Heineken Challenges You to Drop Everything for a Champions League Match

How far would you go? Heineken wants to know...

From the LifeMinute Team

February 16, 2015

Heineken, known for their spontaneous challenges that reward people for breaking out of their comfort zones, most recently set its sights on U.S. Soccer fans and their ongoing struggle to follow live UEFA soccer matches in Europe which almost always are scheduled during U.S. business hours. And so the brand, UEFA Champions League sponsors for a decade, decided to give a few lucky fans the chance to drop everything and jet off to Barcelona to go to a Champions Match live.

So what's the catch?

Quinn Kilbury, Senior Brand Director for Heineken, explains, "The way to win is essentially you make the choice between 'Go watch the match live' or 'Go back to work.' So the additional layer there, which makes it even more tricky, is, if you want to go see the match, you have to not only get permission from your boss to go...you have to get your boss to go with you."

Picture this... You're on your lunch break from work, you pop into a deli in New York City's SoHo neighborhood to grab a sandwich, and then...

"I walked in the deli, there's a Heineken sign that said Go to the Game or Go to Work," says unsuspecting deli patron Austin Huq, "And I started walking to Go to Work but...totally, no I didn't, I went to the game."

Mauricio Maya, who made the same choice as Huq, explains what happened next, "The most amazing part was when I opened the freezer and I heard the song, the Champions League song. That was the most amazing."

Inside the freezer, those who chose "Go to the Game" -- like Ryan Weinstein -- found a ticket instructing them to call their bosses and convince the boss to drop everything and leave with them right now to go to the game. Weinstein recounts his phone call to his boss, "I said, 'Heineken wants to fly us out to Barcelona for a Champions League match, are you in?' And he didn't even hesitate at all."

"It's easy to go one direction, and that's the direction you go every day," explains Kilbury, "But we're giving people the opportunity to show, that if given the chance, you'd do something amazing."

To see how all the drama and excitement of this latest Heineken Challenge played out, just visit their YouTube channel at YouTube.com/HeinekenUSA, or check out Heineken.com/Soccer and follow them on Twitter @HeinekenSoccer.

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