Over 80% of blindness is preventable and 90% of this occurs in the developing world. Seeing is Believing is a global initiative backed by Standard Chartered Bank, to help tackle avoidable blindness. Together with the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), over 45 million people have been helped since it launched. Building on the award winning ‘Perfect Match II’ campaign of 2012/13, LFC and Standard Chartered, ran a multi-platform campaign throughout March and April 2014 to raise awareness and funds for “Seeing Is Believing" (SiB). Perfect Match III centred around the swap of the SCB logo on the front of the LFC kit to that of the SiB branding at the LFC v Tottenham Hotspurs match on 30/3/2014. The 4 main objectives of the campaign were to • Raise global awareness of Seeing is Believing • Raise funds for Seeing is Believing • Raise awareness of the impact of preventable blindness • Engage with LFC fans In the lead up to the match, the campaign combined a range of multi-platform marketing assets, clever content packages drawn from access to the LFC players and celebrity fans, match day branding and activation, PR and media tie-ins, as well as a fundraising initiative using limited edition shirts from the match. The 2014 campaign outperformed previous years and had an estimated external media reach of 262,531,376. Through LFC and SCB digital platforms alone, the Seeing is Believing campaign had a total reach of 453million+. The SeeingisBelieving.org website saw an increase in traffic of 380%.
Building upon the strong relationship between LFC and Standard Chartered, the aim was to create an engaging campaign for a brilliant cause, Seeing is Believing, to raise both money and awareness by harnessing the power of football to maximise the reach of the message. We wanted to bring the issue of preventable blindness to an engaged audience and start a worldwide conversation. This was the third annual Perfect Match campaign organised by LFC and Standard Chartered and it outperformed the previous award winning campaign in 2013, exceeding all expectations. The campaign was hugely successful in terms of creating interesting content, engaging with fans and raising awareness and funds for the Seeing is Believing charity. On LFC digital platforms alone, there were 27million+ impressions including Facebook, Twitter, the club website, Weibo and Tencent which, combined, drove a huge increase of 380% hits to the Seeing is Believing website. High profile LFC players and UK celebrities including Jordan Henderson, Simon Mignolet, Daniel Sturridge, Robbie Fowler and John Bishop got involved, supporting various activity such as a charity visit to the Royal School of the Blind, ’Perfect Match’ branded @LFC Twitter takeovers, starring in “Perfect Match Challenges" for LFC’s platforms including YouTube (achieving 833,350 views) and tweeting details about the campaign to their followers. The main event in the campaign was the Perfect Match III - Liverpool FC v Tottenham Hotspur FC on March 30th 2014 where Standard Chartered swapped their logo on the LFC shirt for that of Seeing is Believing. Supported by LED messaging during the game and half time activity with 3 young students from St Vincent’s school for the blind in Liverpool, the overall message was delivered loud and clear to the 45,000 of people at the match and the millions of viewers worldwide. The match and the overall campaign achieved an external media reach of 262million+ and was featured on media outlets like Sky Sports and The Mail Online. To draw attention to the campaign, a content theme based on ‘Perfect Match’ was created and seeded across LFC’s global platforms. 1) Daniel Sturridge met his ‘Perfect Match’ when he was interviewed by LFC legend Robbie Fowler. 2) LFC Players Jordan Henderson & Lucas Leiva took on legends Fowler & McManaman and celebrity fans John Bishop & Andy Brown to compete in a series of entertaining challenges to earn the title of the ‘Perfect Match’. These fun activities were a chance to draw attention to the serious cause underlying the campaign. To kick off the fund raising, selected limited edition Seeing is Believing branded shirts from the “Perfect Match III" game were signed by each player and auctioned on ebay, raising $105,000. In a matter of only 2 weeks, this campaign achieved a phenomenal amount of coverage reaching 453million+ people all over the world using the power of football. Perfect Match III achieved its aim of increasing awareness of preventable blindness in the developing world and managed to raise over $100k for Seeing is Believing.
