The Australian-first live streaming stunt ‘Answer the Call’ was a partnership between AFL, Virgin Australia, Vizeum and JCDecaux Creative Solutions around the 2017 Toyota AFL final series. The campaign appeared on interactive digital panels in CBDs across the country and featured a static AFL advertisement promoting the finals in the lead up to the Grand Final. At a random peak time, the panel displays were activated, beaming well-known players from teams in each state via a live video stream, enabling members of the public to interact in real time.
Housed in an off-site Virgin Australia Lounge studio, players rewarded their fans with game tickets or vouchers via the screens, as well as surprising fans by physically appearing at the display sites. Some lucky fans also won the ultimate major prize of two AFL Grand Final tickets per city including Virgin Australia flights from Sydney and Adelaide, personally delivered by the AFL star, all of which was captured on video.
The campaign received massive amounts of media coverage and an overwhelming response on social media with over 553,000 completed video views and 65,000 Facebook engagements. The Mumbrella BEFEST jury's comments on the execution were “Clever use of the medium. Really fun and engaging. Bang on for the brands involved. Spot on for the target audience. Simple yet super effective.”