. Football and social influencers, including: Calciatori Brutti (3.4M, the main Italian football digital community) and creatores with more than 1MIL of followers, recorded stories about the campaign. Shots of AC Monza Football players, wearing the shirts went viral and was reposted by many football and mainstream media outlets on their social media accounts and international channels. This project significantly contributed to the evolution of Motorola's reputation in Italy, directly impacting smartphone sales. In synergy with other actions, in the 3 months following, Motorola's market share in Italy increased from 9% to 12% (source: GFK)