Ireland’s GAA fans are passionate beyond reason. But as a painfully self-deprecating nation, we don’t like to brag or boast or even talk up our greatest sport.

Enter: #thetoughest. An idea that humbly yet confidently declared that AIB club championships – played by local amateurs who practice after the day job on amateur pitches, whatever the weather – was the toughest of them all.

Toughest to play.

Toughest to win.

Just… #thetoughest

More than a new brand platform for AIB GAA, it became a new, shared language, an impassioned content platform, and most importantly, a collective badge of passion and pride worn by fans countrywide.

A social content calendar ran the spectrum of emotions through a range of content that pulled on heart strings, set local clubs against one another in bitter competition for club funding and elusive championship tickets.

The fans were flamed through a heavy social calendar and interaction on a human level with fans who engaged with what became the #1 branded hashtag.

And nowhere was the humanity and proof more evident that Gaelic Football and Hurling are indeed #thetoughest than in The Toughest Trade documentary series where pro athletes from the NFL, NHL, Premiership, etc. traded lives and teams with the amateur athletes in a gripping test of grit.

Earned media value: €19.5 million

· #1 branded hashtag

· #1 sports sponsor in 2017 (v #22 in 2013)

· Brand trust turnaround by 51 percentage points (from 6% to 57%)

· Positive sentiment turnaround from 8% to 84%

· AIB is Ireland’s fastest growing brand in 2017

· Transactional Nett Promoter Score +45 v’s -37 in ‘13