Mastercard encouraged football fans to celebrate the return of UEFA Champions League in early August by creating the world’s biggest digital wave with a TikTok led activation called #PricelessWave.
On Monday 10 August, Mastercard set out to break a world record with the largest digital celebration ‘wave’ ever on social media: an initiative conceived and developed by Talker Tailor Trouble Makers long term studio partner La Plage, along with the brand and TiKTok (and with talent sourced by Octagon).
Launched to leverage the round of 16 and ahead of the quarters, semis and final (which are being played in a reformatted two week tournament in Lisbon), Mastercard aimed to elevate the fan experience by showing that a simple ball, a special game and a unique event can start a celebration that has everyone jumping out of their seats and celebrating the very best that football has to offer… from home.
Kick starting the #PricelessWave challenge are Spain and France football legends Fernando Torres and Marcel Desailly encouraging their fans to start the wave and participation was encouraged and incentivised across the brand’s social channels (including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).
How are you celebrating the return of the @ChampionsLeague? Celebrate with us and share your own #PricelessWave on @TikTok_UK #Mastercardhttps://t.co/13G6q5SEeU pic.twitter.com/E7lvCikUwK
— Mastercard Europe (@MastercardEU) August 11, 2020
Join #Mastercard and fans around the world as we celebrate the return of @ChampionsLeague by performing the world’s BIGGEST digital #PricelessWave… ever. Raise your arms, show your passion and challenge your friends to do the same. Check it out here:https://t.co/13G6q5SEeU pic.twitter.com/Eg5uHW2oEE
— Mastercard Europe (@MastercardEU) August 10, 2020
The idea behind the world’s largest wave was to help at-home fans everywhere celebrate their love of the game and the tournament through a partnership with the world’s fastest growing social media platform TikTok.
Fans were encouraged to take part in the #PricelessWave by accessing the challenge on TikTok and filming themselves celebrating and supporting – by raising their arms from the bottom of the screen to the top – and incentivised by being instantly rewarded with the Mastercard football sonic as well as a digital confetti of footballs.
https://www.tiktok.com/tag/pricelesswave
Consumers were also encouraged to head to Priceless.com, Mastercard’s experiential lifestyle hub designed to inspire and create once-in-a-lifetime moment, to enter a competition to win a Priceless experience with a number of football legends, as well as watch their exclusive stories of how the ball started something priceless for them.
“For fans of football, we know that a ball can Start Something Priceless. From the excitement of a goal, to the sheer joy of the occasion. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have needed to pivot quickly from physical to digital experiences, to reflect the changing environments we are living in,” explained Mastercard Chief Marketing Officer Raja Rajamannar.
“By creating the Priceless Wave, we are reminding football fans everywhere that a ball can start a celebration and a celebration shared, even when apart, really is Priceless. Through this campaign we want to connect fans to their passion of football and their sporting heroes, by giving them an unforgettable experience, from the comfort of their homes. Mastercard is always striving to push the limits as a tech innovator, to create a truly memorable experiences for the fans to celebrate the return of the UEFA Champions League by joining the Priceless Wave.”
Outcome:
By 11 August, within 48 hours of its launch, the #PricelessWave had notched up 359.4m TikTok views
Comment:
The social experience aims to connect football fans and players in a way that supports their team whilst watching the games from home. And, of course, to drive some social conversation, consumer engagement and media buzz around the brand.
As well as leveraging its Champions League rights, the initiative promotes and spreads Mastercard’s new sonic brand logo. Indeed, the football version from Mastercard’s sonic logo aims to reinforce the brand’s identity and offer Mastercard a powerful way to create an emotional and culturally relevant connection with consumers.
Well, if they say so.
The activation jumps on the pandemic bandwagon for teams – both amateur and professional – passing a ball to one another to signify unity and togetherness during socially distanced lockdown.
It certainly dovetails with the brand’s ongoing sponsorship and marketing strategy. From The Open, to The Brit Awards and Disneyland Paris, Mastercard marketing is based around creating meaningful connections with people.
According to the campaign press release, the #PricelessWave challenge was inspired by recent activity with Mastercard employees who shared their celebrations with each other as a reminder that we are all part of a bigger team.
This is another fine example of the current, pandemic-driven trend for sponsors switching physical experience activations for virtual ones.
Another recent Mastercard example of this strategy was its recent ‘The e-Open’ initiative with the R&A (see case study).
Links:
Mastercard
https://www.youtube.com/user/MasterCardWorldwide
https://twitter.com/MastercardNews
https://www.youtube.com/user/MasterCard
https://www.facebook.com/Mastercard
https://twitter.com/mastercard
UEFA Champions League
https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/
https://www.instagram.com/uefa_official
https://www.linkedin.com/company/uefa/
https://www.youtube.com/user/UEFA
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