12TH PLAYER!

We made the brand a sponsor of football fans

Client: Pepsi
Category: Ad Campaigns
Market: Uzbekistan
Lokals product: Creative Platform, Full Integrated Campaign
Scale: 1 country — Uzbekistan, 12 cities of presence
Year: 2026

01 / HOW IT LOOKED

Gallery of materials

02 / CHALLENGE

The business problem the client came with

We had to win the battle for audience attention during a historic event — Uzbekistan national team’s first qualification for the FIFA World Cup in 2026. The situation was complicated by the fact that a direct competitor had secured the rights of official sponsor of both the tournament and the national team. We needed to develop a large-scale creative platform with teaser, reveal and promo phases: to legally intercept the news agenda, increase consumption frequency and strengthen Pepsi brand penetration by focusing on fans.

Business pain:

Legally integrate into the main sports agenda without using official symbols or World Cup sponsor status.
Build a long-term platform that would steadily lead consumers from teaser to purchase.

03 / SOLUTION

The approach we proposed

We decided not to compete for tournament sponsorship, but to become the sponsor of the tournament’s greatest force — the fans themselves. Together with the brand’s marketing team, we developed a platform built around the philosophy of the “12th player”: fans who can psychologically influence the outcome of the match. Under the slogan “YOU are in the game!”, Pepsi shifted the focus from 11 professional footballers to the real hero — the fan. We launched the largest fan movement, making Pepsi a truly “people’s” ambassador of football.