Sony’s Earth F.C., a formidable team to be on
Sony is stepping up to the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) plate with the launch of their impressive campaign “Earth F.C.” , a major social investment initiative anchored around the FIFA World Cup Football tournament taking place in South Africa in less than 3 months (woopee!) … let’s not forget Sony is lucky enough to be an ‘official partner’. We’ve had a look at their offering and we must say we approve, it’s creative, well thought through, meaningful, through-the-line and at the same time fun. Good job Sony. Represent!
The campaign is made up of three main elements, first, the “Public Viewing in Africa”, a series of awesome public screening areas planned for the colourful West African countries of Ghana and Cameroon (both qualifying countries) where access to TV is limited but soccer is everything. “Sony employees have teamed up with UNDP, JICA and local NGOs [so] our caravan of vehicles can move around the country, setting up big screens in public places like village squares and schools. The live broadcasts will primarily be for matches involving African teams.” Sony have also incorporated an HIV/Aids education drive into the program, offering ‘education, counseling and testing can be offered before the matches and at halftime’.
‘A trial run co-sponsored with JICA in Ghana last year delivered impressive results: 7,200 people took part in the event (five times the normal JICA figure in rural areas) with 1,100 of them getting tested for HIV test (3 times the normal figure). Clearly this approach can increase the reach of HIV/AIDS education.’
JICA and GHANA you can also read more about the Ghana trials here.
The second prong consists of a bunch (1000) of ‘ highly durable yet environmentally conscious vegetable-based Join the Team plastic footballs‘ that have been designed by Sony’s engineers with the aim of creating robust footballs suitable for the African terrain and conditions. Sony is hoping to get a million clicks – with every 1000 clicks a ball will be donated. It’s simple, go here and click on Join the Team and play some virtual soccer ball passing around the globe (FYI we were pass number 9359 and 9 balls so far have been donated (it’s the 1st of April 2010)… )
The third part of the program is a little closer to our hearts, as it’s about giving out 15000 tickets to South African kids between the ages of 12 and 15 who would otherwise never be able to afford the matches, we’re not sure how they’re managing this but they will be transporting and looking after them and of course dressing them in specially designed Sony bandanas 😉
There’s lots more to it, go and Join the Team and spread the word.
