Title	SUR LA VOIX DES CHAMPIONS
Brand	BNP PARIBAS // ROLAND-GARROS
Product/Service	SUR LA VOIX DES CHAMPIONS
Category	E02. Sponsorship & Brand Partnership
Entrant	HUNGRY AND FOOLISH Paris, FRANCE
Idea Creation	HUNGRY AND FOOLISH Paris, FRANCE

Name	Company	Position
Emmanuel François-Eugène	Hungry and Foolish	Creative Director
Stephane Le Frapper	Hungry and Foolish	Copywriter
Quentin Delachaux	Hungry and Foolish	Art Director

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

What makes this case truly is special is that it is based on a paradox: despite the fact that for the first time in history the Roland-Garros tournament would be played with almost no public, we thought it would be great to enable tennis fans to have a closer and more intimate access to the champions, what drives them, what’s inside their head in their own words. But as motivational quotes are pretty common, we decided to explore an entirely new treatment: quotes mixed with music, seamlessly combining the power of their advices with the power of sound.

Background

This year, Roland-Garros didn’t look like previous tournaments as the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm. The French Open was literally hit by the sound of silence as all players, iconic champions and promising young talents, would not be cheered by the public as they’re used to during a grand slam tournament. BNP Paribas briefed us on two communication objectives: #1 – Create a splash during Roland-Garros while explicitly motivating and supporting the young talents during this particularly tense period #2 Create a 360° communication campaign to valorize this initiative Through this communication, BNP Paribas wanted to address two major stakes: - Raise its voice and create excitement amongst the largest audience possible during the French Open in order to valorize its partnership with French Tennis Federation. - Communicate in a very engaging way (vs. purely corporate) on their commitment to younger generations through tennis.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Due to the sanitary crisis, sportspeople (champions and young talents) experience an unprecedented feeling of loneliness, as they’re used to find energy and support amongst the public, their peers or the more experienced players. In response of this isolation, sportspeople are therefore more sensitive when it comes to concentrate in their bubble in which music obviously plays a major role. As it was impossible to be physically present and stand next to the young talents and Roland-Garros champions this year, We are Tennis by BNP Paribas nevertheless decided to stay close by creating a track that was entirely dedicated to them: Sur la Voix des Champions (literally On the track of the Champions). A production featuring John McEnroe, Yannick Noah, Mary Pierce, Chris Evert, et Martina Navrátilová and in which they share their keys to motivation on a music composed by BonEntendeur. A motivational boost you can listen via Spotify.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

#1 Build upon all actions that were implemented by BNP Paribas since the beginning of the year. Starting in May, BNP Paris implemented a continuous flow of actions to support the young talents through an extremely challenging period of time for all tennis players. BNP Paribas therefore created an entire ecosystem, that gave them access to workshops and conversations with iconic names of tennis in order to share with them motivational truths. #2 Recommend an entirely new idea, viable whether Roland-Garros is maintained or not. Due to the largely unpredictable context, it was key to make sure that the power of the initiative would not lose any traction if the French Open was finally canceled. Therefore, the emphasis was put on something that could potentially live exclusively in a digital version. #3 Be true to our long-lasting commitments to tennis despite a catastrophic environment caused by the pandemic

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

During a few weeks before the tournament, workshops were organized between our young talents and tennis legends in order to let them hear precious insights and tips from their idols. All these remote conversations were recorded and then Bon Entendeur mixed the best of them in an original track specifically created for this initiative. This was released under the title « Sur la Voix des Champions” (On the tracks of the Champions) and made available to the public during the tournament, on Friday October 2, the traditional day for new releases on streaming platforms. A video clip was also created for YouTube, nicely mixing tennis imagery, music and voices. Since then, the track is available for all and continues to fuel tennis fans’ playlists around the world.

List the results (30% of vote)

#1 The track generated massive interest in the general public. The musica track was listened more than 260 000 times on the different streaming platforms and the video clip watched more than 470 000 times on YouTube. #2 The streaming platform loved the title and featured it on their most powerful playlists. The 6 largest platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Youtube, Apple, Napster, Amazon) are displaying the title. The title has been integrated in more than 15 playlists in the most listened on all this platforms. #3 : More than 10 millions impressions on the different touchpoints. #4 : An initiative that sparked a lot of pride amongst employees and leaders of BNP Paribas, which clearly helped to crystalize in a truly innovative way the bank’s commitment to young generations of tennis players. #5 : A member of the BNP Paribas Young Talent Team, Elsa Jacquemot, has won the junior tournament.