Lay’s has sponsored the UEFA Champions League for years. But the sponsorship game is cluttered. So, instead, we earned a place where brands aren’t particularly welcome — private messaging groups. Where all the real football chat happens.Introducing Messi Messages deepfake-powered video messages from Lionel Messi, personally inviting you to watch Champions League games.Our mobile-first experience allowed fans all over the world to generate personalised video messages from the GOAT himself. With ten different language options and thousands of variables, people could generate an almost limitless number of bespoke invitations to share in group chats and on social platforms.To date, over 4.5 million Messi Messages have been created, with 1.43 messages created per second in the first 24 hours. Total time on the site was 3.53 minutes average. And the bounce rate was super low (12.8%).
Philosophy
Lay’s Messi Messages is a deepfake-powered experience allowing fans from all over the world to generate their own personalised video messages from the football star himself, spoken flawlessly in their local language. Using an intuitive chat-based interface, users can communicate with Messi and provide key information to fill him in on their plans for watching the match. Seconds later, the footballer springs onto their screen with a Cameo-style personal invitation to watch the game, filled with references to their submitted names, dates and places. With ten different language options to choose from, users can generate an almost limitless store of bespoke invitations to share with friends and family from all over the world in group chats and on social platforms. We got Messi in the studio for a super quick shoot during production to capture basic phrases and simple movements. The rest is down to deepfake. Using technology that combines AI with machine learning to manipulate the content, we were able to craft video messages from Messi carefully tailored to each individual user and market.