In times when all statistics and metrics say that users pay less and less attention and content should last only a few seconds, TyC Sports surprised an entire country with the longest commercial of the year and, in a country of 46 million people, an overwhelming 44.5 million people organically watched it. To celebrate the first anniversary of Argentina becoming the World Cup champion, we told a touching, endearing and nostalgic story that conquered everyone's hearts by showing how a humble two-star hotel called Argentina, just like the national team, strived to achieve the third star.

Football is big in Argentina. How big is it? On December 18, 2022, when the national team won the World Cup, 5 million people took the streets to celebrate, just in Buenos Aires alone. So, in a country that breathes football 24/7, the first anniversary of the World Cup was a big deal. Something like our SuperBowl. Two movies were released in theaters. All brands prepared something to say. And TyC Sports was, perhaps, the most expected. Being the most popular and beloved sports channel in Argentina, everyone wanted to know what it had to say. Everyone was expecting something unique.

It all begins when the phone rings at a humble hotel in San Bernardo, a seaside town 200 miles south of Buenos Aires. Like the football national team, the hotel is called Argentina. But unlike the national team, which won its third star in Qatar 2022, it's rated with only two stars. For any Argentinean, this is an affront. So, the phone call proposes the unthinkable: transform the hotel and go for the third star. The endearing story starring the hotel's real employees, culminates with the presentation of a completely renovated hotel with the long-awaited third star on its façade.

On December 18, 2022, Argentina won the World Cup after 36 endless years of waiting. A true milestone. From that day on, the World Cup was the main topic of conversation among Argentines. That is why, with the arrival of the first anniversary, everyone was waiting for something spectacular. Especially from TyC Sports, the sports channel that made the most remembered and beloved campaigns in the history of Argentine sport. So we set out to do something unique and up to expectations: a short film that tells a touching story and, at the same time, does not show any football scenes. That's right, no footage of the game, nothing we've seen before. Partly to differentiate ourselves from all the other brands and partly because FIFA did not give us the rights to do so. The result? It became the most successful campaign of all.

It's hard to run a successful campaign when your target is an entire country. However, we managed to do it. More than 44 million people organically watched our film. With over 700K reactions and 15K commentaries, we became Trending Topic in minutes. The most popular sports accounts shared it on Twitter and Instagram (even journalists from the competition!). The film went viral on WhatsApp and reached the news. Prestigious news portals in the country, such as Clarín or La Nación, interviewed the hotel employees as if they were celebrities. And the real celebrities, the national team players, also claimed to have seen it. We changed the online reputation of the hotel because people organically started rating it as a must-see attraction. The story was seen in more than 20 countries and the film became the most watched one in the history of one of the most iconic brands in Argentina.

This idea is unique and exclusive to the Argentine market for many reasons. The transformation takes place in San Bernardo, a typical town where middle-class families spend their holidays and everyone remembers with nostalgia. The short film is full of romanticism and appeals to people's hearts, highlighting all the values that led Argentina to become world champion: effort, companionship and humility. In addition, the third star has a very strong emotional charge. Argentines have been waiting for it for 36 endless years. That's why turning that unpainted façade with only two stars into a shiny marquee with the word Argentina and three shining stars was able to occupy, forever, a special place in the history of Argentine advertising.

In a country where football is so important (perhaps the most important thing), we were able to give the fans the possibility to celebrate the anniversary in the best way.