UEFA Champions League — Mastercard
The UEFA Champions League is the biggest club competition in football.
The Final alone draws an average global audience of roughly 145 million viewers, with as many as 400–450 million people watching at least part of the broadcast worldwide.
For Mastercard, it’s also one of the company’s longest and most visible partnerships.
My assignment was to help launch a new global platform: Start Something Priceless.
Working with McCann, I helped lead the creation of two global anthem films.
The Red Ball
The first was “The Red Ball.”
A single story told through 40+ tailored versions, each adapted for audiences across 52 countries. The film featured a global roster of athletes—Leo Messi, Neymar Jr., Annika Sörenstam, Ana Ivanovic, Dan Carter, Bryan Habana, and Valeri Kamensky—passing the red ball across sports, continents, and cultures.
The campaign launched first through the athletes’ own social channels.
Then spread across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, and dozens of regional platforms.
The result was massive reach.
Mastercard’s Champions League content ultimately generated more than 1 billion digital views worldwide across social platforms.
22 Languages
The second film was “22 Languages.”
Starring Pelé, it brought together football fans from around the world—each speaking a different language but united by the same love of the game.
The message was simple.
Football may speak many languages.
But passion sounds the same everywhere.