MasterCard: Conquering Rome: Priceless.

As sponsors of the UEFA Champions’ League, when Manchester United reached the 2009 final, MasterCard briefed us to find a way of giving them strong presence among Manchester United fans travelling to Rome for the final. 

To achieve this with the lowest possible wastage, we chose digital screens at Manchester Airport, which offered the client both flexibility and dynamic messaging.  

There were an additional 221 charter flights and 25,000 passengers over the 2 days before the final from Manchester Airport. In order to speak to this audience in the most effective way possible, we worked closely with EYE and Manchester Airports to work out what times and from which terminals these additional flights would depart. 

This resulted in us planning a 2 day digital campaign starting 4 hours before the first flights to Rome on the 26th May, and up until the last flight on the 27th May in Terminals 1,2 and 3.  

MasterCard used creative featuring the Roman Coliseum and Centurions to capture the attention of passengers travelling to Rome with the strap line: ‘Conquering Rome: Priceless’. We also offered MasterCard the option to upload different creative onto the arrivals screens on the 28th and 29th May if Manchester United won. Unfortunately this opportunity to welcome back the team and their fans never came about!  

Following the success of this campaign in 2008, MasterCard were again delighted that we could book such a tactical campaign at short notice, especially one that provided both impact and coverage and frequency.

By Hannah Fuller