THE TANGO SQUAD

Bronze Eurobest

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleTHE TANGO SQUAD
BrandADIDAS
Product/ServiceADIDAS FOOTBALL
Category B12. Use of Social Platforms
Entrant WE ARE SOCIAL London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation WE ARE SOCIAL London, UNITED KINGDOM
Production WE ARE SOCIAL London, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Gareth Leeding We Are Social Creative Director
Joe Weston We Are Social Group Account Director
John Crozier We Are Social Account Director
Dan Moseley We Are Social Account Director
Kenneth Moore We Are Social Associate Creative Director
Will Fielder We Are Social Senior Account Manager
Gianluca Freschi We Are Social Senior Account Executive
Stephen Cleary adidas Social Media Manager adidas football

The Campaign

A group of specially selected football obsessed teens that get the hottest news, best experiences and exclusive content from adidas Football. All delivered direct to their phones through dark social messenger apps. These groups are treated to world class experiences and given content to make their social channels sing. From meeting Leo Messi to launching new boots before the PR team, Tango Squad know what's going on before their friends and get to have the best experiences a football fan could ever want. Welcome to the Tango Squad.

Creative Execution

Tango Squads are currently live in 11 cities across the globe with plans to launch in many more. The members were scouted on the ground and online. Potential members were vetted by an automated system in the first instance and then manually by adidas employees to ensure the correct people were selected. The goal to ensure we have the right people not the right number of people. Once selected, Squad members were on-boarded to the Tango Squad Facebook Messenger group. These groups are split by location so that each city can tailor their own communications with the groups. Messages are sent out to the group as a broadcast with one to one communication starting off the back of Tango Squad responses.

In just six months we have recruited 1,440 influencers, in 15 cities, across 11 countries. We’re not looking for mass but targeted influence in our key cities. They’ve presented adidas content, broken major news stories, seen product before anyone else and met their idols. By feeding their conversations we’re helping to grow their social profiles. We’re redefining influence. Building adidas a network for the future.

‘Dark Social’ or messenger apps now drive 75% of social referrals and personal referrals are nine times more likely to convert to sale. Tango Squad is a group of specially selected football obsessed teens that get the hottest news, best experiences and exclusive content from adidas Football. All delivered direct to their phones through dark social messenger apps.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

The world of social media is changing. A change that is led by younger generation of internet users. People who are eschewing public comms in favour of more privacy. ‘Dark Social’ or messenger apps now drive 75% of social referrals and personal referrals are nine times more likely to convert to sale. In order to generate real advocacy, we needed to own conversations with the kids on a platform that they already use. We chose to use Facebook Messenger to build exclusive groups of football captains. We recruited kids from key cities across the world. Vetting them against specific criteria to ensure that they were the right people to spread our message for us. Their reward - being a member of an incredible brand sponsorship experience.