BEST OF SHOW: "IS THAT THE LINEMAN?"

FOOTBALL AND ADVERTISING

TOYOTA´S FOOTBALL - WHAT THE VIDEO

MARKETING CHALLENGE: As the sponsor of the popular Copa Libertadores soccer championship, Toyota wanted to own the tournament, telecast on Fox Sports en Español, and use it to introduce the 2008 Corolla model in an engaging way.

CREATIVE SOLUTION: During televised soccer games, viewers are used to the camera cutting to other action, such as a coach shouting from the sideline. It struck the Conill creatives that they could buy the space along the bottom of the TV screen and insert entertaining 15-second videos that looked like they were part of the game. In one, a flag-waving lineman is distracted from the match by a huge billboard of the 2008 Corolla on the field. In another, a photographer shooting the match stops to stare at the billboard. The third video features a player warming up to go into the game, until he sees the Corolla sign. Each ends with the voice-over: "The new Toyota Corolla. So special it's impossible not to fall in love."

"When you realize it's a joke, the viewer smiles," says Pablo Buffagni, Conill's VP-creative director. "And it doesn't interfere with the game."

Attention-grabbing without being intrusive, the videos were inserted at least once in each of the games that Mexico played, ensuring the highest ratings.

The judges loved the idea of bringing such a nontraditional approach to TV, as well as the compelling execution.

What's next? "We're exploring the possibility of airing this [concept] in other places," Mr. Buffagni says.