SportsMarketing
The
collaborative World Cup campaign between Synergy and Paddy Power, From Russia
with Equal Love, has resulted in £170,000 being donated to LGBT+ causes.
Sports
marketing agency Synergy have created and delivered Paddy Power’s latest World
Cup campaign, From Russia with Equal Love which saw bookmaker Paddy Power
pledge £10,000 for every Russian goal at the World Cup to LGBT+ causes.
The aim of
the campaign was to troll the host nation’s poor LGBT+ rights record by having
their football team directly fund the groups that are excluded and victimised
so heavily in Russia.
Paddy Power
partnered with Attitude Magazine, who created a fund for the donations. The
money from the fund went directly to challenging LGBT+ prejudice on and off the
field, supporting footballers and those in the game in coming out, funding
educational programmes in schools and colleges, and making grassroots teams
safe spaces for LGBT+ players.
Key LGBT+
icons, sport stars and celebrities also threw their support into the campaign.
The likes of Caitlyn Jenner, Mark Forster, Keegan Hirst and Louie Spence all
came out “supporting” Russia at this year’s World Cup.
Further
support from the likes of MP, Penny Mordant and Sports Minister, Tracey Crouch
demonstrated that this campaign went further than just reaching an LGBT+
audience, but had piqued the interest of the nation as a whole.
Paddy Power
had pledged a minimum donation of £50,000 as a fall back in case Russia didn’t
score. However, this wasn’t necessary as Russia surprised fans and pundits
alike by reaching the quarter-finals, beating one of the tournament favourites,
Spain, along the way and raising £130,000 in the process.
However, a
dramatic penalty shootout between the home nation and Croatia saw Russia bow
out of the competition, but not before they raised a further £40,000 in
donations, leaving the total amount raised for LGBT+ causes at £170,000.
From Russia
with Equal Love, saw huge support from the LGBT+ community and football fans,
the campaign generated over 84 million impressions, 12,000 social media posts
with incredibly strong sentiment as 92% of social posts were positive or
neutral in sentiment. During this time, Paddy Power became the most talked
about brand in the UK and fifth most talked about brand in the world.
Lee Price,
Head of PR at Paddy Power, said: “When it comes to LGBT+ campaigns we wanted to
do something that would genuinely make an impact. The moment Synergy pitched
Rainbow Russians to me, I knew it was perfect.
“It was so
simple – every time Russia score, donate to LGBT+ causes. It was brilliant,
clear, and legitimate. Once we engaged our various in-house teams, the idea
exploded into life, far beyond a mere PR campaign into a business-wide one:
across social, editorial, retail, press, TV, and just about every touchpoint of
our marketing department.
“We’re
delighted that the Russian football team raised £170,000 for LBGT+ causes – and
sure they’re full of pride, too.”
Greg Double,
Creative Account Director at Synergy, said: “Annoyingly we couldn’t get
football come home, but we did play a role in helping football come out. When
World Cup fever takes hold, one of the many symptoms is to forget about
everything else – including the human rights record of the hosts.
“I’m proud
that this campaign helped keep the focus on the hosts and that Russia became
such a willing, albeit unwitting, ally of the LGBT+ community. While other
brands were changing their logos to rainbow colours, Paddy Power put their
money where Russia’s boots were. Other brands should take note.”
Credit:fcbusiness
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