Global Fútbol

When RC Celta launched its new kit for the 2021-22 season, the LaLiga Santander club set out to create an impact not just in its home city of Vigo, but across the football world. 

In the past few weeks, the new sky-blue home kit has appeared in some of the most popular cities in the world and has made noise on social media, following an international campaign designed to spark envy among rival fans, #EnvidiaCeleste.

Targeting other popular football teams known for wearing a similar colour, RC Celta created distinct on- and offline campaigns addressing the fans of Napoli, Lazio, Manchester City, New York City Football Club and the Uruguayan national team. The message was simple and light-hearted: our light blue is better than yours. 

"The idea was to provoke a reaction from other clubs wearing light blue and their fanbase," the club's marketing department commented. “So we carried out various actions in their own cities, showing off our shirt to generate envy. It was intended to generate media attention, display the pride our fans have for our colours, as well as drive commercial results.”

An international online and offline campaign
Across social media, the hashtag #EnvidiaCeleste was used along with a presentation video for the shirt, featuring translated messages for fans of each of the different teams and accompanied by the Antonio Machín song, ‘Envy’.

This was then replicated for an offline billboard campaign, with the same messages appearing across cities such as Rome, Manchester and Naples, placed in central locations and even on Rome tourist buses.

Images of these offline campaigns were then fed back into the online world to drive further momentum, creating a response from the target clubs and increasing fan interactions. 

"We received a very good response at the international level, particularly in Italy where we saw a lot of impact in the media and a high degree of engagement from Lazio and Napoli fans," the club continued. “This was a disruptive message compared to how we usually communicate, using iconic locations to maximise its impact."

Obtaining international leads
By taking this playful approach, the club had a more serious objective: to increase the brand profile of the club in important football markets and drive returns. “Through this activity we increased the visibility of our kit and this led to online sales traffic as well as attendance at our physical store,” the club added.

To help maximise these returns, the club ran further online initiatives such as prize raffles for those who registered their details with the club. The response was quick and positive.

"More than 1,700 people registered in the draw to win our shirt, creating potential leads for future campaigns at a local, national and international level,” the club said. “It has been a very interesting exercise.”