When Oreo won the super bowl in 2013, the audience applauded the spontaneity of this beautifully-timed ‘lucky’ tweet whilst brand and agency folk gave each other a Gary-Player-style knowing wink. The moment wasn’t just a random shot in the dark – it came off the back of months of preparation of a carefully constructed brand strategy and social narrative – and behind the scenes there was a control centre full of client and agency strategists and creatives, ready to craft and to pull the levers at exactly the right moment, when all the stars aligned. A swan-like grace on the surface, with some fast and furious peddling going on beneath. A new era of responsive marketing was born.



Whilst any good campaign takes carefully honed preparation, there’s nothing like the level of planning required for a witty agile responsive marketing campaign. In-the-moment reactions need to have the timing of Kylian Mbappé and the scalpel-like precision of Alexia Putellas. So, when Nike Football charged us with driving the campaign for the launch of the Phantom Venom and the Mercurial at the beginning of 2019’s football season and we decided to get the campaign momentum started with a responsive real-time strategy around some key matches, we took it no less seriously than Rafa Benitez getting Liverpool ready for their Champion League match against AC Milan in 2005.

In the midst of a Champions League match between PSG and Manchester United, we had our Mini Oreos moment. In the course of our preparation we’d singled out Kylian Mbappé and Marcus Rashford as the most likely game killers and had introduced them in a ‘select the player’ gaming-inspired mini-film during the pre-match build up for the Old Trafford leg. We then sat with bated breath, ready to leap into action with a response at any key moment and had our first little victory off the back of Mbappé’s when he scored an unexpected goal and we were able to instantly drop a video response of him doing his iconic arms-folded goal celebration.

About two weeks later, after losing that first leg, Man United was under heavy pressure with the impossible-seeming task of needing to regain their footing by scoring another three goals on away turf. At the 89th minute, after a tense match that wasn’t going well, Rashford scored an explosive winning goal and we had THE perfect finesse-shot response that allowed us to ride the crest of the publicity around the win.

So we got ‘lucky’...on the back of some seriously considered planning and preparation.

A little bit of luck can always help. But it’s more about getting deeply stuck in to the honing and the crafting. Working hard in preparation of that perfect moment, getting all the pulleys and levers in place. Really knowing the subject matter. And always striving for those ‘effortless’ moments that will leave a legacy.