Celio
Normal Player Cup
Wild Buzz Agency & Celio step into the ring for the Normal Player Cup
Following the incredible success of the “La caisse des pères” campaign in June 2023, which increased celio’s Instagram following by 500% to 870k followers, the brand and WBA devised the “Normal Player Cup”: a unique Be Normal contest bringing together France’s most famous influencers to mark the launch of its new collection in partnership with the UFC. For the occasion, the agency recreated a full UFC ring and organized a public shoot in late July. In a first for France, influencers Pierre Croce, Fred Van Long, Henry Tran, Doigby, Ragnar le Breton, Ilyes Djadel, Cyril mp4 and Lebouseuh came together to compete in teams in a friendly atmosphere before an audience of the brand’s valued customers. The event ended with a wild finale featuring a well-known Celio ambassador. The tournament was hosted by YouTuber and sports journalist Samy, alongside MMA champion Ciryl Gane, the face of the new UFC collection. True to the brand’s famous slogan, this “Be Normal” contest replaced the usual fighting in the ring with rock-paper-scissors, a chin-holding game, a joke contest and thumb wrestling. Be Normal, of course!
A UFC ring. Eight influencers. Zero punches thrown.
A tournament filmed in front of a live audience to launch the UFC collection
Following “La caisse des pères” in June 2023, which boosted Celio’s Instagram following by 500% to 870,000 followers, the brand and Wild Buzz Agency created the Normal Player Cup: a “Be Normal” tournament to mark the launch of the collection in partnership with the UFC.
The agency recreated a UFC ring and organized a public shoot in late July. In a first for France, eight influencers competed in teams: Pierre Croce, Fred Van Long, Henry Tran, Doigby, Ragnar le Breton, Ilyes Djadel, Cyril mp4 and Lebouseuh. The tournament was hosted by YouTuber and sports journalist Samy, alongside MMA champion Ciryl Gane, the face of the collection.
The real creative move was to turn the contests on their head. Fighting was replaced by rock-paper-scissors, a chin-holding game, joke contests and thumb wrestling. This reversal made it possible to bring a combat-sports license together with a mainstream brand without producing violent imagery, and made the format shareable by all the creators involved.
Producing an event that is also a shoot requires a dual perspective: the live audience must have an experience worth remembering, and the footage must provide usable material for editing. Pacing, camera placement, presenter prompts and the management of downtime are decided in advance, not on the day.
We regularly work at this intersection of events and content production, including for Celio with the transformation of a store into a Mouratoglou training center, and for other brands with the influence trip shoot produced for Rabanne.
Paris media agency: designing formats that generate content
Bring creators together for a group photo and you get a group photo. Give them a format to play with and you get hours of content, shared across as many channels as there are participants, each in their own voice.
That is the difference between an influencer campaign and a branded-content program: one buys visibility; the other creates an editorial asset that belongs to the brand and that creators want to share because they enjoyed taking part.
Looking for a format that generates content rather than just a one-off message? Paris media agency, WBA develops the concept, produces the campaign and manages the filming, from casting through to editing.