UNICREDIT: FINDING ‘THE PERFECT MATCH’ TO DRIVE 8,000+ NEW CUSTOMERS

The Challenge

Differentiation is notoriously difficult in the financial services sector, where customer offerings often look and feel similar. UniCredit needed to break through the noise during the highly competitive Champions League period by offering something that felt personal, relevant, and instantly rewarding.

The challenge lay in converting a high-profile sponsorship into a consumer experience that had emotional pull for football fans without alienating customers disinterested in the sport. Creating a reward that genuinely felt like the perfect match for all customer groups became UniCredit's focus.

Why TLC

With over three decades of experience designing personalized programs that fuel acquisition, engagement, and loyalty, TLC brought both strategic clarity and creative innovation to UniCredit’s sponsorship challenge.

Our team ensured that every component of the campaign – concept, rewards, digital experience, and headline prize – felt tailored, relevant, and strongly tied to the Champions League moment.

The range of TLC’s reward ecosystem gave UniCredit confidence that the campaign would resonate with football enthusiasts and non-fans alike, making us the right partner to deliver a high-impact solution with measurable return.

The TLC Approach

TLC engineered a high-impact acquisition campaign that converted UniCredit’s Champions League sponsorship into a fully immersive customer experience. Everything centred on the “match” concept, linking Champions League evenings with rewards that customers could enjoy in real time.

New account holders who activated a UEFA-branded prepaid card unlocked The Perfect Match Pass, gaining access to 2-for-1 pizza, restaurant meals, and movie tickets on Tuesdays and Wednesdays – rewards deliberately chosen to appeal not only to football fans watching the games but also to partners, families, and anyone looking for a midweek treat. This ensured that the campaign had wide appeal without losing its connection to the excitement of match nights.

 

To reinforce the campaign theme, we introduced an interactive digital memory game, inviting users to find the correct “match” and strengthening engagement through playful participation. The campaign was complete with a headline prize draw of a 90-minute, €10,000 shopping experience, mirroring the duration of a full-time football match. Eight additional prizes included round-trip flights for two to a European football capital (including stadium museum entrance) and a shopping voucher for a local retailer.