Getting Egyptians to memorize their team and its line up fast was the challenge we were facing, amidst a competitive landscape that would have every brand across industries communicating mega messages around the championship and its stars. How could we get our tribute to stand out while others were spending millions on footballers and sponsorships? We needed our music to be extremely catchy, so catchy that every man, woman and yes child could pick it up. It needed to be as easy as an old nursery rhyme. In fact, it was just that. We purposely chose an iconic nursery rhyme that all Egyptians grew up memorizing, knowing that this would be the easiest way to get people to remember our lyrics, and accordingly, the team line up.

Manly men with big mustaches and bigger dreams for their national team in the African Cup sing a silly old nursery rhyme in table tennis hall. Comically absurd, and surprisingly simple, our music video reflected the ironic state of Egyptians’ relationship with their new team. Real, Egyptian men who had strayed away from their most loved passion, football, were once again getting reacquainted with the new team line up as they explained to the rest of us who was who and what to expect from these players on the field.

Launched right before the championship began, the song was picked up as THE cheer of choice by Egyptians across the nation, allowing our fans to contribute to the games by making their own versions of the songs, spoofs and commentaries. The song's impact was felt throughout the games, cheering the team on to the finals, fi fi finals.

Without spending a dime on seeding the video, in the first 48 hours, our new nursery rhyme reached more than 2.8 million Egyptians ORGANICALLY. Leading music streaming app Anghami featured the song on its most trending list and was selected by their editors as a number one hit. Popular Football and sports sites shared the song on their platforms and social media channels, all praising the initiative for its effort to gear the fans up for the upcoming games. The impact was enough to catch the attention of top marketing and advertising publications in the region.

With our direct competitor being one of the main sponsors of the African Cup and endorsing several of the national team’s star players, Coke needed to hijack the event without mentioning the event. Unlike our competitor, we couldn’t and wouldn’t have a star studded campaign with the captains and most popular players of the team; after all Coke celebrates the fan. Unlike our competitor, we couldn’t show off our national jerseys or the African Cup logo. We couldn’t even refer to the games. So away from the football field we ventured, featuring instead what we knew we had going for us, the Egyptian fan with all his quirks. The fans who were going to help us take center stage by cheering their national team with our fun song; our tribute to the players who would make us proud once again.

On February 1st, 2012, a match in Port Said Stadium ended abruptly in a bloody massacre that turned the Egyptian fan into a victim and Egypt’s national sport, football, into the martyr. With a strict ban on live audiences at any matches for the next 3 years, Egyptian football lost its passion and fans. Our national team’s performance started to plummet, and the generation of super star players began to retire, leaving the team to newbies who were young and unknown.

This year with increased stability in the country and the African Cup of Nations around the corner, Coca-Cola is on a mission to revive the Egyptian fan’s passion. Our objective was clear. We needed to excite Egyptians about the championship once again and more importantly introduce them to their new national team, cheering them on to victory once again.