Ballboards redefine the role of advertising billboards, shifting from passive backdrops to active brand experiences. Mercado Libre, Brazil's fastest delivery service, introduced an innovation to the pitch side advertising that mirrors the experience people have when using Mercado Libre: fast delivery. Ballboards go beyond traditional billboards; they are a technology that facilitates the quick return of the ball during football matches. By doing so, we accomplished what no advertising billboard had done before: we became part of the game.

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 Carioca Championship (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, were 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 all 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 by Mercado Libre. Strategically positioned at pitch-side, these innovative billboards feature built-in ball cannons that actively engage in the match by swiftly returning balls back into play when they go out of bounds, seamlessly integrating into the flow of the game. Integrated into the LED boards, each ball delivery is accompanied by the message: 'Your ball has arrived.'

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, where more than 120k spectators attended the two matches. 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 40MM 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. Besides earning praise from the Conmebol president who remarked that it "changes how sponsors interact with sport." 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 - the biggest club competition in Latin America.