Cause · Activation · Sport · 2018
Paddy Power · 2018 World Cup
Rainbow Russians.
From Russia with equal love.
The 2018 World Cup was hosted in a country where being gay was, functionally, illegal. Paddy Power's response, led by Mr. B as Head of Mischief: every Russian goal would fund an LGBT+ cause. Russia obliged. £170,000 raised.
- £170,000Raised for LGBT+ causes via Russian goals
- 84M+Social impressions during the tournament
- 92%Positive or neutral sentiment, across 12,000 posts
- #1UK's most talked-about brand on social media during the World Cup
Best of all: the campaign funded 20 LGBT+ FA-qualified match officials, mentored by Ryan Atkin (English football's first openly gay professional ref).
The brief
A World Cup, hosted in a country where being gay was functionally illegal.
Russia 2018. The biggest event in football, hosted by a state with a 2013 law banning “homosexual propaganda,” a record of state-sanctioned homophobia, and a fan culture with no formal route in for LGBT+ players. FIFA had handed the trophy to a country actively hostile to a substantial section of its global audience, and most brands' response was a quiet rainbow logo on Twitter.
Paddy Power had no formal World Cup sponsorship. No way in. But they did have something most other brands didn't: ambition to address the rainbow-coloured elephant in the room.
The idea
Make Russia itself the LGBT+ sponsor.
For every goal Russia scored in the tournament, Paddy Power would donate £10,000 to LGBT+ causes, through Attitude Magazine's Foundation, with a minimum guaranteed donation £50,000, just in case Russia were a bit goal-shy. For the knock-outs, we doubled it.
The mechanic was the joke. Every Russian goal — the literal thing the host nation's fans were celebrating — became a donation to the community their government was trying to legislate out of existence. Russia was funding the resistance, whether they liked it or not.
"When Russia Put-in a goal, we'll Put-in £10,000 to make football more LGBT+ inclusive."
The execution
Would they score? The players got right behind it.
We launched with a dream team of LGBT+ voices coming out for Russia: Caitlyn Jenner, Gareth Thomas, swimmer Mark Foster, rugby referee Nigel Owens, England women's footballers Lianne Sanderson and Jordan Nobbs, choreographer Louie Spence, actor Christopher Biggins. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch and MP Penny Mordaunt added cross-party political weight. The unlikeliest fanbase in football history.
Then the tournament started, and Russia — ranked 70th in the world — thumped Saudi Arabia 5-0 in the opening match. We hit the £50,000 minimum donation in 90 minutes. The Paddy Power traders had only calculated 5.2 goals all tournament long. But they didn't stop there, beating Egypt to reach the knock outs, where they shocked Spain. By the time they bowed out to Croatia in the quarter-final, they'd scored 11 times and we'd raised £170,000.
The result
We made accidental allies of the host nation.
The best PR hit, selfishly, came on the first day of the tournament, when Paddy Power spokesperson (our founder) Lee Price appeared live on CNN News in the US to discuss the campaign, wearing a Russia shirt. Not sure anyone will ever be able to do that again.
Rainbow Russians drove 84M+ impressions, 12,000 organic posts, and 92% positive or neutral sentiment. The UK's Sports Minister, Tracey Crouch, publicly backed it. It won UK Campaign of the Year at the Sport Industry Awards, and similar gongs at WARC, the Drum Marketing Awards, and the European Sponsorship Awards.
Best of all, the Russian national team won 'Ally of the Year' at Attitude Magazine's annual awards. A category sponsored by Paddy Power.
What the press said
-
"Paddy Power trolls Russian Embassy during London Pride with projected image of rainbow flag."
Pink News -
"Paddy Power trolls World Cup host with promise to donate £10,000 to LGBT+ charities for every Russian goal."
PR Week -
"Given they invented Russian Dolls, you'd be forgiven for thinking Russia wouldn't have an issue with women being into other women."
Lee Price — live on CNN, in a Russia shirt -
"Paddy Power has a history of LGBT activism."
BBC -
"The LGBT+ community has a long history of reclaiming behaviours, words and styles that were intended to discriminate against us. For this tournament, we're adopting Russia."
Darren Styles OBE, Attitude Magazine -
"Russia became such a willing, albeit unwitting, ally of the LGBT+ community."
Beyond Sport
Credits
- Brand lead
- Lee Price
- PR lead
- Amy Jones
- Partner agency
- Synergy
- Charity partner
- Attitude Magazine Foundation
- Client
- Paddy Power
Review
What we learned from the campaign.
The Football Co Business Podcast invited Lee on to discuss, amongst other things, Rainbow Russians. Yes, that's the Sport Industry Award the campaign won that he's holding. Pathetic.
Next case
Save Our Shirt.
Unsponsoring football.