Follow the Captain is a sponsorship activation for Emirates and Benfica, ideation and art direction by Paulo Mariano at O Escritório. Since 2014, Emirates has been the brand on Benfica's kit, and the aim was to make that relationship more than a sponsorship. Football fans rarely care who sponsors their club, and a logo on the kit only makes it less attractive. What counts for a fan is the experience, so the strategy turned the sponsor into part of it through an in-stadium game. On 5 December 2025 at Estádio da Luz, before the Benfica versus Sporting derby, an Emirates captain walked onto the pitch and announced a free flight to Dubai for one fan in the stands. To win, a fan had to guess on which number, from a strip on the field counting one to a hundred, the captain would land. The catch: as he started walking, 99 more Emirates captains appeared on the pitch, turning the guess into a spectacle for more than 65,000 fans at the Stadium of Light. Guesses were submitted through QR codes shown on the giant screens, building anticipation before kick-off. In the warm-up to the most-watched match of the Portuguese season, 4,164 fans played live from their seats. The film of the action reached more than 1.8 million views, one fan flew from Lisbon to Dubai, and the activation converted Emirates from a logo on the shirt into a memorable moment for thousands of fans. The idea won Gold at Clube Criativos de Portugal and a Crystal in Experience and Activation at MAD STARS 2026, the Busan International Advertising Festival. An integrated sponsorship and brand activation by Paulo Mariano.