With this idea, we hacked a timeless tradition. A sports channel became the most

talked about channel of Christmas, finally becoming one more at the table. A unique

occurrence aligned itself perfectly with the Christmas toast, a thing that Argentinians

have been doing for ever. And so TyC Sports changed a ritual that has been

happening since always.

Lionel Messi finally winning his dream trophy, streets filled with rowdy Argentinians,

and… Santa Claus? After 36 years without winning the World Cup, we were not

ready to stop celebrating football and start celebrating Christmas. So, inspired by a

popular meme on social media, we decided to give Argentinians something unique,

something that we couldn’t have done in our 28 years of existence, and might take

another 36 years more to pull again. We got Lionel Messi to lift the biggest cup of the

world at precisely the moment everyone raises theirs in Argentina. And everyone

welcomed us at their tables.

For tv channels in Argentina, Christmas night was always an uphill battle. People

were either focused on their family reunions, or worse, tuning in to Crónica, a rival

channel station. But on the year of a World Cup (and one that Argentinians won, for

that matter), could the number one sports channel in all of the country hack its way

into a set tradition? After all, if there’s one thing Argentinians value above all things

it’s football.

Every year Argentinians raise their cups at midnight on Christmas to toast, but this

year we had footage of the most famous Argentinian on the planet lifting THE cup. If

we played our cards right, we could get Argentinians to welcome us to their tables.

We could make Lionel Messi toast with a whole country. Or, more accurately, we

could make a whole country toast with Messi.

TyC sports is, arguably, the most Argentinian of brands. Year after year, we connect

with people based on the one thing that Argentinians cherish above all things:

football. While year after year we had to sit back and let Christmas be the center of

attention, this year the World Cup gave us an opportunity to keep engaging with our

fans. We synchronized the replay of the final match of the World Cup (the one

Argentina won vs France) so that it started at 20:01:42 on Christmas Eve. Why? So

that at precisely midnight, when everyone in Argentina raised their cups for the

Christmas Toast (a timeless tradition), Lionel Messi did the same with THE cup,

hoping that people would tune in to the channel and gather round the TV to toast.

And it happened. We even became the most watched tv channel of the night,

dethroning Cronica, a rival channel.

A few days before Christmas, we let everyone know beforehand of the event, and

the whole thing spread like wildfire; everyone was talking about it. We then

organized our channel’s programming so that this replay began at exactly the right

moment, waiting for the big moment at midnight. It was a simple idea, that depended

entirely on timing. If we started the match replay only 10 seconds later, the whole

thing would collapse on itself. But it didn’t. People welcomed us into their Christmas

toast. They even recorded themselves toasting and uploaded it to social media!

When Christmas arrived, we had given Argentinians the biggest present of them all:

a toast with their idol, the one that had given them a World Cup after thirty-six years.

And all it took, was one carefully timed match replay. Who knew?

The world cup replay, and Messi raising the cup at 00.00.00 was trending topic number

one…. yes, it was TYC sports on the first place, and Merry Christmas second, kind of

funny but completely true.

People choose to watch a sport channel while maintaining a timeless tradition like the

toast at midnight.

The replay made TYC sports, the most watched channel on Christmas night, and based

on rating, more than 500.000 homes had the channel on while raising their cups for a

toast. This has never happened before!

In Argentina, and since forever, we toast at midnight on Christmas. We do not know

why, but nevertheless, it’s there. It’s always been there. While year after year we, the

number one sports channel in Argentina, could only sit and watch while everyone

forgot about sports for a night, this year something different happened. After thirty six

years (that felt like an awful lot more), we won a World Cup. And so, finally, we had a

reason to barge into a Christmas tradition. We hacked into the Christmas toast, and

people invited us into their tables for the night. We were one of them! A unique

occurrence met a timeless tradition.

Being world champions is a big thing. Being world champions with Messi and Argentina is even bigger. We knew we needed to do something special that´s why we work alongside

the programming team of the channel to understand exactly at what time we needed the match to begin.

It was not only a thing of fitting the replay, but the entire programming of the day including all the advertising, so that the match could begin exactly at 20:01:42 to have Messi raising the cup at exact midnight.

The impact this had was amazing. The replay made TYC sports, the most watched

channel of Christmas night, and based on rating, more than 500.000 homes had the

channel on while raising their cups for a toast.