Mercado Livre: Call of Discounts
Mercado Livre challenged GUT São Paulo to increase brand preference and sales among Gen Z Brazilians. The brand needed to showcase its vast product variety in a way that felt organic to gaming culture, moving beyond traditional sponsorships to drive real-time engagement and coupon redemption during a period of high competition in the e-commerce sector.
Creative Idea
Neymar Jr. hid as everyday products in Call of Duty to trigger real-time shopping discounts.
Mercado Livre turned its massive product catalog into in-game props within Call of Duty's Prop Hunt mode, tasking gamers with hunting down Neymar Jr. to unlock real-time discounts, transforming a passive gaming session into a high-stakes, interactive shopping event.
Hunting Neymar Jr. as a Toilet for Discounts
Turning Prop Hunt into a Marketplace
The technical execution required a meticulous mapping process where GUT São Paulo and 3C Gaming synchronized 420 real-world SKUs from Mercado Livre’s inventory with specific in-game assets across 16 different maps. This ensured that when a player "killed" a prop, the resulting discount matched the exact item seen on screen. The production team turned a global gaming title into a real-time retail platform, proving that commerce can be non-interruptive when it adopts the native mechanics of the community.
The Most Watched Fridge in Brazil
The campaign’s centerpiece featured global football icon Neymar Jr., who leaned into the absurdity of the "Prop Hunt" mode. Despite his luxury status, Neymar spent hours disguised as mundane household items like fridges, toilets, and guitars. This self-deprecating approach resonated with the gaming community, turning the stream into the most-watched live event of the year on Twitch Brazil, with a peak of 180,000 concurrent viewers.
16,000 Coupons in 45 Minutes
The commercial impact was immediate and high-velocity. The gamified mechanic drove $1.3 million in sales, with 16,000 coupons redeemed in just 45 minutes. Beyond the immediate revenue, the campaign achieved a +5.4 percentage point increase in brand preference among the critical Gen Z demographic. As Cannes Jury President Sue Anderson noted, the project succeeded because it merged "ridiculously fun gamified commerce" with gameplay that remained true to the *Call of Duty* experience. This landmark project marked the first time a Brazilian agency secured a Grand Prix in the Gaming category, setting a new benchmark for branded entertainment.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A massive e-commerce catalog and the logistical power to deliver hundreds of different product types instantly.
Category
E-commerce brands typically rely on intrusive banner ads or generic social media sponsorships that gamers often ignore or block.
Customer
Gen Z gamers value authenticity and interactive entertainment over traditional sales pitches, seeking rewards that feel earned through play.
Culture
The rise of "Prop Hunt" and live-streaming culture turned gaming into a spectator sport where community participation is everything.
Company
A massive e-commerce catalog and the logistical power to deliver hundreds of different product types instantly.
Category
E-commerce brands typically rely on intrusive banner ads or generic social media sponsorships that gamers often ignore or block.
Strategy:
Gamify the product discovery process by embedding commerce directly into the mechanics of existing digital subcultures.
Customer
Gen Z gamers value authenticity and interactive entertainment over traditional sales pitches, seeking rewards that feel earned through play.
Culture
The rise of "Prop Hunt" and live-streaming culture turned gaming into a spectator sport where community participation is everything.
Strategy:
Gamify the product discovery process by embedding commerce directly into the mechanics of existing digital subcultures.
Results
The campaign achieved significant impact, becoming the most watched live of the year on Twitch Brazil, surpassing top professional streamers. Key metrics include 16k coupons redeemed in just 15 minutes, leading to $1.3M in sales. The brand saw a +5.4 p.p. engagement lift among the young audience. The campaign also generated massive earned media, with coverage from major outlets like CNN, IGN, ESPN, and MSN, being described as 'headshot entertainment' and 'Neymar as you've never seen him before'.
$1.3M
total sales
16k
coupons redeemed in 15 mins
+5.4 p.p.
engagement among young audience
Strategy Technique
Borrow Equity
By integrating into Call of Duty and partnering with Neymar Jr., the brand bypassed traditional advertising to inhabit spaces where its Gen Z audience already spends their time and attention.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Gamification
It turns the act of finding discounts into a competitive game mode, rewarding players for their skill and speed in-game with tangible financial benefits in the real world.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign excels through its seamless integration of e-commerce utility into a gaming subculture, using technology to bridge virtual props with real-world inventory.
The complex mapping of 420 in-game assets to a live e-commerce database with real-time fluctuating discounts is a feat of digital integration.
Strategically using Twitch and a global superstar like Neymar to hijack a specific game mode ensured maximum relevance and reach for the target demographic.
The 'Call of Discounts' naming and the survival-based discount mechanic are clever, high-concept ways to frame a sale.
The visual identity perfectly blends the brand's corporate colors with the 'tactical' aesthetic of the gaming world.
The synergy between the technological execution of the live-discount engine and the high-profile media placement created a 'must-watch' event that felt like entertainment rather than an ad.
