Delivering the debit card for soccer fans: OURO X World Wallet

Explore the inside story behind how SPORTFIVE teamed up with Ouro to deliver the world's first debit card for soccer fans.

In this Success Story:

Challenge

In 2023, financial services and technology company Ouro launched X World Wallet as a multi currency travel wallet and the official debit card of Leagues Cup, the annual soccer competition between Major League Soccer and Liga MX.

Ahead of the 2024 edition of the tournament, SPORTFIVE were appointed as Ouro's Strategic Brand Consultant to help bring this partnership to life and tackle a key challenge: 93% of American adults already have a debit card, and have little reason to adopt a second.

With this in mind, we aimed to go beyond activating a partnership as we set the challenge of repositioning X World Wallet (XWW) from a traditional debit card to a personalised lifestyle rewards card for sports fans and making XWW the must-have card for soccer enthusiasts, much like how American Express serves travellers.

Solution

Wanting to deliver real value to fans, whilst also encouraging authentic interest and active usage, SPORTFIVE and Ouro X World Wallet teamed up in a London and Austin-based collaboration.

The work saw SPORTFIVE deliver a first-of-its-kind partnership between X World Wallet and the Official Leagues Cup Broadcaster, Apple TV.

The collaboration allowed fans access to all 77 League Cup games by simply spending $77 with the X World Wallet on any purchases of their choice.

The partnership was brought to fans through a comprehensive marketing ecosystem which included performance marketing, social and digital media, a dedicated influencer programme, in-stadium advertising, a ticketing and hospitality programme and an employee engagement campaign.

A selection of the partnership's marketing initiatives

Performance Media

156 digital and social assets were produced and tested against key soccer audience segments in the markets to determine future campaign messaging and visuals. These lessons were then implemented over the campaign period.
Campaign Asset Toolkit

Wanting to take a purposeful shift away from traditional use of sports IP and help the campaign standout from other partner brands, a specially designed campaign asset toolkit was created with a suite of marketing materials.
Influencer Programme

A dedicated influencer programme saw +10 influencers with a key voice across MLS, Liga MX and North American soccer deliver content showcasing the X World Wallet in a series of short form videos across their channels.
In-stadium

Pitch-side and jumbotron advertisements, as well as public announcements were used throughout the partnership, engaging in-stadium audiences across 35 different stadiums in the USA and Mexico.
Ticketing & Hospitality

The partnership’s ticket and hospitality allocation was planned, organised and executed, ensuring a diverse range of stakeholders had access to matches, maximising engagement and exposure.

Spotlight: campaign asset toolkit

One of the campaign’s biggest features was the specifically created Asset Toolkit. This delivered across a number of key areas, including:

Differentiating assets: Wanting to stand out from other partners, all of whom were limited to the same pool of photographic assets, we created a bespoke catalogue of artwork assets which brought the campaign to life.

Audience-adapted imagery: The Asset Toolkit was created by the SPORTFIVE design team in collaboration with expert illustrators and drew influence from Manga-inspired artwork, turning the tournament's biggest players into vibrant, high-energy illustrations.

On-brand messaging: This bold creative direction resonated with soccer fans, mirroring the campaign’s challenge through providing non-conventional imagery for a non-conventional debit card.

Seamless implementation: The artwork became a scalable and adaptable tool, allowing us to create hundreds of unique performance marketing assets, as well as multiple films and digital out-of-home displays, which were tailored to all 35 tournament stadiums and complied with the eight-way stakeholder approval process.

Outcome

X World Wallet’s partnership with Leagues Cup 2024 launched in July and spanned across the four weeks of the competition.

Delivering 28.6 million ad impressions overall and reaching 19.6 million fans on social and digital platforms, the campaign was a success, helping Ouro put X World Wallet at the heart of US soccer fandom for the first time.

Beyond reach and awareness, the campaign delivered a resounding impact with 500,000 fans visiting the destination page and 64,000 downloading the X World Wallet app, a 15% increase on the previous year.