The Big Idea is our series on creativity in sports marketing with regular sidekick Simon Moore, the award-winning consulting creative director.
Today we focus on one of the most awarded campaigns in recent years: Burger King's Stevenage Challenge.
If a brand wants to sponsor the best football players, they have to pay millions. But Burger King found a way to endorse them without paying them a single penny. It sponsored a team at the bottom of English football’s 4th division: Stevenage. BK knew that if its logo was on their shirt, it was going to appear in FIFA 20. The brand then launched the #StevenageChallenge, inviting gamers to play with Stevenage and sharing UGC of the likes of Messi and Neymar wearing the BK logo, for BK rewards in return. It turned a small team in real life into the biggest team online.

Main Awards 
- Direct Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions 2021 

CREDITS 
Brand: Burger King. 
Advertising agencies: DAVID Madrid and DAVID Miami. 
Global Chief Creative Officer: Pancho Cassis. 
Chief Operating Officer: Sylvia Panico. 
Executive Creative Director: Saulo Rocha, Andre Toledo. 
Group Creative Director: Fernando Pellizzaro, Jean Zamprogno. 
Creative Director: Fred Bosch. 
Copywriter: Luis Giraldo, Alex Allen, Jared Schermer. 
Art Director: Felipe Antonioli, Andy Tamayo. 
Head of Social: Alex Sanchez. 
Director of Strategy: Jon Carlaw. 
Planner: Stephanie Salvador. 
Junior Planner: Vanessa Amaral. 
Group Account Director: Stefane Rosa. 
Management Supervisor: Jenny Gobel. 
Head of Global Production: Veronica Beach. 
Producer: Marina Rodrigues. 
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Barbara Karalis. 
Production Company: Landia. 
Music & Sound Company: Twenty Below Music, Jamute. 
Audio Mixing: Heard City. 
PR: ABMC. 
Media Placement: Horizon Media & Scout. 
Social Media: MullenLowe. 
Digital Studio: Unicorns & Unicorns. 
Animation: Mr. Klauss.

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