Of the 970,365 South Korean men aged 19 and above, 99.43% are conscripted to protect the country. In order to reward the young soldiers who mandatorily serve their duties, regardless of their aspirations, The Ministry of National Defense runs a ‘Thank you! Soldiers’ campaign in partnership with companies that seek brand promotion opportunities. Also, a survey showed that soccer is considered the most preferred sports among soldiers due to their living environment. Visa decided to leverage on the government body’s program, as well as multiple references to organize a promotional soccer-related campaign specifically targeting the millennials. The objective was to engage with core target millennials with touching story that is relevant to most of millennials as well as make a viral video on social platform.

The project kick-started with the collaboration with the Ministry of National Defense to post announcements on each troop’s social medias asking families for story submissions in exchange of U20 World Cup Korea final match tickets. After careful selection of three soldiers among the 372, the production team headed to each of the Army, Navy, Marine and the studio to interview the soldiers and their families. Led by the team, the three soldiers and their families enjoy a day of surprise reunion at the stadium’s skybox. The 3-month-long project was documented and was loaded on multiple Facebook channels including official outlets of the MND and Visa. The KRW 126 million execution drew more than 267 engagement in Visa’s Facebook channel alone.