With the close quarters and security restrictions, we decided that the best surprise for those waiting all day in Times Square for the ball to drop would be some much needed…entertainment.

No sell. No product features. Just pure entertainment.

We created 12 charming animated films—one for each month of the year to come. Each film illustrated the priceless moments ahead—springtime with bunnies multiplying, the gay rights parade in June,

baseball season for summer, and a Halloween story with dragons.

What made the creative work special was embracing the limitations of the available digital boards. Windows and other obstructions were used as elements in the story telling. The story moved from a building on one side of the street to the building across the street. Smash, an animated baseball from one side of the street broke the animated glass on the other side of the street.

Animators and designers worked closely with architectural drawings of the boards and the buildings in Times Square to integrate the architectural features into the concepts. Bunnies popped out of windows.

A dragon circled around a turret-like billboard. And a fireman climbed a long long ladder up a thin billboard. And Smash, an animated baseball from one side of the street broke the animated glass on the other side of the street.

Mission accomplished. The audience was enthralled. According to tracking, the Priceless Surprises program has resulted in a 3% increase in consideration for MasterCard. No easy feat in a low interest category where consumers think the top two competitors are virtually the same!

The target was an international, multi lingual audience of a million people, waiting patiently (10 hours in many cases) to ring in 2016. They were not allowed to leave the “pen” where revelers were held.

So we brought a half hour of pure animated fun to them.

In 2014, MasterCard launched a campaign called Priceless Surprises. A way to surprise and delight their customers with big and small surprises--from the smile making to the life changing. The objective: increase brand love and affection and start creating one-on-one relationship with the people who carry our credit cards.

By 2015 year end, MasterCard had delivered more than 200,000 surprises all over the world.

As New Year’s Eve approached, MasterCard wanted a Priceless Surprise for the million person audience that gathers in Times Square waiting for the ball to drop.