Having seen many of the award entries at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, one of the standout pieces of work for me was Mercado Livre’s Call of Discounts campaign. It took home the Grand Prix in Entertainment for Gaming and was also recognised in the Creative Commerce category, for good reason.

Mercado Livre (known as Mercado in Brazil) teamed up with agency GUT São Paulo to create something truly unexpected: a live, playable shopping experience inside Call of Duty. Yes, you read that right.

The idea was brilliantly simple and incredibly bold. They took the popular game mode Prop Hunt , where players hide as everyday objects, and turned it into a discount treasure hunt. Instead of hiding as crates or barrels, Neymar Jr. (yes, that Neymar) disguised himself as household items sold on Mercado: a toaster, a lamp, an armchair.

Gamers were invited to find Neymar during live Twitch streams. The faster they found him, the bigger the discount they unlocked on that exact product in real life. It was a seamless bridge between gaming culture and online retail, turning a passive audience into active participants, and ultimately, customers.

The results speak for themselves. The campaign drew over 180,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, making it the platform’s most-watched live event of the year. Within just 45 minutes, more than 16,000 discount codes were redeemed, driving over $1.3 million in sales. Brand awareness among young audiences skyrocketed, proving that when you blur the lines between play and purchase, magic can happen.

Beyond the impressive numbers, what I love about this campaign is how it pushes the idea of commerce into new, unexpected spaces. It’s not just about putting a banner ad in a game or sponsoring a stream, it’s about fully embedding the brand into the experience in a way that feels natural (and fun).

For retailers and marketers, Call of Discounts is a masterclass in meeting audiences where they are, and inviting them to play. It shows us that the future of shopping won’t just be transactional, it’ll be interactive, immersive, and maybe even a little competitive.

If you haven’t already, check out the case study video here. It’s a brilliant example of creative commerce done right, and a worthy Grand Prix winner.