Ireland may not be playing in this year’s FIFA World Cup but Paddy Power is encouraging Irish football supporters to throw their weight behind Ivory Coast during the tournament in a new advertising campaign created by BBH Dublin.
The campaign, which launched ahead of Ivory Coast’s opening match of the tournament, plays on the visual similarity between the Irish and Ivorian flags. While Ireland’s tricolour is green, white and orange, Ivory Coast’s national flag features the same colours in reverse order.
Created for digital outdoor, retail and print media, the campaign invites Irish fans whose team failed to qualify for the World Cup to adopt the Ivorians as their team for the tournament.
Ireland’s hopes of reaching the finals ended in March following a penalty shoot-out defeat to Czechia, leaving many supporters without a clear allegiance for the competition.
The creative execution features reversed Irish tricolours and football-themed messaging encouraging fans to swap green, white and orange for orange, white and green.
According to Paddy Power, the campaign is designed as a light-hearted response to Ireland’s absence from the tournament and reflects the bookmaker’s long-standing reputation for topical and irreverent marketing.
“Paddy Power is famed for its irreverent take on world events, and now they’re upping the ante by giving Irish fans a last-minute World Cup substitute,” said Marcos Gemal, Executive Creative Director at BBH Dublin.
Paul Mallon, Head of Sportsbook Marketing at Paddy Power, said the campaign was intended to bring some humour to the World Cup from an Irish perspective.
“We wanted to have a bit of fun on home turf this World Cup so we thought, why not lend our voice to a fellow team in green, white and orange. And sure isn’t everything a bit backwards with the tournament anyway?” he said.
The campaign is running across digital outdoor sites in Dublin and in national newspaper titles including the Sunday Independent and The Sun. Activity is scheduled to coincide with Ivory Coast’s group-stage matches against Ecuador, Germany and Curaçao.
CREDITS
Brand: Paddy Power
Head of Sportsbook Marketing: Paul Mallon
Senior Marketing Manager: Hugh Doddy
Senior Brand Manager: Ashley Vann
Advertising agency: BBH Dublin
Chief creative officer London and Dublin: Felipe Serradourada Guimarães Executive creative director: Marcos Gemal
Associate creative director: Aubrey O’Connell
Associate creative director: Lucas Oliveira
Art Director: Jose De Oliveira
Copywriter: Donal Gaughran
Business Lead: Amy Crowe
Strategy Lead: Darius Pasalar
Account manager: Norah Conlon
Agency producer: Matt Kitto
