Almost one year after its release, RC Celta’s centenary anthem is continuing to make waves. In the summer of 2023, to celebrate their first 100 years of existence, RC Celta collaborated with the Spanish artist C Tangana to compose a centenary anthem and to film a music video, creating an epic audiovisual piece, titled ‘Oliveira Dos Cen Anos’ (which roughly translates as ‘One-Hundred-Year-Old Olive Tree’ in English).
It was hugely successful and has just been awarded three Cannes Lions Awards. These are among the most prestigious awards in the global communications industry, and the LALIGA EA SPORTS club was nominated in five different categories for the 2024 edition, winning in three of them, in the categories of Best Film Craft, Entertainment Lions for Sport and Entertainment Lions for Music.
C Tangana and RC Celta president Marián Mouriño formed part of the delegation that picked up the prizes at the famous Lumiere Theatre in Cannes. Afterwards, the president praised the vision of the Spanish artist and of Carlos Mouriño, her father and the ex-president of the club.
She said, “I have to admit that when [C. Tangana] came and said that this was going to be an international hit, I had my doubts. Would a song and video in Galician be recognised at the international level? But, someone at the meeting was clear, and that was Carlos Mouriño, a visionary like few others, who was brave and determined to mark that the centenary in the way it deserved. He didn’t doubt in backing it and now we’re so excited. I can see how [C. Tangana] has come so far. He dreams big and is able to make others dream. As Celtistas, we can only thank them both.”
The Cannes Lions Awards are simply the latest prizes that the audiovisual piece has won. It had already accumulated a long list of recognitions, including the Best Music Video Award at the Spanish Music Academy Awards, the Platinum Award for the best Ibero-American campaign at the El Sol Festival and eight prizes at the Club de Creativos’ National Creativity Awards.
Further evidence of the video’s success is the fact that it was published in places like the New York Times and Billboard, while it achieved two million views on YouTube within the first month of its release.
RC Celta are reaping the rewards of the success of ‘Oliveira Dos Cen Anos’
Besides the numbers of the piece’s impressive reach and all the awards it has won, ‘Oliveira Dos Cen Anos’ has also helped RC Celta at a more local level in the strategy of connecting with the club’s culture and roots. This has truly helped the institution to better engage the fanbase, as evidenced by the fact that RC Celta sold out their season tickets and now have a waiting list of 4,000.
Plus, the club’s social media numbers soared following the release of the piece. According to the CIES Football Observatory, RC Celta gained 6.2 million new followers across Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok in the past year.
It is logical that ‘Oliveira Dos Cen Anos’ has appealed to the club’s fans, since the piece was very much designed to speak to the culture of RC Celta, the city of Vigo and the autonomous community of Galicia, with the song inspired by Galician folklore. With support for the team having strengthened, RC Celta made the most of this by launching in June the Carné Celtista, a special type of card which allows fans to enjoy all the benefits of a season ticket holder besides the seat at the Abanca Balaídos, costing 30 euros per season.
Another commercial benefit for the club can be seen through their relationship with Hummel. The club and the sports brand released a pair of spots which were also very professionally crafted and which have also been well received. Again, these spots reinforce the strategy of connecting with the club’s culture and roots, titled “Legacy of an identity” and “A kit for our land”. Through impressive audiovisual pieces, RC Celta are truly managing to engage their fanbase, and many others too.
