Growth happens where emotion, accessible technology, and a robust infrastructure come together. With EK88look.nl, we demonstrated how to transform culture into scalable brand engagement. The result: a viral platform that reached millions of people in just two weeks, caused our own traffic to skyrocket, and proved the power of AI-driven participation.
The Challenge
In the run-up to the World Cup, we wanted to demonstrate the impact of AI on brand activation. Many AI initiatives get stuck at the stage of generating content for people to view. Our approach was different: we turned a national memory into a personal experience.
The 1988 European Championship is part of the Netherlands’ cultural heritage. The iconic jerseys, the braids, and the mustaches instantly evoke nostalgia. By using AI to foster cultural participation, we gave people the opportunity to become part of that history themselves.
The growth engine:
The barrier to entry was minimal: upload a photo, see the result immediately, and share it. No accounts, no forms, and no mandatory data collection. That simplicity led to organic sharing via WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Behind the minimalist interface ran a powerful API integration. After extensive testing, we opted for the combination of Nano Banana and Gemini. This produced the most realistic images. Through thoughtful prompt engineering, every uploaded photo was seamlessly combined with the iconic EK88 uniform.
The platform was hosted on Cloudflare. At its peak, the system processed 3 to 4 unique images per second. The infrastructure handled one million visitors without any technical issues. Of course, this was done in full compliance with our privacy standards: no photos were stored or used for model training.
The ROI in terms of brand awareness and media value was exceptional, especially with a media buying budget of exactly €0. The campaign started simply: we shared a few transformed photos of colleagues on two social media apps. From there, it exploded completely organically.
The site was flooded with backlinks from high-quality platforms. The hype was quickly picked up by RTL Tonight, Het AD, DutchCowboys, Emerce, Adformatie, Scorito, various podcasts, and so on… Together, these generated roughly 2 million touchpoints.
Hundreds of team pages for companies and soccer clubs also got a makeover. And on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram, Redkiwi’s signature hats and mustaches popped up everywhere.
The campaign’s massive online traction immediately translated into impressive and measurable growth on our sponsors’ channels and our own. On our own site, we recorded a surge of no less than 274.6% in a short period of time . The hard engagement metrics proved that this wasn’t fleeting or low-quality traffic: the number of sessions with engagement rose by 415.1%, supported by a rock-solid engagement rate of +12.73%. The Oranje hype thus definitively put Redkiwi on the map among a massive new audience.
The campaign went viral, and that came with a price tag. Every unique AI transformation requires computing power and thus tokens, which amounted to just under 5 cents per image. With a final tally of 552,000 successfully generated images, the Google bill quickly reached €21,500.
A silver lining was Google’s strict limit: there was a cap of 50,000 image generations per project, per day. Since we couldn’t increase this limit, the costs remained manageable. At the absolute peak of the viral campaign, the tool generated 3 to 4 unique images per second for hours on end.
To prevent the enthusiasm that had built up in the Netherlands from coming to an abrupt halt due to the costs incurred, we reached out to our clients and asked them to get involved. Thanks to the quick support from brands like Gadero, Live Outdoor Living, and YIM identity, the website was able to stay live for two more weeks, allowing it to truly grow into a nationwide campaign with a million visitors. Or rather, millions of people with smiles on their faces.
After two weeks, the campaign reached its natural peak. Instead of running it unnecessarily longer, we took the site offline at its peak and shifted the campaign’s focus to physical visibility. With two billboards along Rotterdam’s ring road—featuring our CEO in ’88-style attire—we thanked the region for their participation and strengthened our local brand awareness.
The concept also proved its international scalability: the approach was quickly rolled out in the United Kingdom (in collaboration with Tenzing Natural Energy) and was replicated in Belgium.
