From Spectators to Athletes: How Rexona and EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire Turned AFCON 2025 Fandom Into A High-Energy Digital Campaign
During AFCON 2025, EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire helped Rexona tap into Africa’s biggest cultural moment by recognizing a simple truth: supporting a football team is physically demanding. By framing active fandom as a sport of its own, the we successfully positioned the deodorant brand at the centre of match-day celebrations across multiple countries.
Client & Challenge Rexona, in partnership with EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire, needed to organically align with the high-energy culture of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). The core challenge was maintaining real-time relevance and visibility during a fast-paced tournament, ensuring the brand resonated authentically with fans across different regions without getting lost in the noise of competing tournament sponsors.
Audience Insight For African football fans, AFCON is not a passive viewing experience; it is an active expression of passion, pride, and unity characterized by nonstop jumping, chanting, and movement. The campaign leaned into the reality that this level of celebration causes fans to sweat, requiring a reliable antiperspirant to keep them fresh and confident throughout the emotional highs and lows of match days.
Strategy & Creative Idea The strategy designed by EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire was built on one central creative pillar: “Fandom Is a Sport”. Rexona positioned itself as the essential gear for this sport, keeping fans unstoppable through every celebration. Rather than using traditional broadcast ads, the brand deployed localized digital creators to seamlessly integrate Rexona into their match-day routines, vlogs, and comedic sketches.
Channels & Execution EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire executed a multi-phased digital creator campaign entirely across Instagram and TikTok.
Influencer Amplification: The agency partnered with 10 creators in Côte d'Ivoire and 6 creators in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to publish a total of 64 posts.
Content Formats: Creators like Kevine Obin, Karell Dablé, and Annicha20 produced engaging "Get Ready With Me" (GRWM) videos, match-day vlogs, street interviews, and comedic skits.
Commerce & Activation: Creator content also drove retail action by promoting in-store mechanics, such as a giveaway where purchasing two or more Rexona deodorants entered fans into a draw for an all-expenses-paid trip to Morocco.
Markets Covered The digital campaign was executed across two primary markets: Côte d’Ivoire (CDI) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Measurable Outcomes
Engagement & Reach: The combined campaign exceeded targets, generating 11.2 million impressions, reaching 9.3 million unique users, and achieving an overall engagement rate of 4.9%. Côte d'Ivoire delivered 7 million impressions and 5.6 million reach, while DRC contributed 4.2 million impressions and 3.6 million reach. Audience sentiment was overwhelmingly positive, with comments actively praising the brand's message of freshness.
EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire Capabilities Involved The campaign highlighted the agency's strong capabilities in Digital Influencer Marketing, Cross-Border Creator Management, Sports & Culture Marketing, Real-Time Social Media Strategy, and Digital Content Production.
The most effective cultural marketing does not just sponsor an event; it actively participates in the audience's experience of it. By leveraging highly localized creators to frame fan celebration as a demanding physical activity, EchoHouse Côte d'Ivoire and Rexona successfully proved that the passion of AFCON requires just as much endurance and freshness in the stands as it does on the pitch.
