Mastercard literally took the game to new heights by setting a Guinness World Record for the ‘Highest Altitude Game of Football On A Parabolic Flight’ with a brand stunt fronted by soccer legend Luis Figo and a diverse football team from across the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
As football fever began to heat up ahead of November’s FIFA Men’s World Cup, the payments brand hosted a first-of-its-kind game of football at an altitude of 20,230ft (6166.1m) in zero gravity conditions: an ambient stunt called ‘The Out-Of-This-World Match’ which the brand described as ‘taking the game to a place where no match has gone before’.
This marketing stunt campaign, developed with agency FP7 McCann, saw Mastercard celebrate the world’s love for football by taking the beautiful game and fan passion for it to unprecedented new heights.
The stunt game – played between two four-player teams – occurred on 20 August, 2022 over Bordeaux in France and the content created from the initiative rolled out later in September.
It established a new world record for the highest altitude game of football soccer on a parabolic flight at 6166.1m (20230 ft).
Figo was on board the aircraft with seven other players – Hamad Mohammad Hassan, Yasmian Ghanem AlSharshani, Rhiannon Ishmael, Jonny Fines, Deydson Rocha, Begad Mostafa and Farah Jefry – as well as an official adjudicator from Guinness World Records and two independent witnesses.
The resulting campaign’s hero piece of video content dropped across Mastercard, Guinness World Records and Figo’s platforms from 21 September.
Taking football to new places. That’s #PricelessToMe. So excited to have broken the world record with @MastercardMEA . Watch how we did it at https://t.co/7MLsjgytKF.#Mastercard #MastercardMea #Priceless #WorldRecord #PricelessToMe pic.twitter.com/Ggg6yJb2Ev
— Luís Figo (@LuisFigo) September 29, 2022
“As a long-standing partner of the UEFA Champions League since 1994, Mastercard is committed to supporting the game at every level by connecting people to their passions and providing Priceless moments to fans across the globe. We are thrilled to have set a GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the highest altitude game of football on a parabolic flight alongside legend Luís Figo and our seven everyday heroes,” said Mastercard EEMEA SVP Marketing and Communications Beatrice Cornacchia.
“Football transcends boundaries and unites people around the world,” commented Figo. “I have played in stadiums where the electric atmosphere sparks emotions that cuts across cultures and nationalities; this was the exact same experience I had playing this beautiful game at 20,000 feet above ground with a group of fearless football fanatics taking their passion for the sport to unprecedented heights. Football continues to be a sport enjoyed in every corner of the world. At Guinness World Records, we meet people with different backgrounds every day.”
“By declaring this new achievement ‘Officially Amazing’, we hope it will contribute to bringing communities together through the shared love of the sport and the excitement of seeing incredible records being broken,” said Guinness World Records Senior Marketing Manager Shaddy Gaad.
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While Mastercard has a strong heritage in the soccer space – it is a former FIFA partner and a current UEFA sponsor (an alliance which dates back to 1994) with a strong footballer endorser stable – this initiative sought to keep brand visibility within the sport high whilst fierce rival Visa moves in to the soccer spotlight as an official partner of Qatar 2022.
The brand recently activated its Expo 2020 Dubai tie-up by hosting a ‘Priceless Surprises’ series to link guests to their passions and one of these activities saw football fans invited to meet brand ambassador and former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Portugal super star Luis Figo and to see the UEFA Champions League Trophy.
These are examples of Mastercard’s ongoing, umbrella approach to connecting people to their passions (across sport, art, music, entertainment and culture) and bringing them once-in-a-lifetime ‘priceless’ experiences.
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