Rio Ferdinand goes undercover with Heineken on their new ‘Champion The Match’ campaign for UEFA Champions League nights. Research shows that the UK work longer hours than the rest of Europe and Rio is tackling that head on. Overtime on a Champions League night? No chance.
Working with Heineken, Ferdinand stars in 'The Substitute' film, where he saves an office worker who is looking forward to a night at home watching the game with his mates until his boss orders a late night conference call. Wishing he could be in two places at once, our frustrated friend calls on Champions League winning captain, Rio Ferdinand, to step in and find a solution.
The ex-England and Manchester United defender goes all Hollywood and enlists the help of US prosthetics expert Robert Kurtzman (Bad Boys II, Hulk, Vanilla Sky, From Dusk ‘Til Dawn) to transform him in to ‘The Substitute’. With prosthetics applied Rio has to infiltrate the office, take care of the paperwork and sit on the video call without the rest of the office breaking his cover. Job done, back home for a couple of bottles.
‘The Substitute’ is part of Heineken’s ‘Champion The Match’ campaign that encourages fans to make the most of their UEFA Champions League match nights. And we are absolutely fine with that. Roll on the second legs.
To help make supporters’ match night more legendry, Rio Ferdinand will be conducting a live Twitter Q&A via @Heineken during the Manchester City v Dynamo Kiev match on the 15th March at 19:45 – 22:00. Heineken will also be rewarding fans who #ChampionTheMatch with tickets to UEFA Champions League matches throughout the remainder of the tournament.
