On July 7, 2017, Sofía Gómez, a Colombian athlete sponsored by bank, BBVA, submerged 84 metres into the sea to establish the new world record for apnea, a rarely known (and little practised) sport in the country. During her achievement, she held her breath in for 2 minutes 45 seconds.
In order to turn a record of an unknown sport into a record of an entire country, DDB used the most important newspaper of the country to publish an ad with a story that took the same time to read as Sofía did to dive. The ad challenged Colombians to read it holding their breath in, mark their own record and then post a picture on their social networks adding the hashtag #BBVAconSofia (#BBVAWithSofia).
The ad also invited people to visit a site where they could read the text, mark the time they read without breathing and share their record in their social networks.
1.9 million readers gave it a go in 24 hours. The campaign achieved 16 million impressions on social networks in just a weekend and was the #1 trending topic for an entire day.
Credits
Agency: DDB Colombia
Chief Executive Officer: Borja de la Plaza
Chief Creative Officer: Leo Macías
Vice President, Digital: Joanna Safi
Creative Directors: Juan Cárdenas & Carlos Agudo
Copywriters: Natalia Prias & Laura Garrido
Art Directors: María Hernández & Miguel Van Bommel
Motion Designer: Johan Coy
UX Director: Carlos Ballén
Web Designer: Juan Pablo Ángel
Developers: Julián Valencia & Sebastián Parra
Social Media Manager: Verónica López
Quality Assurance: John Alfonso
Graphic Designer: Jacobo Morales
Account Directors: Manuel Leal & Tatiana Castellanos
Planning: Jorge Becerra & Diana Henao
Agency Producers: Darío Lozano & Andrés Mejía
Production Company: Akira
Director: Juan Camilo Pinilla
Photographer: Kalindi Wijsmuller
Client: BBVA Colombia
Chief Marketing Officer: Magda Galindo
Marketing Directors: Cristal Idárraga & Jaime Espinosa
