Our target audience is banked Argentine individuals with medium to low socioeconomic status (SEL) who are keen on growing and optimizing their finances. Despite possessing some financial knowledge, they understand the risks of leaving their local currency idle in a devaluing economic context. However, they may feel they lack the skills or time to invest and generate returns.

In the peak of the economic crisis, the biggest reality show in the world, Big Brother, returned and soon became the most watched show on TV . Though it´s participants were disconnected from the real world, the prize of $15,000,000 they were competing for, wasn’t. Impacted by an average monthly inflation of 6% it was going to lose value day by day while participants were inside the house.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity to explain Mercado Pago’s investment features in a way that most Argentinians would understand. Because Big Brother gets people talking, but also press, influencers and the public opinion. So if we did it right, in a way that didn’t feel like an ad, we could have a much bigger impact.

The idea was simple: Invest the final prize in the Mercado Pago App to show its ability to make money grow.

The strategy included a special segment during the show’s Sunday galas (most watched episode of the week), where the weekly investment profits were announced, with easy understandable graphics and a lot of suspense.

On weekdays 4 other shows of the Viacom grid covering Big Brother’s best moments would amplify our message. We also partnered with entertainment Influencers as well as economy related micro influencers to broaden the audiences. The campaign had a combination of brand messages (the product placement), Content messages (sponsored activities inside the show like paying the market with Mercado Pago) and Tactical messages to drive usability (contests on twitch and Twitter)

The last episode was pivotal. Days before the finale, Big Brother ceased updating the prize investment returns. On the day of the finale, the last campaign action was launched via the Big Brother Twitter account. Participants had to tweet the closest amount to the final prize (initial amount + earnings generated in Mercado Pago) with the hashtag #InversionMercadoPago for a chance to win a prize of 150K.