Claudia & Jesse, ACD Team

Botafogo F.R. · The Unnoticed Sponsorship

An invisible sponsorship, making melanoma more visible than ever.

Awards
2 x Grand Prix Drums – Social Purpose and PR for Good
5 x Gold Drums – Media, PR, Social Purpose, Sponsorship
Silver LIA – Creativity in PR, Best Use of Sponsorship
Results
+50Morganic impressions
+62,600%social media visibility
+28,500%website traffic
+60Mearned media

Botafogo F.R. and Melanoma Brasil launched, The Unnoticed Sponsorship campaign to raise awareness about melanoma by placing a tiny, 4mm black dot—mimicking the size of a melanoma—on players’ jerseys during official matches. Invisible to most at first, this subtle placement symbolized how melanoma often goes unnoticed.

The campaign flipped traditional loud sponsorships on their head, triggering national media buzz and massive online engagement after the hidden message was revealed. It ended up being one of the most shared cancer campaigns in Brazilian history.

The Unnoticed Sponsorship logo, with the word Unnoticed set small and sideways in gold between The and Sponsorship
Botafogo player Patrick de Paula seen from behind, with a gold arrow from the word Melanoma to a circle around the tiny dot on his shirt
Close-up of the back of Rwan Cruz’s black and white striped number 9 shirt
Board of Botafogo match photos, each with a gold circle around the dot on a player’s shirt
The Botafogo team in a huddle on the pitch
Board of social media comments, news stories and creator videos around Alex Telles’s number 13 shirt
SporTV live broadcast showing Cuiabano and Alex Telles of Botafogo during a match
Hands lifting Artur’s number 7 shirt in a dressing room, the dot circled in gold
Two Botafogo social posts: a match poster of Savarino’s number 10 shirt, and a Fim de Jogo 3–1 result post
Rodriguez holds up his number 23 shirt at a press wall, the dot circled in gold

AWARDED

Cannes Lions

  • Shortlist - PR
  • Shortlist - Health & Wellness
  • Shortlist - Entertainment Lions for Sport

London International Awards

  • Silver - Creativity in PR, Best Use of Sponsorship
  • Bronze - Health & Wellness Education and Services Campaign

Brazilian Creative Club

  • In Book - Media

The One Show

  • Merit - Design for Good
  • Merit - Health / OOH
  • Merit - OOH / Innovation

Clio Health

  • Bronze - Creative Use of Media
  • Bronze - Creative Effectiveness

D&AD

  • Shortlist - Health & Wellbeing / PR
  • Shortlist - PR / Single Market

The Drum Awards

  • #1 Most Awarded Campaign of the Awards
  • Grand Prix - Social Purpose
  • Grand Prix For Good - PR
  • Gold - Advertising / Guerrilla Marketing/Stunts
  • Gold - Experiential / Creative Use of Budget
  • Gold - Media / Sponsorship
  • Gold - Social Purpose / Wellness and Health
  • Gold - PR / Activation

ADC Annual Awards

  • Merit - Design for Good / Health / Wellness
  • Merit - Advertising / Out of Home

Ad Age Healthcare Impact Awards

  • Gold - Healthcare Impact
  • Silver - Healthcare Impact

Lisbon Awards

  • Gold - Media

We’d love to chat

Claudia Sarosiek

claudiasaro@live.com.au

linkedin.com/in/claudiasarosiek

Jesse Young

jesseyoungcreative@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/youngjesse