For many young Ugandans, the English Premier League is more than a weekend football fixture. It is a source of conversations, friendships, entertainment, rivalries and increasingly, content.
Coca-Cola is tapping into this culture through its “Essawa Yonna Kisoboka” campaign, creating opportunities for young people to turn their passion for football and creativity into content while competing for monthly cash prizes of up to UGX 1 million.
The campaign has taken the Premier League experience to young people through watch parties, university activations, entertainment experiences and content creation challenges.
Recent activations, including the KIU Fresher’s Ball and the Buganda Royal Mr & Mrs event, have given young people opportunities to experience the campaign beyond traditional advertising.
At the KIU Fresher’s Ball, more than 1,000 students from KIU, Kyambogo University, Makerere University and MUBS came together for a celebration combining music, football and Coca-Cola experiences.
Artist Kapeeke helped energise the crowd, while Coca-Cola curated a range of activities designed around entertainment and youth engagement.
But one of the campaign’s more significant opportunities sits in the digital space.
Through the content competition, young people are being encouraged to create original content inspired by their experiences as football fans.
For Brian, one of the participating creators, football has always been closely connected to social experiences.
Every weekend, he says, friends gather with Coca-Cola as they debate goals, celebrate victories and discuss refereeing decisions.
The competition gives him an opportunity to transform those moments into creative content while developing skills in storytelling, editing and confidence.
Similarly, Edgar Dylan from KIU sees the initiative as an opportunity to build his creative mind, gain experience working with a major brand, learn teamwork and potentially earn money.
For Shasha, the competition provides an opportunity for her passion for football, creativity and entertainment to have a wider audience.
And for OG, the initiative represents an opportunity to combine football with creativity, technology and the ability to build something that people can connect with.
These perspectives point to a growing role for brands in supporting young people’s creative ambitions.
The creator economy is increasingly giving young people ways to use skills such as video production, photography, editing, storytelling and social media management in commercial environments.
Coca-Cola’s EPL campaign places these skills within a familiar cultural space: football.
Rather than simply consuming football content, young people are being encouraged to create it.
That is particularly relevant for university students, who are among the most active users of digital platforms and are already creating content for entertainment, personal expression and community engagement.
Through the campaign, Coca-Cola is providing a platform where that creativity can meet a major global sporting property and a recognised consumer brand.
The Premier League season will eventually come to an end, but the skills developed through creating, competing and collaborating can extend beyond the final whistle.
That is perhaps the biggest opportunity behind “Essawa Yonna Kisoboka.”
For Uganda’s young creators, anything really can happen before the final whistle.
