Clube de Regatas do Flamengo and NBS launched Blind Passion in Brazil in July 2017, connecting blind supporters with other fans through an inclusive digital
Flamengo Blind Passion Shows How NBS Made Football Inclusive
Clube de Regatas do Flamengo launched Blind Passion in July 2017, a digital campaign created by Brandinginasia.clapboard.com/archive/nbs-rio-entertainment">Rio de Janeiro agency NBS that connected blind supporters with fellow fans through an online platform built for accessibility, transforming a legal entitlement into a shared human experience of football fandom in Brazil, according to Andrehavt.
Blind Brazilian football fans hold a legal right to free access to matches. Despite that entitlement, the experiential dimension of attending and participating in live football culture remained largely inaccessible to supporters with visual impairments. NBS identified this gap and built Blind Passion around it, using a single digital media asset to frame the campaign's argument: that passion for Flamengo transcends sight entirely. The campaign did not rely on celebrity endorsement or product demonstration. Instead, as documented by Clapboard.com, it placed a supporter archetype at the centre of the narrative, making the irrational, identity-rooted devotion of Flamengo's fanbase the creative engine, according to LinkedIn. That choice gave the work a documentary sincerity that set it apart from conventional sports marketing in Brazil. The platform enabled blind supporters to connect with other fans during matches, creating a form of communal experience that approximated the atmosphere of the stadium for those who could not access it visually. In doing so, Blind Passion positioned Clube de Regatas do Flamengo not merely as a football club but as a community institution with a responsibility to every member of its supporter base. The Clapboard Score for this campaign stands at 60 out of 100, reflecting its creative integrity and social purpose while acknowledging the limitations of a single-asset digital execution in terms of reach and measurable scale.
Flamengo commands one of the largest and most emotionally intense supporter bases in Brazilian football. That scale made the exclusion of blind fans from the communal experience of match days a strategically resonant problem for NBS to solve in 2017. By anchoring Blind Passion in a legal right that most fans were unaware of, the agency transformed a welfare obligation into a brand story about unconditional belonging.
The Brazilian sports market sits within a global context of significant commercial expansion. Global sponsorship spending was forecast to reach $62.8 billion in 2017, up from $60.1 billion the year before, according to Strive Sponsorship. Sports accounted for roughly 70 percent of that figure, or approximately $44 billion globally, again per Strive Sponsorship. Within Brazil, football occupies a culturally dominant position that no other sport approaches, and Flamengo sits at the apex of that hierarchy by supporter volume. Competitors such as São Paulo FC and Corinthians have historically contested Flamengo's claim to Brazil's largest fanbase, making brand differentiation a genuine strategic priority rather than a cosmetic one. In that competitive environment, an inclusion-first campaign offered Flamengo a reputational advantage that neither rival had staked out in the digital space at the time. NBS structured the campaign not as corporate social responsibility messaging but as a celebration of fandom itself, which kept the emotional register authentic and avoided the patronising tone that often undermines purpose-driven sports advertising. The insight was precise: blind supporters do not want pity; they want access to the same irrational love that defines every Flamengo fan's identity in Brazil.
Director and film photographer Bruno Rodrigues led the visual execution of Blind Passion for production company BR Cinema. The campaign's single digital asset carries the full creative weight of the concept, which made the quality of that film central to whether the platform idea would land with audiences in Brazil and register with international award juries.
The creative team at NBS brought significant craft depth to the project. Creative VP André Lima oversaw the work, with Executive Creative Director Carlos André Eyer shaping the strategic and tonal direction. Art direction was handled by Luiz Cesar Faria Jr., Augusto Correia and André Havt, with André Havt also serving as Head of Art. Augusto Correia took the copywriting credit, giving the campaign a consistent voice across its visual and written dimensions. Agency producers Teca Vilaça, Alessandra Gamberalli and Luiza Maggessi managed the production pipeline, while sound was delivered by SoundZilla. That combination of roles reflects a production structure calibrated for a single high-impact asset rather than a multi-channel rollout. Rodrigues's approach to the film prioritised sensory intimacy, using the perspective of blind supporters to reframe what it means to experience a football match. By stripping away the visual spectacle that dominates conventional sports advertising, the film forced audiences to attend to sound, emotion and human connection — the same channels through which blind fans actually experience the game. The result was a piece of work that communicated its message through form as much as content, a creative decision that required both directorial confidence and client trust in an unconventional approach to sports marketing in Brazil.
Blind Passion earned documented recognition at two significant international award shows. As reported by LBBOnline, the campaign won at the Global Awards in the Health and Wellness category in 2017. It was also listed by The One Club for Creativity in the 2018 Public Relations category of The One Show, as documented on oneclub.org, though the specific award level was not publicly stated in either case.
No granular performance metrics for Blind Passion — such as platform registrations, video views or blind fan connections facilitated — are publicly available from verifiable sources. What the award recognition does confirm is that the campaign's structural logic was judged effective by international creative and PR juries. A single digital asset campaign that wins in both a health and wellness category and a public relations category demonstrates crossover appeal: the work functioned simultaneously as a social impact initiative and as a communications strategy. That dual legibility is structurally rare in sports marketing and reflects the precision of the brief NBS set for itself. In Brazil, where football fandom carries a near-religious intensity and clubs compete fiercely for emotional ownership of their supporter bases, a campaign that deepened the relationship between Flamengo and a historically underserved segment of its fanbase carries brand equity value that extends well beyond any single metrics cycle. As noted by Clapboard.com, the campaign was submitted and documented as a completed digital work, with its creative and strategic credentials confirmed through its awards trajectory rather than disclosed commercial performance data.
Blind Passion was a digital campaign launched in July 2017 by NBS for Clube de Regatas do Flamengo in Brazil. It connected blind supporters with other fans through an accessible online platform during live matches, turning a legal right to free stadium access into a shared experience of football fandom. As documented by Clapboard.com, it used one media asset.
NBS, a Rio de Janeiro-based agency, created Blind Passion for Flamengo in 2017. The core team included Creative VP André Lima, Executive Creative Director Carlos André Eyer, art directors Luiz Cesar Faria Jr., Augusto Correia and André Havt, and copywriter Augusto Correia. Director Bruno Rodrigues led film production through BR Cinema, per Clapboard.com.
Blind Passion won at the Global Awards in the Health and Wellness category in 2017, as reported by LBBOnline. The One Club for Creativity also listed it in The One Show's 2018 Public Relations category, according to oneclub.org. Specific award levels were not publicly disclosed for either recognition at the time of documentation.
Blind Brazilian football fans hold a legal right to free match access, yet the communal experience of live football remained largely inaccessible to them. NBS used that gap as its creative premise, building a platform that united blind Flamengo supporters with sighted fans during matches. The strategy differentiated Flamengo from rivals such as Corinthians in Brazil's competitive club landscape.
The Clapboard Score for Blind Passion is 60 out of 100. The score reflects the campaign's clear social purpose, creative sincerity and international award recognition, while accounting for its limited scope as a single digital asset and the absence of publicly verified performance metrics confirming audience reach or platform engagement in Brazil.
Blind Passion was executed entirely in the digital medium and comprised a single media asset, as documented by Clapboard.com. The campaign launched in Brazil in July 2017 and centred on an online platform designed to be accessible to blind users, connecting them with other Flamengo supporters during live matches without relying on traditional broadcast or print channels.
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