We didn’t just want people to love Brazuca - we wanted them to idolise it. We decided we would make Brazuca into the REAL star of the tournament - by turning it from a ball, into a baller.

We gave it its own voice @Brazuca; with brilliant football insight and an irreverent tone of voice that cut through football cliché. We gave it a celebrity lifestyle, meeting everyone from David Beckham to the Pope.

It brought fans closer to the game than ever before. Lightning-fast real-time reactive tweets made its wit and perspective a part of the biggest tournament conversations.

@Brazuca was a storming success. Gary Lineker followed it; along with writers, sports & tech personalities, media, musicians and football stars. Even Justin Bieber was tweeting about @Brazuca.

Brazuca achieved worldwide media coverage in publications covering everything from fashion to football; and built a community of over 3.4 million @brazuca followers. Mashable even interviewed our talking ball.

adidas sold a record number of World Cup balls, smashing its targets. Brazuca was the fastest-growing Twitter account during the tournament, recognised as an official World Cup account by Twitter and achieved hugely positive sentiment amongst football fans and media.

adidas is an official partner of the FIFA World Cup. It provides the match officials with football boots and their matchday attire and supplies the official match ball, which becomes the symbol of the brand’s sponsorship role every four years.

In 2010, the ball was a disaster, with widespread negative coverage. This piled the pressure on the 2014 replacement. For Brazil 2014, the match ball was Brazuca, its name selected by public vote, and it was the most heavily tested football in history. Even NASA approved of it.

We tackled the challenge of activating one of the most important and visible sponsorships in sport by giving the ball a voice. We took a risk and made the ball a star, kicking it into the spotlight in style. It was time to bring adidas’s World Cup hero product to life; for football fans, media, and influencers, everywhere.