‘WITH IMAGINATION’, WE’LL ALL BE PLAYING FINGER FOOTBALL THIS SUMMER

Canon launches pan-European ‘Finger Football’ advertising campaign to support UEFA EURO 2004 sponsorship

Campaign links into ‘You Can’ brand platform - empowering customers to create and achieve with the help of Canon products and solutions

If Canon Europe’s advertising campaign does what the digital imaging company hopes it will do, football fans across Europe will be using their imagination and enjoying a quick bout of finger football as part of this summer’s UEFA European Championships.

‘Finger Football is Canon Europe?s new 18 million plus pan-European advertising campaign, designed to link the company?s ‘You Can’ brand platform to its sponsorship of UEFA EURO 2004 through themes of creativity and imagination.

The campaign depicts office workers from across Europe using Canon products to create postcard-sized pictures of their favourite stars. By inserting their fingers through the cards and using them as ‘legs’, they are able to create miniature ‘finger footballers’ and use their imagination to take part in a desktop version of UEFA EURO 2004.

Canon?s Chief of Communication and Corporate Relations, James Leipnik, said:

?Canon?s You Can platform is designed to encourage people to use Canon imaging products to enhance their own creativity and imagination ? and this summer?s European football tournament has a perfect symmetry with these ideals. 

?The aim of the Finger Football campaign is to demonstrate how, with imaginative use of Canon?s products, fans across Europe can add to their enjoyment of this summer?s games by acting upon their own creative impulses.  Whether you are in the office or at home, Canon products enable you to let your imagination run wild and imagine just for a moment, ?what if??

?As a long term supporter of football, Canon understands the creativity and imagination inherent in the game.  Finger Football capitalises on the idea that football unites people.  The campaign showcases the modern Canon brand: playful, fun, creative, yet still down to earth.?

TV advertising central to European campaign
The 20 and 30 second television ads take place on desktops in different European office environments, including a home office, a design/creative office, a big corporate office and a small local business. A game of finger football played with creativity, skill and spontaneity builds to a goal-scoring climax. The desktops are designed to give a feeling for the nationality of each finger football player and to involve or integrate use of Canon products to support the action.

The ads were created by cdp-travissully and media space planned and bought by mediaedge:cia.  They will air during live tournament coverage on terrestrial TV channels in 25 countries, including all the new member states of the enlarged EU, as well as on satellite channel Eurosport across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

The television ads will debut on Eurosport on May 24 and run until July 5. Terrestrial TV ads will roll-out from June 12, to coincide with the opening game of the Championships, and will continue for the duration of the tournament.

The broadcast campaign will be supported by print advertising in at least four key European territories including France, Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. 

Parallel campaign hits 1,000 break bumpers
In addition to terrestrial broadcast presence, Canon is partnering with Eurosport and promoting Finger Football in over 1,000 6-second break bumpers currently airing on the satellite channel as part of its sponsorship of Eurosport programmes ?Planet Euro?, ?Inside the Teams?, ?Extra Time? and ?Euro 2004 News?. The bumpers will also run for the duration of the tournament.

Playing in the pubs
Above the line activity will be supported by guerrilla initiatives to extend the reach of Finger Football and raise awareness of Canon?s sponsorship of UEFA EURO 2004? in the four weeks prior to the start of the tournament.

Over seven million specially designed beer mats have been created for distribution in bars, pubs and clubs, allowing fans to play Finger Football for themselves.  Over 200,000 limited edition Finger Football game packs will be used as promotional gifts and competition prizes in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece and Eastern Europe.