On 27 February 2006, the ‘king of soccer,’ Pelé, visited Shanghai as MasterCard’s global spokesperson to launch MasterCard’s Football Fever campaign. The campaign aims to create awareness of MasterCard’s involvement with the FIFA World Cup and to bring a "priceless experience" to MasterCard cardholders: a trip to Berlin to watch the final match of the World Cup in the company of Pelé.
To participate in the promotion in China, cardholders must demonstrate football passion by developing original body and face painting designs using MasterCard colors and submit photo entries on the MasterCard website, www.mastercard.cn.
Shanghai was only one of two stops in Asia Pacific for Pelé and his presence attracted a lot of media attention with over 100 reporters attending the press conference.  As with any celebrity appearance, the main challenge for Weber Shandwick was to emphasize brand presence over celebrity limelight.  Weber Shandwick achieved this effect visually by involving 16 children in the press conference. The children’s faces were painted in MasterCard colors, they wore MasterCard branded football clothes and waved branded flags.  The Chinese media particularly enjoyed Pelé’s interaction with the children and seven photos made front page news the day following the event.
Weber Shandwick coordinated a pan-China and regional media outreach program to bring media attention to MasterCard’s Football Fever campaign and over 70 clippings have been generated covering print, web, TV and broadcast media.

Melissa Kedward: mkedward@webershandwick.com

Pelé is led into the press conference venue by two football fans.

Pelé is led into the press conference venue by two football fans.