Mazda, a Japanese brand that has built its identity on the values of challenge, fairness and respect, asked us to increase its brand awareness among 25-50-year-old Italian males. 16m Italians correspond to this profile, and all of them are soccer fans and Mazda is the main sponsor of Fiorentina,How could we communicate Mazda’s values of challenge, fairness and respect, in a world such as soccer, overwhelmed by scandals and corruption? We transformed this problem into an idea, creating a new media capable of communicating Mazda’s positive values to 16m soccer fans: a Purple Card, the only card that rewards fair play, bounding it forever to Fiorentina’s and Mazda’s corporate colours.We created a jury composed by the directors of the main TV News and sports’ press. Each month, the Purple Card is awarded to most relevant Fair Play gesture among the ones highlighted on Facebook. Every month, during an event reported by all the sports’ media, a famous sportsman is awarded by Mazda. In this way Mazda has a new testimonial of sports’ fairness every month, which perfectly embodies the brand’s values.When the season ends the sportsman who performed the most relevant gesture among the Purple Card winners will receive a Mazda Cx-5, becoming Mazda’s main testimonial of fairness. Mazda, by exploiting its Fiorentina sponsorship in an outstanding way, has managed to bond its name to the fairest Italian soccer players, becoming the synonym for positive values, building its reputation among all soccer fans.

According to the original plan the campaign awards each month a famous sportsman among the ones highlighted each Sunday. The Cx-5 was presented for the first time in Italy, at the Motorshow of Bologna (December 2 /10th 2011), together with the Purple Card Fair Play Award, with the presence of Fiorentina soccer players. We also communicated the operation with side field advertising posters at Fiorentina’s Franchi Stadium, Meazza Stadium in Milan and Olimpico Stadium in Rome. We invited all fans to visit cartellinoviola.it website and the project’s Facebook page During the month of April 2012, ACF Fiorentina printed on its team shirts, the Fair Play Mazda CX-5 Award logo, instead of Mazda’s one.

Today in Italy, every month a famous sportsman becomes Mazda’s testimonial.Mazda can now count on 7 testimonials between soccer players and trainers, who periodically appear on all sports’ press.When the season ends, a final winner will become the symbol of Mazda’s values thanks to its gesture of fairness.

Mazda has become part of the soccer world slang, communicating its core values to over 16m fans.Thanks to the Purple Card Facebook page, the access to the Cx-5 mini-site increased to 24%, and we had +18% in one month for the corporate Mazda site hosting the mini-site.The Purple Card monthly prize-giving ceremonies were thoroughly reported by all the sports’ media specialised in soccer. From November till now Mazda has registered 140m media impressions for free.