Forza Canada created a sense of community, further strengthening the bond between Fonzies and football fans and involving people who could actively take part in the campaign. We transformed a sport drama (the national team's failure to qualify) into a strong brand activation, reaching out to the upset fans and transforming them into Canadian supporters with a multichannel strategy and a social tool kit that could be used to demonstrate their support. This made it possible to safeguard the passion of the Italians, giving it to the team that joined the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Football is a strong strategic field for Fonzies (the #1 Mondelēz cheese-flavored snack in Italy) so much as to become the official sponsor of the Italian national football team. The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar was a key moment for Fonzies to cultivate and strengthen an emotional connection with its consumers and Italian football enthusiasts. Unfortunately, Italy didn’t qualify: how could we make the most out of an event as important as the world championship anyway? And how to engage and activate millions of teamless and purposeless Italian fans?

Football is not just the most popular sport in Italy, it's a true religion. In 2022 though, things went to hell due to one unexpected piece of news: Italy failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The most passionate football fans in the world were devastated, having no one to cheer for. An entire nation had lost one of its holiest moments.

So Fonzies swooped in with its Forza Canada: the first activation that turned desperate Italian fans into die hard fans of Canada, the country that needed our support the most.

By launching the first Canada fan club in Italy we coached a whole nation on social media to support Canada, then we invited millions of Italian fans to cheer hard at live events during Canada matches. That's how we created a huge "Canada Mania" across Italy, turning a potentially missed opportunity for the brand into one of huge visibility.

Our idea was based on our target, i.e. the entire football fan community in Italy. After the devastating news about Italy elimination, we made a context analysis and we found out that Canada, a football team that qualified at the World Cup for the first time since 1986, was the country with the fewest football fans in the world. That’s why our approach was based on a national call to action through a social multi-platform activation with the aim of involving a wide audience of Italian football fans and turning them into media, reaching other fans and building a strong sense of community despite Italy didn’t make it to the World Cup.

In October 2022 we launched the first Canada fan club in Italy by making a national call to action on social media with sport influencers and across Italian cities with an OOH campaign. But being a dedicated fan takes practice, so we trained the entire nation to support Canada by giving members a set of tutorials to learn the Canadian national anthem, the best chants, and right players names pronunciations. Then we gave out the official fan kit on social media (GIFs, stickers, cards) and on the streets (t-shirts, caps, scarfs) so that millions of Italians could become perfect Canadian fans. During Canada's matches, with our special live coverage, the Canadian fans community unleashed all its passion on social media and at special events at pubs across major Italian cities (Milan, Rome, Turin, Naples, Florence, Venice).

The news about the Forza Canada project made so much noise that it was mentioned in 100+ articles on national (e.g. ANSA, RAI, La Gazzetta Dello Sport) and international online press (e.g. Class CNBC, The Guardian, The World News). Even the Italian Ambassador of Canada to Italy joined Forza Canada with a dedicated tweet. Also, the number one Italian sportscaster (Andrea Stramaccioni) mentioned us during the Canada - Croatia match.

Forza Canada totaled 80 million Organic impressions, 40 million Global Social Reach, a 6.5% Engagement Rate, and 2.6 million Social Media interactions.

10.1 million Italian viewers (54% of the audience) turned Belgium-Canada into the most-watched football match in the Canadian history.

In just three Canada matches, Fonzies sales increased up to 18% and it gained 96% positive brand sentiment, becoming the most beloved snack brand in Italy despite Italy not having even qualified.