Entrant Company
BETC HAVAS
Entry Type
Product/Service
Category
Use of Athlete/Talent/Influencer
Summer is the main season for fighting the dengue mosquito, and SBP — Brazil’s leading insecticide — needed an innovation to re-ignite awareness of its efficacy. But we had no new product or claim to talk about. So, we found our storytelling: Gustavo Silva is a footballer whose nickname, Mosquito, is so strong that it is the actual name written on his jersey. As Mosquito refers to his thinness, Gustavo doesn’t like the nickname and has asked repeatedly to be called Gustavo Silva — which, of course, only reinforced the nickname. So, we had the perfect opportunity to help him while also drawing attention to SBP and the incoming dengue season. We sponsored his jersey so our logo could replace the “mosquito” in it. That’s how SBP killed a mosquito that had never died before – the one in Gustavo Mosquito.
Our stunt lasted just two hours but reached what most campaigns take a month to achieve, with 99% positive comments. Oh — and the club decided to permanently kill the mosquito in his jersey, too: the Brazilian soccer club (Vitória) started calling the player Gustavo in its communications and dropped the nickname “Mosquito”.