Sprite is a top-three carbonated beverage in Mainland China, but the brand had been losing share to an aggressive, venture-backed newcomer who significantly outspends Sprite and invests heavily in Gen Z passion points.

This summer, Sprite launched a new brand proposition “Heat Happens, Stay Cool” via a witty campaign that precisely reached consumers during moments of mental and physical heat. Now, the brand needed to deepen its cultural relevance to win back the hearts of the young generation. Our challenge was to find a way to activate Sprite’s “Heat Happens, Stay Cool” proposition in popular culture that would really resonate with young Chinese consumers.

Furthermore, as we sought to reduce seasonality (Sprite’s sales are primarily during summer), we needed this activation to help us stay top of mind and drive trial. So, we aimed to create social talkability and give out at least 100,000 coupons.

What major cultural event gets more heated than the FIFA World Cup?

Once we zoomed in on issuing yellow cards as the frequent and ownable heat moment we could activate around during matches, it was game ON! We developed TCCC China’s first real-time responsive marketing campaign that cooled down heated fans with free Sprite whenever a yellow card was issued during the World Cup. All fans had to do was scan the QR code that appeared in our real-time on-screen ads and our witty commentary social media posts to grab a limited number of coupons for a free bottle of Sprite.

Our brand proposition gave us a clear role to play in the shared agony and ecstasy of high-stakes football. What’s more, we could capitalize on consumption and viewing behaviors to achieve our objectives:

• Refreshment - Sprite’s brand edge - is China’s top reason to drink during screen time

• 76% of Chinese consumers like to discuss the game on second screens while watching sports

Our strategy had three pillars of success:

• Right Touchpoints: we got in our targets’ minds Emi Martinez-style by selecting platforms and formats that intercepted actual sports viewing behaviors

• Relevant Messages: Like VAR, we analyzed footage to prep hundreds of topical copy to respond to different yellow card scenarios

• Real-Time Execution: ‘small margins decide big games’, so we drilled to eliminate internal bottlenecks and pushed media partners to make placements more responsive

We activated a connected ecosystem of paid and owned touchpoints to communicate our “Yellow Card Creates Heat, Sprite Cools Down Heat” message to football fans and drive them to snag one of a thousand coupons for free Sprite released in the minute after each yellow card.

Our activation was unmissable during the broadcast thanks to in-app, pre-game, and half-time advertising and remarks by studio hosts. Our corner ads appeared exactly at the yellow card moment replay – a real-time media first for a Chinese live broadcast. And as fans checked Weibo during the games, we not only surrounded relevant trending topics with ads driving to our digital hub, but also joined the conversation with real-time yellow card commentary like “maybe he pulled on his jersey because he wanted to swap.” Amplification via influencers and even innovative digital OOH inspired more fans to join our discussion and claim their free Sprite.

As Argentina celebrated their World Cup victory, we celebrated Sprite’s win!

• We distributed 225,000 coupons as referees doled out 225 yellow cards over the 64-match tournament; 54% of coupons were redeemed for a free Sprite (20 points higher than previous campaigns)

• Our digital hub received 4.6 million visits (837,000 unique visitors; 5.5 average visits) during the World Cup and we recruited 718,000 new members to our CRM platform

• Our 66 topical Weibo posters published within 10 minutes of big yellow card moments received 540 million impressions and 3.6 million engagements, and sparked over 1 million discussions