MasterCard tapped into the ‘mad’, ‘crazy’ and ‘irrational’ emotions of football fans to activate its UEFA Champions League rights around the 2016 final in Milan.
The payments giant, a long term UEFA sponsor of the world’s top club tournament with a partnership that stretches back more than 22 years, focused its work around a creative platform called ‘Some Call It Madness, We Call It Priceless’.
MasterCard’s aim is not only to engage with hard core supporters, but with everyone – no matter what their attitude and approach to the game..
The initiative, developed by MasterCard marketers and agency McCann Worldgroup (UK and Europe), launched three months before the Milan final and culminates ob the big day itself (Saturday 28 May) with a classic MasterCard ‘Priceless Surprise’.
The campaign kicked off in the lead-up to the big match as MasterCard began rolling out three fan-engagement films.
An intro video, supported by a set of GIFs, features Italy keeper and Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon who called on fans around the world to reveal and share the extent of their fandom.
The call-to-action elicited some strand and extreme shows of support.
For example, after making the odd discovery that one fan had revealed that he had a tattoo of the MasterCard front man (whose nickname is ‘Gigi’) on his leg, Buffon responded with his own gesture of fan appreciation and himself got a (fake) tattoo of the fan on his own arm.
This film was created on Facebook
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and amplified on YouTube and aimed to convey the emotional link between football fans and their clubs.
The final video, posted just prior to the final itself on 25 May, featured Italian goalkeeping legend, CL winner and MasterCard ambassador Gianluigi Buffon discussing this year’s final and his thoughts on social media.
On the ground in Milan for the final itself, MasterCard continues its fan madness theme with a pop-up fan barbershop for fans to get their very own crazy Champions League haircut for the big game.
Getting a crazy haircut for the #UCL Final at our pop-up barbershop in Milan… #MadnessOrPriceless? pic.twitter.com/whiZASMusU
— MasterCardUK (@MasterCardUK) May 27, 2016
It also ran a Milan street sponsor campaign strand based around a pop-up ATM-style surprise machine that encourages cardholders to slot in their MasterCards to see if they could win a prize.
TODAY the #UCLFinal kicks off & MasterCard's #Priceless experience continues -> https://t.co/CDhY9HPQQE
— MasterCard News (@MasterCardNews) May 28, 2016
While the campaign also saw MasterCard ambassador, CL winner and former AC Milan star Edgar Davids give two fans free VIP tickets to sit with him in the stadium for the final in the ultimate Priceless Surprise.
Edgar Davids and @MasterCard gave a Priceless Surprise to two fans in Milan. Check it out!#Priceless #UCLfinalhttps://t.co/tTyNZFBSLc
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 28, 2016
MasterCard’s activation around the tournament is global – as illustrated by this Priceless Final Ticket Surprise for Victor “Conejo” Benitez in Peru.
MasterCard and McCann tracked and measured fan engagement of digital content in the lead up to the final and used the insights drawn from these to optimise the campaign.
5,000 European football fans told @MasterCardEU how they use social media ahead of #UCLFinal #PricelessFans pic.twitter.com/viKqnXEjzF
— MasterCardUKbiz (@MasterCardUKbiz) May 25, 2016
A joint client/agency response team posted content across digital channels in real time during the final game itself.
Some of these assets were pre-prepared and pre-approved, while others were created and signed off on the spot.
‘The idea is to illustrate we know and understand football fans and we know about that passion,’ explains Jon Carney, chief digital officer of McCann Worldgroup UK and Europe.
‘The brand is associated as one of the oldest sponsors so it is important to refresh that’.
‘Other sponsors focus on the sport, but we wanted to focus on the passion of the people,’ explains Monica Biagiotti, MasterCard’s head of marketing for Europe.
‘For some people, it can look silly, watching 20 people run up and down the pitch, and for others it’s incredibly important – we want to play on that contradiction. We’ve been sponsoring it for so long, it’s a really great platform for us to connect with people’s passions.’
This activation strand built on the brand’s core Champions League sponsor pillar – its rights to run the tournament’s player mascots programme (see https://campaigns.mastercard.co.uk/uefa/cmo/index.html).
This activity sees MasterCard ensure children all over the world get an exclusive opportunity to enjoy a truly priceless experience by walking out onto the pitch with UEFA Champions League stars ahead of all phases of the game – including the Final itself (which this year was held at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milan).
All these strands were further supported by the brand’s other tournament assets and activations which range from stadium signage and TV broadcast (intro & outro) idents,
to real-time social responses to the game itself.
After more than 11,220 minutes of action, it’s time for the #UCL Final. #Priceless pic.twitter.com/QetxPNXOc5
— MasterCardUK (@MasterCardUK) May 28, 2016
When 2016 feels like 2014 all over again. #extratime #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/kgJ7cxNOQf
— MasterCardUK (@MasterCardUK) May 28, 2016
Zidane is crowned in Milan #Priceless #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/5NmXo3Ar5g
— MasterCardUK (@MasterCardUK) May 28, 2016
When you're champions of Europe 11 times. #Priceless Congratulations to @realmadrid, #UCLfinal Champions 2016. pic.twitter.com/T4yUepnieU
— MasterCardUK (@MasterCardUK) May 28, 2016
Comment
The Buffon Facebook film alone has notched up an impressive two million Facebook views
We aren’t surprised at this success because this campaign is built on some genuine football insight.
The initiative revolves around an interesting premise – the idea that one thing that many feel is now missing from modern game of football is a relatable relationship between fan and player.
The increasingly mammoth gap in terms of financial rewards between star, worsened by foolish mistakes such as players tweeting pictures of their super cars immediately after dreadful defeats, when added to the clubs’ typically protective and defensive press approach and with intense media training that often leads to far too many scripted and bland comments all leads to a widening gap between players and communities.
This campaign understands the fan frustration and aims to address the challenge.
A genuine insight and an attempt to solve a real fan problem – now that is an activation approach to be admired!
Perhaps it shows some of the benefits from committed sponsors who have long term relationships that enable the brand to truly understand a property and its passionate supporters.
Indeed, back in summer 2015 that, after 20 years, MasterCard again renewed its sponsorship of UEFA Champions League: extending its long-standing sponsorship for the next three seasons through to 2018.
The deal spans sponsorship of the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Women’s Champions League final and the UEFA Youth League finals and sees MasterCard continue as the Official Provider of UEFA Champions League player mascots.
As a supporter of Europe’s top club competition, MasterCard will continue with its objective of bringing fans closer to the UEFA Champions League action by offering Priceless Surprises to cardholders.
‘We are very proud and excited to renew our sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, a long-standing partnership dating back to 1994. During this time we’ve seen countless priceless moments on the pitch and the passion of the fans has continued to grow around the world for this great competition,’ said Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing Officer at MasterCard, when the deal was unveiled.
‘Association with key sporting events is an important way that MasterCard can directly connect fans and people around the world to the priceless possibilities associated with their passions. We look forward to another three seasons of supporting Europe’s premier club competition along with the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Women’s Champions League final and UEFA Youth League finals.’
Guy-Laurent Epstein, Marketing Director of UEFA Events SA, also added: ‘We are very pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with MasterCard, who have been an active supporter of the competition since 1994. Having a global and trusted company like MasterCard as a UEFA Champions League sponsor is a great asset, and we are delighted to have them on board. Through their extensive activations on a global level, MasterCard will continue to play an integral role in bringing the UEFA Champions League closer to fans.’
Links
MasterCard Worldwide YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MasterCardWorldwide
MasterCard Worldwide Web:
http://newsroom.mastercard.com/
MasterCard Worldwide Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MasterCardNews
MasterCard Worldwide Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MasterCard/
UEFA Champions League:
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/
McCann Worldgroup UK and Europe:
