GUARANÁ ANTARCTICA | STUCK IN THE 80S | 2022
The 2019 women's final paid the same prize money as men's did in the 1980s / GUARANÁ ANTARCTICA "STUCK IN THE 80S"
The winning prize money at the 2019 Women's World Cup was actually on par with what men's tournaments paid out back in the 1980s. To make that one fact impossible to ignore, this campaign took over the entire stage of the Tokyo Olympics.
The problem
Guaraná Antarctica has long sponsored Brazil's women's national team and has been pushing for greater investment in women's soccer. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the brand went further, aiming to change the system itself by helping push through a bill (PL321/21) that would guarantee equal prize money for men's and women's sports.
The insight
Using the timing of the Tokyo Olympics, the brand brought in players from Brazil's women's national team to call for the bill's approval. What made it work was choosing to show the reality facing women's soccer not through numbers or speeches, but through something immediately visible: outdated gear.
The idea
Produced by SOKO, São Paulo, the campaign featured national team players appearing in equipment styled after the 1980s. To drive home that investment in Brazilian women's soccer hadn't moved past 1980s levels, Guaraná Antarctica brought back its bottle design from that era. For every bottle sold, the brand donated to an NGO that gives girls in underprivileged areas the chance to play soccer.
What happened
The campaign won Gold in the Entertainment Lions for Sport category at Cannes Lions 2022, and was also shortlisted in multiple categories including PR and Brand Experience.
Afterthought
Just by bringing back an old soda bottle design, they managed to turn it into a conversation about actual legislation. What's clever is how they made it all visible: an old uniform, an 80s bottle, things you can simply look at and understand. I think this is a great example of a sponsor turning its own product into a tool for change.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2022
