Eurovision is the Super Bowl of Italian advertising. How could About You, a new online fashion store, steal the show? Instead of airing an ad, About You turned it slot during the commercial break of Eurovision into Tananai’s performance, an artist that was out of the competition but all Italians wanted to see in it.

Italians love song contests. Sanremo, the Italian song contest, has been the most watched tv show since 1951. In the last years the interest grew even more towards Eurovision, thanks to Maneskin’s victory in 2021 and Tananai.

Who is Tananai?

Tananai came last at Sanremo 2022 but promised in front of 13 million viewers to get to Eurovision in any possible way. Italians started routing for him and he became a social media sensation as he tried to compete for other countries. The Switzerland ambassador in Italy even asked to Tananai to make an audition for her country.

About You turned its ad slot during the commercial break of the first night of Eurovision into Tananai’s performance, with his entire outfit available on About You. In this way About You made the artist’s dream to perform at Eurovision come true, after months of a viral social conversation about his efforts to be a part of it.

About You is a German fashion online store widely popular in its home country but almost unknown by Italians.

The goal was to create a campaign that could create an emotional link between the brand and Italians during Eurovision, one of the most loved events in the country.

However, the risk to get lost in the crowd was almost assured: the biggest Italian brans spared no expanse in media, even through official partnerships with the event.

The partnership with Tananai offered a unique chance:

-leverage on the viral social media conversation about Tananai after Sanremo

-partner with a cool Italian artist, way cheaper than an official partnership with Eurovision

-maximize exponentially the outcome of a single ad slot during the first night,

turning simple ad slot into an actual performance of the show

About You realized a video where the artist Tananai simply performed his song on a stage, with his entire outfit available on About You. The video aired during the commercial break of the first night of Eurovision on national Italian TV, in order to make Tananai’s performance part of the show. To engage even more with Eurovision fans, the next day we celebrated the success of our mission with the biggest billboard in Milan displayed only for one day.

The stunt generated more than 1M interactions on social media (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, Twitter). The campaign got more than 50 articles online and quotes on national TVs and Radios, more than the average result of the official performances of the Eurovision, becoming one of the most talked about moments of the show in Italy. Some of the biggest Italian artists like rapper Fedez and tv host Alessandro Cattelan praised the collaboration on social media, without being paid.

About You directly got associated with Eurovision with 0€ spent for an official partnership with the event. Tananai’s outfit went sold out in 48 hours on aboutyou.it, with an an increase of new customers of 42%. Thanks to the campaign, About You went from being an outsider of the market to be in the top 10 of the most known fashion online stores by Italians. The campaign even helped the career

The Stolen Eurovision Performance is the perfect example of how media can inspire disruptive creativity: a brand with just one ad slot during the biggest advertising event in Italy is almost doomed to get lost in the crowd. But thanks to the partnership with artist Tananai, it became the most loved moment of the first night of Eurovision in Italy.

From just an ad slot, to the most successful brand entertainment moment of the night.