Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

Snickers has a long association with football. Yet in the summer of 2010, when the whole world was going football crazy, how could the brand raise awareness and increase sales against this background noise in 10 Middle Eastern markets?

Our research told us that young men like to boast. So we gave them the ultimate bragging rights – the chance to break the official Guinness World Record for the world’s longest football match, fuelled by Snickers.

From the moment we started online recruitment, the campaign took on a life of its own. The press followed every step as the 13,000 hopefuls were slimmed down to the final squad. Word spread far beyond the region as messages of goodwill flooded in via Facebook.

Every minute of the game was streamed live across the web, live radio updates kept the region informed as the players, after 42 hours, 5 minutes and 0.48 seconds set a new world record.

The event continued to make the news as a TV company broadcast a documentary covering the event turning the lads into minor celebrities.

Sales grew by 36%, the campaign reached 9.7 million people and generated $450,000 of free advertising and our audience is now demanding the next Snickers challenge.