In a land filled with cricket fanatics, in what counts as a path breaking move, the Global sportswear brand PUMA, in association with the Arsenal football club, provided a dream come true experience for select Indian Gooners! Five staunch Arsenal fans from India were flown down to the Emirates stadium in London to have a unique a?Money canat buya experience that no football club has ever done before. In fact, for the first time in the world, football fans were provided with a memorable opportunity to explore the world of Arsenal!
PUMA managed to capitalise on the ever changing consumer behaviour by hosting a fun filled contest to scout for the six biggest Arsenal fans in India. With more than 3000 participants, this contest ended with the top five fans visiting their favourite teamas home ground – The Emirates Stadium. To qualify to be a part of this experience, fans had to take part in eight different trivia based challenges and then had to upload two videos of them; first singing an Arsenal chant and then proclaiming to the world why they are the biggest Arsenal fans.
A number of fans proved their love for their footballers by getting the answers right in the trivia based challenges! And that wasnat it! Fans hold the chant very close to their heart as every time it escapes their mouth, it evokes a myriad of emotions especially that of their loyalty towards their favourite team and so, round 2 of the challenge garnered rave response in the form of over 3000 videos. The next step was a clincher! The fans had to describe why they were the biggest Gooner! Of course this led to divulgence of some amazing fan moments but the crazier it got, the closer they got to living their dream! The videos showcased what Arsenal meant to these fans and how PUMA was on the verge of creating history with them! It was both emotional and adrenaline pumping. The top twelve then fought it out in a rapid fire Quiz-up style challenge to ultimately give way for 6 winners. The process was meticulous and struck an emotional chord with the fans even as PUMA embarked on a journey no less a campaign to do what no one else had done before.
Receiving the Indian goners as they were just about step onto the carpet at The Emirates, Gunnersaurus Rex got the ball rolling for this once in a lifetime experience. The Arsenal mascot gave the fans from India a surprise like no other, the moment they walked into their hotel. If this was a sign for things to come, then entire group of fans and celebrities were in for a treat.
The top five Gooners took a tour around the stadium with one of the PUMA Legend and Arsenal Invincible – Robert Pires which allowed the fans to visit the directoras box, the dugout and the pitch side. To follow this up, the fans were given a chance to wine and dine with the Frenchman himself after which he presented each persons personalised home kit. Things were not done just yet, with a small 8-aside game being organized for the fans with Bobby in the game as well.
They also got to meet the legendary footballer Raymond a?Raya Parlour who took them around the prestigious Arsenal Training Centre, famously called the London Colney. The Gooners also took a walk into the glorious locker room and even got a pair of customised jersey for themselves!
After a morning at the training ground, the group travelled back to London for the derby game against Chelsea. They got a surreal pitch-side tour of The Emirates just before kick-off and also got a chance to peak into the dressing room. From there they welcomed The Arsenal as they arrived at the stadium in classic suit style. And itas not every time that a Gooner gets to experience a high intensity London Derby with the entire stadium chanting- “And it’s Arsenal, Arsenal FC, we’re by the far the greatest team, the world has ever seen”. To put the icing on the cake, the fans were surprised by Hector Bellerin and Santi Cazorla right after their gruelling game against the Blues.
Along with the select fans, eight celebrity fans : Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Harsha Bhogle, Esha Gupta, Anusha Dandekar, Karan Kundra, Atul Kasbekar and Neha Dhupia too were part of the experience and interacted with the contest winners and joined them for each of the unique activities.
The Arsenal fan base in India is constantly growing and in fact has gained the reputation of becoming one of the largest Arsenal fan bases in the world. PUMA being its kit partner has always followed and has believed in providing the Goonersa fans with never-before experiences. Be it the massive Arsenal Kit launches, the Arsenal tunnel of Time, or to bring in the Arsenal legends Ray Parlor, Sol Campbell, Freddie Ljungberg to meet with the Indian fans! No club has ever opened such doors to the Indian Fans before and PUMA proudly paves the way to set this trend!
This was PUMA and India creating history together with football!
