- FIFA’s creative digital response to COVID-19 captures the Content Creation Award at Leaders Sports Awards 2020
- The months-long #WorldCupAtHome campaign relived celebrated FIFA World Cup™ matches and moments for fans like never before
- The digital content reached 300 million fans in 126 countries
FIFA’s ambitious #WorldCupAtHome digital campaign – which was designed to connect, engage and entertain fans during the COVID-19 pandemic – has won the Content Creation Award from the Leaders Sports Awards.
Launched in 2008, Leaders is a global network of professionals dedicated to the sports industry. The Leaders Sports Awards are now in their sixth year of showcasing the most innovative people, ideas, technologies and projects driving the sport industry forward.
This year’s award focused on organisations that are delivering value to the market by creating relevant and current content during COVID-19 and sought to recognise organisations “creating the best content to engage their audience”.
“When the scale of what was happening became clear, we had to quickly ask ourselves ‘what does the world need from FIFA right now?’” explained Simon Thomas, FIFA’s Chief Commercial Officer. “We have an incredibly rich archive, full of treasured football moments, and this campaign gave us a platform to experiment and innovate, as well as to support critical health messages and entertain our fans in this time of uncertainty.”
The #WorldCupAtHome was conceived as a response to the pandemic that saw sporting events cancelled and large numbers of people confined to their homes. FIFA’s Digital team resolved to use the full range of its assets, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, GIPHY, FIFA.com, and playlists on Spotify, with two clear aims:
- To create an entertaining “replacement” for live football and bring new digital life to great FIFA World Cup™ footage, thus engaging FIFA’s global fan base;
- To use this connection to strengthen the bonds of community at a time of uncertainty and reinforce the crucial “stay at home” public health message.
The campaign began by asking users to vote for which FIFA World Cup matches they would like to watch, with FIFA’s YouTube channel “broadcasting” the winners in full. This evolved into an innovative celebration of two iconic World Cup anniversaries: Mexico 1970 and Italy 1990. The two tournaments were brought back to life, utilising modern style and formats to capture the attention of a younger football audience across social media.
FIFA World Cup stars like Diego Maradona, Kylian Mbappé and Kristine Lilly joined the conversation, with fans and stars alike captivated by the dynamic and original campaign. In the end, the #WorldCupAtHome garnered over half a billion impressions across platforms, captivating 300 million fans in 126 countries.
