ESPN, TCL inspire with latest SEA football story

ESPN and TCL’s partnership to create inspiring, emotive sports content released its third video yesterday, as part of its ‘Inspiring Bonding Moments’ series telling powerful Southeast Asian sports stories.

Following two videos from the Philippines and Thailand, this latest takes places in Indonesia, charting the story of footballer Martunis. The three-minute video opens with the heartbreaking aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, in which Martunis was found alone on a beach amid the wreckage.

Rescued wearing his beloved Portugal football shirt, the young boy soon finds himself in that very country, shaking hands with his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. Things look up from there.

Ranjit Gopi, director and head of overseas marketing at TCL, said he was “humbled” by the more than 100 million views and positive responses to the Thailand and Philippines videos.

“The power of ESPN’s compelling story telling and TCL’s Digital Marketing approach has enabled us to credibly connect TCL’s brand tagline of ‘The Creative Life’ with our global communication big idea of ‘Inspiring Bonding Moments’ to deliver upon our differentiated sports marketing strategy of ‘Unifying Athletes, Families and Countries through Technology and Sport’,” he told Campaign Asia-Pacific. 

“This has translated into an increase in TCL’s brand awareness and conversion in our overseas markets. With ESPN’s expertise and partnership we look forward to driving the future of purpose-driven content-marketing.”

Campaign Asia-Pacific comments: This is one of those cases where the story sells itself. The arc follows that of an almost-too-Hollywood script, but the story’s authenticity is its power, and EPSN and TCL do a good job of getting out of the way. Agencies and brands are constantly talking about connecting with consumers emotionally, and a tragedy-cum-victory like this will always resonate well.