Refisal turned a salt superstition into 18 million team-branded Bad Luck Reverser packs

In Colombia, tossing salt over the left shoulder to ward off bad luck has traveled from the kitchen table to the soccer stadium, joining the unwashed jerseys and assigned seats of sports superstition. Fans will do anything to help their team - and Refisal, the country's leading salt brand owned by Brinsa, decided to sell them exactly that help.

Launched in March 2025 with VML New York and Name Colombia, the Bad Luck Reverser is a series of limited-edition salt packs, one design for each of Colombia's 20 professional league clubs plus the national squad. Eighteen million packs were distributed through sports bars, restaurants and partner stores nationwide, putting the brand on the table at the exact moment fans perform the ritual.

The campaign also reacted in real time: Refisal tracked losing streaks, injuries and bad performances, then targeted the struggling teams' fans with their specific packs, and jumped into social conversations whenever a side collapsed on the pitch. Influencers, OOH and Colombian soccer TV spots carried it from March to June 2025, the length of the tournament season.

The strategic point, as the agencies framed it: brands pour millions into official sports sponsorships to own fan moments, but Refisal showed you don't need a logo on a jersey when your product already sits inside the ritual itself.

Turn the product into the luck ritual

The packs ride an existing superstition, so no behavior change is required - the brand is simply there when the ritual happens.

Team-by-team packaging turns a commodity into a collectible that expresses identity in the bars and homes where matches are watched.

Real-time performance targeting matches supply to the exact fans who feel they need luck most, when they feel it.

At 18 million packs, reach rivals a sponsorship program without sponsorship economics.

If your product already lives inside a culture's ritual, you can own the moment without buying the sponsorship. Being on the table when the superstition happens beats a logo on a jersey.

The Bad Luck Reverser ran from March to June 2025 across the Colombian tournament season. The work was shortlisted in the Creative Commerce category at Cannes Lions 2025. Refisal's positioning as the brand of fan luck continued afterward, with the company later carrying the good-luck ritual thinking into new products.