With the World Cup coming to Brazil, Paddy Power saw the chance to create some mischief – and do some
good at the same time.  

We faked a set of photos, which suggested that the bookmaker had chopped down some of the Amazon rainforest, to create a message to the England team. We then leaked these pictures over the “dark web”, so that they couldn’t be traced. When the story eventually filtered through, social media went nuts. But instead of reassuring people, we deliberately fanned the flames. It was only after a day and a half of self-inflicted mayhem, that we admitted that “We didn’t give the Amazon a Brazilian” and that we’d been working with environmental charities all along. Now sentiment swung in completely the opposite direction.  

The weekend before the planet’s biggest sporting event, we were the most talked-about brand on social media, with 35 Million Twitter impressions, 836K Reddit views and 183K blog views. And thousands of people followed our advice to visit
Greenpeace’s website. C’mon England!