Brazilians live and breathe soccer. It’s said that Brazil’s children are born with a ball at their feet, and the national team holds more world titles than any other.

In 2014 Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup. Every World Cup football has a name and after a national poll, Brazilians chose ‘brazuca’ as the name for the 2014 championship – a word that expresses 'Brazilian-ness'.

Adidas, the official supplier of the balls, asked its PR team to develop a campaign to complement the official launch event. It needed to build an emotional bond between adidas, brazuca and the Brazilian people, beyond the sports press.

The team’s brilliant response was to give a brazuca to every baby born on the birthday of the Official Ball of the World Cup. On 3 December 2013, the team launched the brazuca to the Brazilian people at Amparo Maternal, the largest maternity hospital in Brazil. Every one of the 28 babies born in the hospital that day was given a brazuca: they truly were born with a ball at their feet, bringing the Brazilian saying to life.

The creative launch reached trending status on Twitter, with a potential impact of 5.8 million, as well as 111 pieces of media coverage – 20 of them from outlets around the world. Every baby born in Brazil on that day was entitled to their own brazuca when their parents presented a birth certificate at pick-up points. So far, 392 people from 88 cities have claimed their brazuca.

The campaign to announce the launch of Brazuca – the first World Cup ball to be named by the public - was an opportunity to create a ‘people’s launch’ for the ball beyond the official launch party, which would only be open to media and celebrities.

The PR goal was to achieve coverage in the mainstream media and across social networks, with a target reach of 3.7 million on Twitter and Instagram.

The challenge was to create an emotional connection between a ball – six pieces of polyurethane – and the Brazilian people; not just soccer-crazy dads, but mums too.

The people’s launch of the adidas Brazuca was a huge success:

Output

• Potential reach: 5.8 million on Twitter/Instagram, 57% above target

• 111 pieces of coverage, including ESPN, Fox Sport and SBT, the third biggest TV channel in Brazil

• 11 online front pages including the biggest news websites in Brazil: Globoesporte.com, UOL, LANCENET and Terra.

Consideration

• #Brazuca was trending on Twitter at 4pm, before it had even been launched that evening.

• The campaign reached a broad audience, including mothers as well as football-mad dads, and the campaign was covered in mummy/family blogs as well as the sports pages.

Action

• 132 social influencers got involved, leading to 580 RTs of the campaign tweet.

• 392 Brazucas were delivered to newborns, in 12 states, covering 88 cities in Brazil.

The team created buzz on social networks via influencers with the tweet: ‘Do you know any baby born today? He is a Brazuca baby and can win a #Brazuca!’

On December 3rd, the PR team was at Amparo Maternal from 00:01am to 11:59pm. São Paulo soccer player Osvaldo delivered balls to the first ‘Brazuca babies’ in person. That day, 28 babies were born, each presented with a Brazuca. The team created a ‘nursery’ in the maternity unit, with Brazucas covered with blankets like newborns. The blankets were removed to reveal the official ball to the assembled media at 9pm.

The team set up collection points in the 12 host cities for the World Cup on December 6th and 7th. Parent who brought their baby’s birth certificate along were given their own ball. Many of the pick-up points were at local radio stations, which also acted as media partners.

Adidas is the global leader in football balls, boots and clothes. It is the official sponsor/supplier partner of the world’s biggest football tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

Nevertheless, adidas is second in the Brazilian market. As ‘soccer country’ prepared to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, its arch competitor, Nike, had launched the local federation jersey for the World Cup in a huge event at Copacabana beach. There was pressure on adidas to ensure its launch of the official World Cup ball - named ‘Brazuca’ by the Brazilian public - connected emotionally with consumers.

Every day in Brazil, 8,000 babies are born. The saying in the football-obsessed country goes that they are all born with a ball at their feet, so the team’s killer idea was to bring this to life in a literal way.

‘Brazuca’ describes a feeling of national pride, and the team aimed to spread it around by giving every single baby born in Brazil on 3 December the chance to own a free replica of the match ball that will be used at their home World Cup.

The team, and the media, would be stationed at Brazil’s largest maternity unit, the Amparo Maternal in Sao Paulo on the day to ensure that every baby born in the hospital was indeed born with a ball at their feet. And parents across the country would be able to redeem their baby’s ball by presenting a birth certificate at designated collection points.