Xavier de la Cueva: Ambush advertising... Smart advertising

In a world where advertisers have to pay enormous quantities to sponsor sports and specially soccer, there are always smart people who actually manage to get a piece of the pie with a lot less investment.

Last year, the year of the World Cup in Brazil, we came upon an idea that did just that:

It made DISH Network seem to be a sponsor of the World Cup in Brazil.

Besides the brilliant idea, it happened to be based on two of my favorite subjects:

soccer and dance.

We were approached by Havas Chicago with a commercial that featured a brazilian dancer from "Carnaval" in a soccer stadium with intercuts to soccer stock shots of crowds and soccer features.

Our reaction was:

Let's not use stock shots, let's make the dancer the symbol of soccer with a coreography that would incorporate soccer moves and steps and a golden soccer ball.

The dancer would be dressed in the colors of DISH.

The Creative Director Bernie Gomez loved the idea and together we sold it to the client.

From there on we had to work hard on design and choreography because of course, the budget was limited.

The project involved several versions, one of which required a different costume that would serve to show one of the features of the network, as you will see further on.

Casting was a challenge because we were not only looking for a brazilian dancer, but one that would also be able to incorporate the soccer moves that we designed.

In the end we were all very happy with our selection and she was a delight to work with
as you can tell.

Rehearsal :
Not easy to play soccer in high heels.
We had to design a choreography that we could repeat over and over again.

Video Rehearsal DISH

The design of the wardrobe was taken care of by Mitzy, famous for his designs in Mexico and Hollywood.

And because it was basically meant as the Network ID throughout the spot, it became one of the major elements for approval.