Today, most of the brand products and services in Brazil don’t do editorials or entertainment. They only use traditional advertising which tries to be editorial or entertainment. There are hundreds of restrictions from TV channels and even the Government, but nothing that has proved an obstacle for our campaign which deserves to be mentioned in this context.

Blood banks suffer their greatest shortage of blood in the months of June and July. For Hemoba to meet the demand of the population, it was necessary to increase the amount by 25%. It’s a fact: people are only motivated to donate blood when someone they like is in need. Thus, we decided to invite people to donate blood to their greatest passion: their football club. We took off the red stripes from Vitória’s centenary kit. Only with the direct participation of the fans, through blood donations, would the color of the jersey come back, stripe by stripe as blood was being donated. It started with a press conference. Then the team entered the field in shirts without the red stripes. Flyers and a press kit were distributed to the fans, journalists and influencial fans, explaining what was happening. Right after the match, we launched an integrated campaign, including a TV spot narrated by Wagner Moura, the actor who played “Capitão Nascimento” in the “Elite Squad” films and a fanatical Vitória supporter. For ten matches, the team played in the new kit. People started donating blood and the stripes gradually returned.

Football is a subject taken very seriously in Brazil. It is common to see protests against the coaches of the national football team, for example, but not against our country’s corruption. Thus we did something that people were already naturally attracted to, football. In addition, we could generate more content, more issues, in a universe that is already full of consumers eager for news.

An increase of 46% in blood donations (the original goal was 21%). With an investment of US$ 15,000.00, US$ 8,000,000.00 was generated in spontaneous media. Approximately 130 million people impacted: more than 1 billion page views on the web and 935 minutes of TV exposure, including matches, after match shows and articles. There was a huge national and international response. Even the supporters of Bahia, Vitoria’s biggest rival, joined the campaign. Videogame players developed the new uniforms for the Pro Evolution Soccer 2012. The jersey became the third official uniform of the club and there was even a pirate version, which could be found at street vendors. The club immortalized the campaign as part of its memorial celebrations and is producing a documentary.