Burger King's "Stevenage Challenge" campaign has picked its third Grand Prix at Cannes 2021, in the Brand Experience and Activation category. 

The campaign from David Madrid and David Miami has already won two previous Grand Prix; one for Direct and one in the Social, Influencer Lions. 

Alongisde Burger King, a second Grand Prix in Brand Experience and Activation was awarded to Mastercard's True Name campaign.

With the campaign, Burger King worked out a way to endorse popular football stars without having to shell out a single Euro by becoming the main sponsor of the Stevenage F.C., a team at the bottom of the 4th division of English football. With Burger King sponsoring the team in real life, the brand knew those BK jerseys would appear on the team in FIFA 2020. When they did, Burger King invited gamers to compete in a series of challenges as Stevenage FC players to win free food, play as their favorite soccer stars and beat challenges. Burger King says the campaign generated $2.5 million in earned media and fans shared 25,000 videos of goals.

In Direct, the choice, said Jury President Reed Collins, chief creative officer of Ogilvy APAC, was unanimous. “Everybody thought that this stood above the rest of the work as a benchmark for Direct. It was a spectacular insight, idea and understanding of hacking the system.”

Original story:

Earlier this year, Burger King announced it was sponsoring Stevenage, a tiny, little-known soccer club in England (it's part of League Two, the fourth and lowest division of the English Football League). But while Stevenage, a postwar-constructed "new" town just north of London, isn't exactly a big time player in U.K. soccer, BK has been making the most out of its sponsorship deal.

For one, it created a kit that looks (according to The Sun) like it has had "ketchup and mustard chucked at it," and now, it's attempting to make the club world-famous through an unusual route: a video game. 

In a campaign via David, the fast feeder has launched the Stevenage Challenge, which invites gamers to compete in a series of challenges in FIFA 2020 in order to win free food. The idea is that people can play for Stevenage FC in the game, or bring their favorite players and big shots to play for the team in order to accomplish the challenges. As BK sponsors the team in real life, whomever gamers choose to play for Stevenage FC will appear wearing the jersey with BK logo. If this works, look out for high-profile football stars to be wearing Stevenage FC kit online soon. 

Fans simply have to share share footage on Twitter of their challenges, and in return, they’ll get a free menu item delivered via Uber Eats, while supplies last. The challenge will run till Oct. 23.