Because to demonstrate one of its main product attributes - fast shipping -, Mercado Libre delivered a personalized message that elicited a direct response from the target. By reinventing the field boards, which for the first time actively participated in a football match, the campaign directly engaged with the main characters of the spectacle: the players. In addition to delivering balls into the hands of the players themselves, the board interacted with the audience, adapting its message in real time to what had just happened.

Mercado Libre is the leading e-commerce platform in Brazil. Despite its popularity, the brand was not commonly associated with fast delivery—an essential attribute for its category and a real strength for the brand, as it offers the fastest delivery in the country.

Football, deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture, attracts massive attention with its numerous championships and beloved teams. Recognizing this, Mercado Libre has extensively invested in football, including sponsorships at various levels and even acquiring naming rights for the most iconic stadium in Sao Paulo, the Pacaembu. Being closer to football is important for Mercado Libre for its awareness and connection with their target audience.

One of the key events in this sport is the Campeonato Carioca, featuring prominent teams like Flamengo, Brazil's biggest and most popular team with a vast national fan base. The championship finals, held at the Maracanã Stadium, witnessed by more than 120k spectators, and broadcasted both on TV and streaming platforms, ensuring extensive viewership.

Mercado Libre, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, has the fastest delivery service—a critical competitive advantage that has not yet been widely recognized. Recently, the e-commerce landscape has become more competitive with new players entering the market, all fighting for the best assortment, prices, and shipping speeds. Among Mercado Libre's assets is its extensive soccer sponsorship platform, which resonates due to the sport's cultural significance and appeal in the region. The strategic brief was to leverage this platform not just to create emotional connections but to effectively highlight their primary functional benefit: fast delivery.

Pitch-side advertising has long served as a backdrop where the action happens, but what if the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America used this space to showcase its fast delivery service and became part of the game itself? Introducing Ballboards. Strategically positioned at pitch-side (with the flexibility to be placed anywhere around the field), these innovative billboards feature built-in ball cannons that actively engage in the match by swiftly returning balls back into play, seamlessly integrating into the flow of the game. Integrated into the LED boards showing the message: 'Your ball has arrived.'

Ballboards started in Brazil during two major final games and immediately generated interest for implementation in several other markets, including Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia. Lately, Ballboards debuted in the CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores 2024, demonstrating how our industry can profoundly impact a sport with a history of 160 years.

Mercado Libre needed to highlight its fast delivery service to a diverse target audience of men and women aged 18 to 54, a demographic with a strong interest in soccer. Given the crowded brand environment in soccer, Mercado Libre sought to stand out in an original way. We strategically chose one of the most important championships in the country for our campaign: the Campeonato Carioca finals, leveraging its high profile. The two-leg final matches featured Flamengo, Brazil's biggest and most popular team with a vast national fan base, ensuring nationwide attention both from over 120k stadium spectators and a broader audience watching on TV and online. This approach guaranteed significant exposure, allowing Mercado Libre to effectively engage with fans both in the stadium and at home, ensuring our message of fast delivery reached a wide and varied audience.

Ballboards are pitch-side advertising boards featuring built-in ball cannons that actively engage in the match by swiftly returning balls back into play when they go out of bounds. The cannons were integrated into the LED displays of the billboards and projected the message "Your ball has arrived" with each delivery. The mechanism underwent months of testing to perfect the force and response time needed for the ball to reach players, seamlessly integrating into the flow of the game. Therefore, for the first time, an advertising billboard actively participated in a football match, positively influencing the game and gaining status as the next technological innovation in the sport.

This activation took place during both matches of the Campeonato Carioca finals at Maracanã Stadium, with over 120k spectators present at each match. The broadcast reached more than 15 million people across Brazil in households, significantly amplifying the brand's exposure.

We have impacted over 120,782 fans that were watching the two final games at the stadium and captivating 15 million people through live transmission. It became an instant hit, with 40 million organic views within the first 48 hours, 10 times more than the match's highlights—marking the first occasion an advertising initiative generated more buzz than the match itself. The Ballboards idea reach was not limited to Brazil alone and garnered international attention, being noticed in 26 channels from over 20 different countries. Furthermore, the campaign achieved 1.6 billion impressions around the world and U$ 6 million on earned media. And finally, the success at the finale at Maracanã set a precedent, leading to the implementation of the Ballboards in subsequent tournaments, as the Conmebol Libertadores and others, still in negotiations.