UEFA - Team 54
Strategy • Content • Community
Challenge
The Gibraltar Football Association’s application to become a member of FIFA was filed in 1997, and failed to be ratified on their three initial attempts. In 2000, a joint delegation of UEFA and FIFA conducted an inspection on the GFA’s facilities and infrastructure, while the Spanish FA strongly opposed the GFA’s application and the inclusion criteria rules changed by UEFA. Gibraltar had one more chance to apply for full membership and came to us to ramp up support.
Solution
We devised a full 360 campaign to galvanise the GFA, nation and football fans, globally with ‘We’re Ready’ campaign. The brand became ‘Team 54’ implying automatic acceptance by the other 53 European members. We utilised Social Media platforms to find and engage with football fans around the world and brought them together under their shared love of the game.
From interactive quizzes on UEFA to exclusive giveaways and UGC Facebook played a major part in creating a buzz and driving support. Our team worked on producing film, a microsite, events, and PR, with communications translated into 41 languages engaging and bringing together all 53 European members..
Impact
Gibraltar is now the 54th member of UEFA
51 of the 53 countries voted in favour of Gibraltar (on their previous vote they received only 4 votes in favour)
1 million interactions on social media, within weeks
Potential media coverage of 2 billion across the world
A nation’s people galvanised by the campaign
Winner of 4 major awards including The Drum Marketing Awards: Grand Prix Overall Winner
