On the same evening of the big match Real Madrid-Milan, we organized a fake event combining poetry and classical music. 200 accomplices helped us in persuading 1000 AC Milan fans, one to one, to skip the match and go to the concert in the big Auditorium. After 15mins of concert, using a video projection, we unexpectedly surprised our victims and gave them the biggest reward: joining the match on a huge screen, offered by Heineken.

We needed to engage our main consumers (males 18-24) one to one and offer each of them a special brand experience, capable of reminding them of the importance of preserving their easy going attitude and their sacred moments with friends. We wanted them to perceive it in an innovative way that could empower their relationship with the brand. We took advantage of the UEFA Champions League sponsorship and capitalised on our consumers most sacred moment: watching a football match on TV.

1000 people have been directly involved. 6 million people followed the event live on TV. Another 10 million people saw it on the news the days after. Million people spoke about it and commented positively this communication activity on websites and blogs worldwide.

10 journalists were involved as victims or accomplices. The buzz on it was very high and contributed on empowering the brand awareness and, even more, the closeness between the target and the brand.

The event created not only an interaction between the brand and the consumers, but also amongst consumers that found themselves experiencing an unexpected and funny situation. The event brand has been absolutely perceived as what it is: provider of every great entertaining moment. Its strength is in the way the target has been engaged: a one to one recruitment that made every single person in the auditorium a main protagonist. Our “victims” lived a brand experience in a place that is definitively unconventional for beer drinkers: that, together with the relevance of the final reward, created a very active reaction to the target.