Rexona For Men, the official deodorant of the Mexican national soccer team, has come up with an original way to communicate with Mexican soccer fans: giving them the chance to join the team during its qualifying games for the 2012 World Cup. Rexona’s new initiative is called "8 reclutas", which means 8 recruits. The website includes a multi-part qualifying contest and the 8 visitors with the best score will get the ultimate prize: joining their favorite team during the World Cup qualifying rounds.

The contest includes several little advergames that will help Rexona pick the crème of the crème of the Mexican national soccer team fans. Each game is introduced in an interesting and original way by a manager at the website’s virtual stadium. The website is done in English with Spanish subtitles. Each stage corresponds to a different game and a nice walk down the stairs serves as the transition between stages. We don’t want to spoil the advergames, but we will give you just a bit of advice to help you prepare for each game…

We recommend drinking a glass of water before the first game, as you’ll need your voice. For the second challenge, we suggest you review your Mexican soccer facts and faces. You might want to practice with your soccer video games to prepare for the 3rd challenge…you’ll need all the dexterity you’ve got hidden in those little fingers of yours.

If you take these little bits of advice, you will definitely improve your chances of winning the contest. If you don’t impress the president, you can expect a rude response when you finally meet at the end of the game. And, in the event that you’re one of the lucky 8…well, would you mind telling us how the president welcomes you into his office!

The website, made for soccer fans, gives an interesting and militaristic air to the 8reclutas contest, as you can see by the way the managers “welcome” you at each stage. It tries to convince you that it was made for the winners and the winners only. Will you be one of them or will the president shoo you away?

Overall, this website is a wonderful effort on the part of Rexona For Men. The deodorant company has found a good way to reach its target audience, sports fans. Soccer is becoming increasingly more tied to the Internet and buzz. You might remember the amazing Puma campaign in Argentina or the Red Cross’ campaign during the 2008 Euro Championship.

Soccer is a sport that brings a large number of fans together. Actions like 8reclutas can have a large impact when buzz gets involved. Let’s see if that’s the case with this site…