Be a Playah

In 2006 WEBER Creatives developed the guerilla campaign ‘Be a Playah’ for Philips male-body-grooming. The assignment was to create a buzz around the Philips male body-grooming products, during the Soccer World Cup 2006 in Germany, with the use of internet and above-the-line media.

Concept

The random, but fascinating fact that Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the World Cup, formed a great opportunity for WEBER Creatives to create a concept around this underdog. That’s how the ‘hero’ of the ‘Be a Playah’ campaign, Diego, came to life: a 30 year old Trinadian, a bachelor still living with his parents. Diego isn’t satisfied with the life he’s leading, because he hasn’t been very lucky with women. But then he discovers the Philips Bodygroom…

Production

The entire campaign was formed around the ‘Be a Playah website’, a journal of Diego on his road to Dortmund. The texts on this website, the journal-entries of Diego, were written by Dutch comedian Raoul Heertje. Next to the website, WEBER Creatives created the ‘Be a Playah’ film, a video in which hero Diego got introduced. This video was shot in Trinidad and Tobago with a Colombian film crew and the help of Leo Beenhakker, then coach of the national Trinidad and Tobago team and Jack Warner, FIFA vice-president. The video was launched one month before the start of the World Cup and distributed on the internet as a viral-video.

Several other creative strategies and video’s were created by WEBER Creatives, to direct attention to this website and to illustrate the adventures of Diego in Germany. The next step in the campaign was a visit of Diego to the city of Dortmund, Germany, where he supposedly attended the match between Trinidad and Tobago and Sweden. To create a stir, WEBER Creatives placed Diego on a central square in Dortmund the day before the match, and let him be chased by sixty beautiful, young and blond Swedish women in bikinis. The strategy was successful and the event got reported/broadcasted by German national TV.

A few days before the game against England, rumor had it that Diego had been on a date with Victoria, the wife of one of the English soccer-players. This rumor, part of the campaign, was emphasized in an item, broadcasted by SBS6. During the match between Trinidad and Tobago and England, thousands of Adidas ‘Be a Playah’ t-shirts were distributed in the stadium.

Lastly, all the successes of the ‘Be a Playah’ campaign were combined and collected on a DVD.