Belgium was heading to the World Cup with a very talented generation of players. Everybody in the country was talking about the Belgian team and every brand was fighting for attention. But despite all the positive vibes, Belgium is still a very divided country with 3 languages, 4 regions and 7 different governments. Yes, 7…

As a family brand, JBC wanted to extend the good vibes of the football team to the entire country with a gadget that would unite all Belgians (and get them shopping at the JBC stores.)

We launched the Anthem Shirt, a football shirt that sings the national anthem. Underneath the crest of every shirt, we inserted an audio chip and touch sensor. Whenever people put their hand on their heart like true patriots, the shirt sings the Belgian anthem. A few weeks before the start of the World Cup, we introduced The Fanbassador to launch the shirts. This young fan confronted Belgians with their painfully poor knowledge of the national anthem in a social video. In a second video, he visited the house of one of our star players to hand over an Anthem Shirt. Next to that, we sent special boxes with The Anthem Shirt to football and fashion influencers. All communication led fans to a JBC store or jbc.be where they could get their own shirt with every purchase of 50 euros.

Belgium is a very divided country with 3 languages, 4 regions and 7 different governments. Yes, 7. This lack of unity becomes very clear just before every game of football... during the national anthem as hardly anyone knows the lyrics. But during a World Cup, the sense of unity really grows amongst Belgians. We also noticed a significant increase in the search for the lyrics of our national anthem during big football tournaments. So, by tapping in on this relevant topic, we gave both the Belgian press and major influencers an interesting (fashion) item that would generate an organic reach.

To launch our PR campaign we sent the Anthem Shirts to journalists, football players, WAGS and fashion influencers. This made sure we got the PR ball rolling.

JBC launched more than 53.000 singing football shirts to support the Belgian team during the World Cup. At first we launched the shirts for kids, but we quickly noticed adults were very interested as well. So, we made extra shirts for fans of all ages.

A few weeks before the start of the World Cup, we introduced The Fanbassador to launch the shirts. A young fan who wanted to unite all Belgian fans. In a first social video, he confronted Belgians with their painfully poor knowledge of the national anthem. In a second video, he visited the house of one of our star players to hand over an Anthem Shirt.

Next to that, we sent a special boxes with The Anthem Shirt to football and fashion influencers. All communication led fans to a JBC store or jbc.be where they could get their own shirt with every purchase of 50 euros.

The shirts were originally made for the next generation of fans, but a lot of adult fans showed interest as well. So, in total we made more than 53.000 shirts for fans of all ages. The campaign reached more than 6 million people, generating more than 280.000 euro in earned media. Traffic went up with 16% and transactions increased with 21%. Resulting in an increase in revenue of 10%.