Creative Concept Case · 2023

Lidl at UEFA EURO 2024

Designing a modular fan activation system for Europe’s biggest football tournament, where freshness had to compete with 50,000 fans, rival sponsors, and UEFA catering rules.

Role Junior Concept Creative
Timeline 2023-2024
Client Lidl International / Lidl Deutschland
The Lidl Frische Stadion at the UEFA EURO 2024 Fan Zone in Düsseldorf, showing the branded blue container structure with oversized lemon on top and fans gathered outside.
Team & Role

Concept development,
with DO IT!

My Role

Junior Concept Creative at DO IT! GmbH, working in close collaboration with Creative Director Sebastian Heise. My contribution focused on the conceptual development of the individual activation formats: the mechanics, the brand logic behind each module, and how they connected to Lidl’s positioning as Official Fresh Food Partner.

Project Team
Concept: Benedikt Faber & Sebastian Heise (DO IT!).
Project Management & Production: DO IT! GmbH.
Client: Lidl International / Lidl in Deutschland.
The Brief

The freshness kick,
at the biggest stage.

Lidl entered UEFA EURO 2024 as Official Fresh Food Partner: not as a kit sponsor, not as a tech brand, but as the supermarket that feeds the nation. The challenge was to translate that into something fans would actually notice, enjoy, and remember — across 8 UEFA Fan Zones in host cities and 5 stadium venues throughout Germany.

The activation had to work at scale. A single concept, deployable across 13 locations with different footprints, different audiences, and different operational constraints. Consistent enough to be recognizable. Flexible enough to adapt.

The Design Problem

Sponsor presence is noise.
Freshness isn't.

Sponsor presence at major sporting events is noise. Banners, logos, free samples — fans have learned to tune them out. For Lidl, the risk was doubly acute: as a discounter, the brand needed to earn its place at a football event, not just buy it. A presence that felt transactional or out of place would have done more harm than good.

There was also a hard constraint to navigate. At the time of concept development, UEFA regulations restricted Fresh Food sampling within the official Fan Zones, though Lidl was actively negotiating to loosen that restriction. The concept was built to work either way: robust enough without sampling, stronger with it.

Concept rendering of the Lidl hub at a stadium venue, showing the oversized fruit crate structure with activation formats arranged around it including a dribbling course and shooting station.

The real problem: how do you make freshness feel like part of the football experience, not an interruption of it?

The Concept

Aus Lidl zum Spiel —
from claim to activation system.

Lidl’s campaign claim “Aus Lidl zum Spiel” became more than a tagline. It became the structural principle of the entire activation. The phrase describes a journey: from Lidl’s products to the match itself. The activations were designed to make that journey tangible and fun.

A modular hub, scaled to each venue.

The core system was a modular hub, scalable to each venue, that served as the anchor point for all activations. Around it, a selection of interchangeable formats per location, each designed to connect physical play with the Fresh Food brand in a way that felt natural rather than forced.

The Activations

One principal. Many formats.

Each activation format was designed around the same principle: connect physical play with the Fresh Food brand in a way that felt immediate and fun. Shooting challenges, dribbling courses, juggling stations — every format was self-explanatory, family-friendly, and carried the Fresh Food visual language through oversized fruit props, branded surfaces, and Lidl's campaign identity.

The signature format was Fruit Football: an analog-digital game where participants shoot at falling digital fruit on a goal-sized screen. It merged the two things Lidl brought to the tournament, football and fresh produce, into a single immediately understandable interaction — and was designed for a digital extension via the Lidl Plus app and personal highscore tracking.

Concept illustration of the Fruit Football activation: a child shoots at a goal-sized digital screen displaying falling fruit, with oversized fruit props and a Lidl promoter in the background.
The Lidl Freshies

The Freshies roaming through Fan Zones

Anthropomorphic fruit and vegetable walking acts, served as mobile eye-catchers, extending the Fresh Food visibility beyond the fixed hub locations.

The three Lidl Freshies characters: an apple, a leek, and a pear, dressed as football fans with Lidl-branded accessories.

Private Screening.

A third format extended the reach beyond official venues: 21 community groups, clubs and neighborhoods won a private screening experience, with full catering and a dedicated activation setup, bringing the Lidl fan experience into local contexts the tournament itself could not reach.

The Lidl Frische Stadion at the UEFA EURO 2024 Fan Zone in Düsseldorf, showing the branded blue container structure with oversized lemon on top and fans gathered outside.
In Action

The activation, as experienced.

Three official Lidl videos from Fan Zones across Germany.

Thumbnail for the Lidl Frische Stadion Berlin activation video.

XL Frische Stadion Berlin — Fruit Football, fresh fruit bar, photo booth, and the Freshies walking acts.

Thumbnail for the Frische Stadion stadium activation video.

Frische Stadion at the stadium venue — the activation in match-day context.

Thumbnail for the Lidl Fan Zone München activation video.

Fan Zone München — photo booth, flipper activation, and fan giveaways.

Outcome

Freshness, at scale.

13 venues across Germany. Activation across 8 UEFA Fan Zones in host cities and 5 stadium venues throughout the country.
21 private screening events Private screening events awarded to community groups, clubs and neighborhoods across Germany.
91 tonnes of fresh fruit. Distributed across Fan Zones and stadiums over the course of the tournament.
1,100+ children as player escorts. Lidl's Kids Team programme brought children from across Europe onto the pitch at tournament matches, with 209 places allocated via the Lidl Plus app in Germany alone.
Strong fan engagement. Positive community response documented across social media throughout the tournament.