2017 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Simply hearing the opening bars to the UEFA Champions League anthem is enough to send tingles down the spines of football fans the world over. It is the sound of suspense. The sound of excitement. The sound of celebration. And in the run-up to the UEFA Champions League Finals 2016 it was the sound of Priceless Surprises. Our message was simple. Use your Mastercard in a Restaurant. In a store. In-fact anywhere! And if you hear the UFEA champions league anthem you’re in for a surprise. And for a lucky few the Surprise was Priceless. We hid cameras, we hid a choir, we even hid singing sensation Tiwa Savage. And when the moment was right, we sprung them onto some unsuspecting shoppers when they used their Mastercard cards. The resulting films went viral, and the winners went to Milan, to hear the Anthem for real!

Creative Execution

The Priceless Anthem was heard across Nigeria, focusing the largest surprises in its biggest cities, including Lagos - the home of some of the world's greatest football fans. The campaign launched in the run-up to the UEFA Champions League Finals and lasted for two months, building in volume as the final match got closer. From restaurants to supermarkets and malls, unsuspecting Mastercard customers swiped their cards had the surprise of their life. To amplify our activity we selected celebrities, singing sensations and football stars for our team to help execute the surprise and add to the spectacle. The resulting videos were shared on social channels allowing millions more fans to tune into the excitement and anticipation.

Our Priceless Anthem was heard by millions - 12,895,843 fans were reached, with more than 38 million impressions. The results were amazing: Growth of debit card purchase transactions 4X faster than cash Growth of debit card purchase volume 3X faster than cash Growth in monthly active cards to 60% of portfolio The successful strategy will be adapted to run in Kenya, partnering with the largest retailer in East Africa

The Priceless Anthem campaign uses a universally renowned piece of music to create a spine-tingling on-ground audio activation, which translated beautifully into digital. To promote Mastercards' partnership with the UEFA Champions League, we took the UCL's classic anthem and played it out in unexpected places at the point of purchase, surprising consumers as they used their cards in shops and restaurants to celebrate transactions and deliver amazing prizes. This track was not created for the campaign, but there would be no better way to create buzz and hype around UEFA while promoting Mastercard usage than using this classic tune.

Using Priceless as the platform for creating buzz, Mastercard would be able to deliver surprises to unsuspecting customers. We realised that football fans across Nigeria are constantly talking about the UCL, but don't expect that conversation to be kicked off at the point of sale. We had an opportunity to generate a priceless surprise at the exact time and place that fans were using their Mastercards. By leverage this iconic piece of music and all the associations that go with it, we would create excitement and suspense amongst football fans. Instilling the expectation that a surprise could happen anytime they use their card, and thus helping Mastercard increase card usage.