Title	FOOTBALL OR FATHER
Brand	REMED PHARMA
Product/Service	CONDOMS
Category	A03. OTC Products/Devices
Entrant Company	BBDO BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM
Advertising Agency	BBDO BELGIUM Brussels, BELGIUM

Name	Company	Position
Sebastien De Valck	Bbdo Belgium	Creative director
Arnaud Pitz	Bbdo Belgium	Creative director
Frederic Zouag	BBDO Belgium	Art Director
Nicolas Gaspart	Bbdo Belgium	Creative Copywriter
Christophe Malotaux	Bbdo Belgium	Graphic designer
Frederic Zouag	BBDO Belgium	Art Director
Patricia Van De Kerckhove	Bbdo Belgium	Producer
Fred De Loof	Witloof Productions	Art Director
Lore Desmet	Bbdo Belgium	Account Manager
Isabel Peeters	Bbdo Belgium	Chief Commercial Officer
Stefan Ceunen	Bbdo Belgium	Social media director
Jasper Heldenbergh	Bbdo Belgium	videographer

The Brief

Our first goal was to raise alarm bells among as many Belgians as possible and warn them that their UEFA European Championship could be decided 9 months before kick-off. For this, we wanted to reach as many Belgians as possible and therefore get shown on TV. But with no media budget, it was complicated. By creating this targeted mailshot, we eventually succeeded in our mission.

Creative Execution

Love Condom therefore created an ad using the personal story of Philippe, a Belgian who missed his team’s victory in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Mexico in 1986 (best result ever for Belgium) because he became a dad that evening. In the video, he explains his agony and ends his story by warning all Belgians not to make the same mistake as him, and to wear condoms. The film was released exactly 9 months before kick-off at the UEFA European Championship. To be shown on TV with no media budget, shrewdness was called for. We therefore created a calendar with condoms to be used 9 months before the UEFA European Championship. The calendar was sent to all sports journalists in the country, who went on to talk about it during their programmes, and who also aired our ad.

The cost of creating and producing the calendar came to 1500 euros. The calendar was delivered to 20 targeted sports journalists. As a result of this calendar, we were featured during prime time on the biggest TV-channels in the country for a total of 5 min. 07sec. The campaign was quickly taken up and got coverage from all the important Belgian press websites (Le Soir, La Dernière Heure, L’Avenir, Het Nieuwsblad, Het Laatste Nieuws, etc.) All this was worth more than 350.000 euro in earned media. Love Condom’s number of facebook fans increased with 17%. Sales increased during the campaign : +8 % … and hopefully every belgian man can enjoy football in june.

The campaign was launched exactly 9 months before the start of the World Cup. We used this symbolic date to get our message through; if you protect yourself now, you won’t become a dad in 9 months. Consequently, if you don’t want to have children, use condoms from Love Condom. The timing chosen helped us make a campaign with real impact. The press was quick to pick up on our campaign and soon put together articles on the subject.