Lionel Messi Teams Up with Hard Rock as their 50th Anniversary Ambassador

It is difficult to believe that the world-renowned Hard Rock brand turned 50 this year!

Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International, said:

“Over the past five decades, the Hard Rock brand has grown to become one of the world’s most recognisable and beloved brands, with a cafe, hotel or casino located in 68 countries.”

It is crazy to think that began as a music-themed burger café in London during the 70s is now a global brand with a variety of entertainment forms on offer including their own chain of casinos.

 Go Big or Go Home

While setting the clocks back to 1971, having some of the original staff members serving customers again and even rolling out the original Harley Davidson to display in the London café makes for a nice nostalgic story Hard Rock wanted to do something big to celebrate their 50th anniversary… enter their new "Live Greatness" campaign!

Allen announced the campaign ambassador saying:

"As we reached our 50th-anniversary milestone, we knew that we needed to partner with an icon to help us celebrate in a new and unexpected way, and there was no better choice than the legendary Lionel Messi."

Not many will know this but one of the Hard Rock cafes first marketing campaigns was sponsoring a local football team in the early 1970s. Having renowned soccer player Lionel Messi as their brand ambassador for the next five years speaks to the campaign ideology of honouring your roots while striving for an even brighter future.

 Exchange of Gifts

No celebration is truly complete without an exchange of gifts. Messi presented Allen with a signed replica of his FIFA Ballon d'Or (Golden Ball award), while Allen reciprocated with a custom one of a kind electric guitar.

Speaking of the partnership Messi said:

"I am honoured to partner with such a renowned brand like Hard Rock, and even more so at this historic moment - its 50th anniversary! Sports and music are an integral part of my life, a perfect combination between my profession and my leisure time. It is an honour to be the first athlete to partner with a brand that has a history of teaming with music legends."

In honour of the long tradition of such partnerships producing merchandise featuring a sports stars number the Hard Rock released several clothing items and decorative pieces featuring the player's iconic number 10 from his Barcelona Jersey and Messi's own logo.

To ensure their own tradition of entering their partners into their music hall of fame, a replica of the custom guitar Messi was gifted will be added to their valuable collection of musical objects, only this version will be signed by the player.