Title	L'EQUIPE OF OUR DREAMS
Brand	L'EQUIPE
Product/Service	L'EQUIPE
Category	A06. USE OF PRINT OR STANDARD OUTDOOR IN A PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN
Entrant Company	DDB PARIS, FRANCE
Advertising Agency	DDB PARIS, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Alexandre Hervé	DDB Paris	Executive Creative Director
Julien Kosowski	DDB Paris	Copywriter
Vianney Quecq D'henripret	Ddb Paris	Art Director
Jean/Luc Bravi	Ddb Paris	Account Supervisor
Mathieu Roux	Ddb Paris	Account Supervisor
Olivier Massanella	Ddb Paris	Account Supervisor
Beatrice Roux	L'equipe	Advertiser Supervisor
Damien Darroman	L'equipe	Advertiser Supervisor

The Brief

L'Equipe is the leading french sports newspaper. A reference everyone who loves sports comes to read at some point. But just like all the press in France, its sales are struggling, as sports fan get used to getting information for free. The objectives were to re- engage lost customers with the brand and sustain sales in a quiet period – over Christmas – when sports activity is close to zero. It all started with a simple insight: people buy L'Equipe because they love champions, achievements, outstanding destinies. Great stories. So we decided to offer them the best sport stories they would ever read.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We created 'L'Equipe of our dreams', a special edition of L'Equipe with the stories a sports fan has always dreamt to read, more good news than he could actually experience in a lifetime. Ronaldinho comes back in the Seleçao and wins the world cup, Kobe Bryant equals Jordan with a 6th NBA title. And a lot more. This special edition was given for free on Christmas day together with the 'normal' newspaper, all across the country. Not only a promotional object, rather a beautiful Christmas present. The week before, a press, poster and radio awareness campaign listed the greatest disappointments in French sport across ages, promising sports fan a revenge on Christmas day.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Sales increased by 20% on the 24th december, usually the worst day of the year for L'Equipe. The operation drove 600k more people on lequipe.fr. #lequipedereve trending topic on 24th december. Sports fan massively commented and shared spontaneously their sport dreams on Twitter and FB. The main french radios and TV mentioned it – and it became the news : competitor's journalists debated on the chances our stories had to become reality. Eventually, Renaud Lavilenie did break the paul vault world record 2 months later, as anticipated. And exacerbated the media noise. More than ever, we made L'Equipe the brand people turn to share their love of sport.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

We wanted to create a 'real' newspaper, as credible as possible, to maximize reading pleasure. So we involved the editorial board to have them write the articles. The best sports journalists in France played the game, and wrote fiction instead of reports and analysis. The front page, showing Renaud Lavilenie who had broken Serguei Bubka's mythical record at pole vault, immediately caught attention in store & spread on twitter. All the articles were then used on the website where 'L'Equipe of our dreams' was also downloadable for free. Eventually, we gave sports fans the best ever reason to buy and read L'Equipe on that day.