Title	VAR STADIUM TAKE-OVER
Brand	HANS ANDERS
Product/Service	RETAIL
Category	B04. Use of Print or Outdoor
Entrant	N=5 Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation	N=5 Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production	N=5 Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Olaf van der Geld	N=5	Digital Creative
Renoud Netjes	N=5	Digital Creative
Hans Dekker	N=5	Producer

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Hans Anders is a Dutch optics chain with a tone-of-voice that fits The Netherlands perfectly: humorous and witty. Looking to find brand relevance, we used one of the most discussed topics: The VAR in football, and naturally linked the referee's decision making to our product: optics. Anticipating the most tense situations of the game with a never seen before programmatic approach in in-stadium advertising

background

Season 2018-2019 was the debut for the official video-assisted-referee (VAR) in the Dutch National Football League the ‘Eredivisie’. A mechanism designed to help referees who just can’t see everything on the pitch. The referee is assisted by a team of assistants who keep eye on the game thoroughly using cameras from every angle. Every weekend, decisions made by the VAR caused nationwide commotion. When a VAR decision is made, the referee uses a specific gesture that has a striking resembles to the logo of Hans Anders, one of the leading dutch optician chains. How can we amplify this connection?

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Building on previous campaigns, the phrase ‘you should go to Hans Anders’ has become dutch national slang used when someone is clearly seeing it wrong (referees in particular). We tapped in to this phenomenon with our campaign, in a way that follows the dutch tone-of-voice. Our creative approach was made to link the referees VAR gesture to the main brand asset of Hans Anders: ‘the box’. And communicating that when you want to see things really clearly, Hans Anders is the place to go to.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In-stadium advertising is fast developing, with digital screens being implemented all across stadiums and on the pitch. We teamed up with dutch top team PSV eindhoven to make programmatic use of their advertising space. Everytime a VAR decision was made, the stadium billboarding and LED screens along the pitch would instantly broadcast our campaign. This helped to reach our audience not only in the stadium, but also all across the Netherlands who are watching the game on television.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

Despite the rapid increase of digital in-stadium advertising, a programmatic approach had never been done before. We teamed up with experts in the field to establish a pipeline that would guarantee our assets to be displayed within seconds of a VAR situation. We implemented this in the last home matches of PSV. We amplified our in-stadium campaign by also instantly displaying on social media, making use of the hashtag of that specific game.

List the results (30% of vote)

The PSV Stadium has a capacity of 35.000 viewers at every live game, that loved our VAR hijack. But because of the billboarding along side of the pitch, We were also able to reach out a wider audience on TV. On social media people reacted lively, applauding the smart and humorous way Hans Anders made use of the VAR moment. The campaign received such positive attention that it will be continued for season 2019-2020 in every home game for PSV Eindhoven.