‘Mission to Moscow’ was based on a competition mechanic where Eli & Vuj had a list of tasks they needed to complete to rack up points, and the winner would attend the Serbia versus Brazil game in Moscow. The series was framed around PUMA’s federations, with the itinerary taking in games featuring Serbia, Uruguay, Switzerland and Senegal, allowing COPA90 and PUMA to smash some misconceptions about the fans of these nations.

COPA90’s resulting films blended high-jinx, poignant moments, travel and once-in-a-lifetime scenes – providing a real antidote to the negative pre-tournament narrative. The spirit and tone of the PUMA ‘Mission to Moscow’ series really captured the fan mood in Russia, which was one of celebration, of exhilaration, and love for the beautiful game.

The mini-series was pushed organically through COPA90 social channels to maintain an authentic feel. This included native cut-downs, talent posts, and media spend to push long form.

PUMA Football wanted to tell the unique stories that are only experienced every four years at the FIFA World Cup, that take our football-crazed obsession to #NewLevels. There is nobody more football-crazed, more enthusiastic, and with better connections to fans, than COPA90’s leading presenters Eli & Vuj so, while the rest of the media world was freaking out about the Russian World Cup, and panicking that it was going to be dangerous, scary and inaccessible, COPA90 went to #NewLevels to bring EVERYTHING that’s brilliant about the World Cup to fans worldwide.

Finding authentic stories meant travelling to every city, partying with every fan group, getting drunk with the locals. It meant watching games in stadiums, fan parks, bars and in family homes. It meant crashing on people’s couches, sneaking into parties, getting taught chants, trying every Russian food imaginable and experiencing everything that the country and the tournament can.

Four films were captured during the World Cup games, taking in the scenes, events and most importantly the competition between Eli & Vuj. Crews followed each of them as they tried to collect as many points as possible. The backdrop was the PUMA Football federations and these are the fans that are celebrated in the content.

In order for the films to maintain relevancy to the World Cup conversation post-match, the edits were turned around in 3 days for the next games during the group stages. Over the course of 14 days, the 4 films were released on COPA90 YouTube channel to showcase the #newlevels messaging.

The creative storytelling approach proved to be a big success with the COPA90 audience, capturing an outstanding 1,596,321 views at a £0.01 cost-per-view, and an industry-leading 76% view completion rate.

And PUMA were delighted. “Thanks so much for a great campaign, the episodes are great - my favourite output from our World Cup campaign." Gary Dixon - Head of Teamsports marketing BU, Puma.