Kiwi spearheads soccer push

Andy Fackrell

In a country where rugby is virtually a religion, it is a surprise to find the man behind adidas' biggest global soccer marketing campaign is a Kiwi.

What's more, Andy Fackrell, lead creative for the 60-country campaign for soccer's World Cup, went to the same school as All Black captain Tana Umaga. Fackrell met his hero about a year ago when they were in London to film the Bullrush commercial for the Lions' tour of New Zealand.

"I walked up and said, 'Hey Tana, I'm the one who came up with this ad.' He said, 'Where are you from, bro?' And I said, 'Parkway College, like you.' It was fantastic."

Fackrell is creative director at Dutch advertising agency 180 Amsterdam, part of the 180\TBWA alliance. He has worked for Mackay King and Saatchi & Saatchi in New Zealand, but also in advertising in Australia and the United States.

Despite his heritage, the "sports-mad" Fackrell confesses he played basketball and cricket, not rugby. But this year is all about soccer.

His "+10" campaign is adidas' attempt to distinguish itself from the focus on individuals of rival Nike by zeroing in on team sports. The idea is that 11 players in a football team equal one player plus 10.

"It really came about because of the European Championships," said Fackrell. "A team from Greece won. They had no star players. They just won through teamwork and working for each other as opposed to working for themselves."

The campaign began internationally on October 10 and will run until the World Cup in the middle of next year. It kicked off with posters combining black-and-white portraits of some of football's best-known players - such as England's David Beckham and France's Zinedine Zidane - with national colours.

It's a big campaign-and in the case of the host nation, Germany, that meant a 60m-high billboard showing German football hero Ballack.

Preparations for the campaign began two years ago. So far, all that has been seen in New Zealand is "guerrilla" advertising: stickers featuring the +10 logo, which precede a raft of activity.

Whybin TBWA's Mark Cochrane, the adidas account manager, said "one of the bigger advertising ideas that New Zealand has seen this year" would be mounted for December 10, when the Fifa World Cup match ball will be launched in this country.

Apart from that, he is not saying much - and neither is adidas New Zealand marketing and commercial manager Craig Waugh.

"Let's just say the idea that came out of New Zealand impressed the hell out of the global adidas fraternity," said Waugh, who added that the local version could be used overseas.

He said the campaign would target football's grassroots in New Zealand. In particular, +Challenge, a hybrid game using a smaller field, fewer players and a shorter duration, will be launched. It is aimed at the 13- to 18-year-olds who play soccer.

"It's quite important for us to connect with this age group in New Zealand," said Waugh. "We already have strong brand recognition associated with rugby but our number one sport globally is football.

"It's getting kids to connect with what football is about."

The event-based campaign will also feature above-the-line advertising, but Waugh said it was too early to say what form that would take.

Fackrell said the World Cup was the biggest sporting event on the planet and was still growing. "More people watch that than the Olympics."

In New Zealand, soccer struggles, "but you only have to look at what happened in Australia a couple of weeks ago when they qualified [for the World Cup]", said Fackrell, who hopes the +10 campaign will boost football's profile as well as adidas.