Mercedes-Benz: FOURTH STAR FOR GERMANY

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Consumer Engagement

Advertiser: DAIMLER / MERCEDES-BENZ

Product/Service: CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

Date of First Appearance: Mar 1 2010

Entrant Company: MEC, Dusseldorf, GERMANY

Account Director: Arvid Boström (MEC)

Account Group Head: Daniel Witza (MEC)

Account Group Head: Pascal Hohmann (MEC)

Account Management: Sebastian Böltner (MEC)

Media placement: Print - Pin Distribution - TV Spielfilm - 10th May

Media placement: Print - AdCampaign - Bunte, Focus, Süddeutsche Z., Bild, Playboy, SportBild, AutoBild, TV Spielfilm P - 25th March

Media placement: TV - Teaser, SpecialAds, PromoStories, FanDay - Pro7, Sat.1, Kabel1, N24 - 03rd May

Media placement: TV - Campaign - ARD, ZDF, SAT1 - 03rd May

Media placement: Online - Co-Operations - Yahoo, Axel Springer Online, Burda, SevenOneMedia, 11Freunde, - 29rd March

Media placement: Online - 71 Co-Operation - 71 Network - 10th May

Media placement: Online - SEM - Google - 26th April

Media placement: Radio - RMS (Stations In Berlin, Stuttgart, Hamburg, München, Köln, Düsseldorf, Dortmund - 17th May

Media placement: Direct Marketing - Pin Distribution - Burda Direct Marketing - 9th March



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

The FIFA football World Cup is one of the biggest global sporting events. Like no other event it succeeds in unifying people of all ages and various backgrounds in order to support their national football team. Especially in a football-enthusiastic country like Germany this means, that towards the summer of 2010 the entire population of more than 82 million Germans were excited about their team and its chances and hopes of winning the cup.



However, there was no common platform enabling people to share their expectations, motivations and enthusiasm.

Consequently the challenge in 2010 was to provide a movement which constitutes and amplifies this collective identity and also gives people the opportunity to interact.



Creative Execution

MERCEDES-BENZ has been the major sponsor of the German national football team for decades and is a brand that is generally associated with the German football team.

The creative strategic solution was developed surrounding a symbolic icon which is part of the public expectation and part of the core brand identity: a star.

There are currently three stars on the Germany kit representing each of the country’s world cup wins. MERCEDES-BENZ also features a star in its iconic brand logo. As a consequence of this, the creative concept was built around a 4th star for Germany referring to a possible fourth world cup win.

Broad media activities and co-operations across all channels (TV, print, radio, online, direct marketing) successfully encouraged the German public to attach 4th star pins to their clothes and take a seat in a virtual fan arena next to celebrities such as Michael Schumacher and many more.



Results and Effectiveness

More than 90% intra-media reach led to an amazing result: already at the start of the tournament the 4th star for Germany had become synonymous with Germany’s participation at the World Cup and the population’s support and enthusiasm. Media co-operations enabled supporters all over the country to claim their belief and share their motivations on TV and radio. More than 120,000 people registered themselves in the virtual 4th star arena. On Facebook more than 280,000 people not only liked the 4th star for Germany but also incorporated the iconic logo into their profile picture.