How to win 10,000 Qatari riyals by playing a real-life Where's Waldo? game at World Cup

Find the German football fan wearing a red and white jersey that reads 'Heinz' to win prizes

Thomas Heinz from Germany was tapped by the famed ketchup brand for a World Cup marketing stunt. Photo: Heinz Arabia

If you are attending the World Cup in Qatar, and you find a man with a red and white jersey that reads “Heinz”, you might just win a holiday package.

The man you are looking for is Thomas Heinz, who was approached by ketchup company Heinz Arabia to stage an advertising stunt in Doha modelled after the classic Where’s Waldo? series.

Like in the children’s series, known in the UK as Where’s Wally?, the objective is to find Heinz, who is in a crowd of thousands of people — except in this case, the challenge is set in the real world, as opposed to a colourful illustration on a double-page spread.

Heinz, who hails from Hamburg, Germany, will be posting clues on his Instagram account. Those who spot him on site can take a photo and post it on the social media platform with the hashtag #FindHeinz. For winners, prizes include gift vouchers, Heinz jerseys and a holiday package worth 10,000 Qatari riyals ($2,746).

The German fan was picked via a social media hunt from thousands of people named Heinz who could represent the brand.

“I never thought my name would go viral. I mean, I’ve been referred to as Heinz Ketchup as a joke. But this is really something else. This is real. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime kind of experience,” Heinz said of becoming a human hoarding.

High-profile events and venues are a hotbed for guerilla marketing techniques. In September, film production house Paramount’s campaign to promote its horror movie Smile went viral.

Paramount paid “smilers” to go to well-attended venues and put on a smile — not any smile, but the ones similar to the demonic grin in the movie.

“Smilers” were spotted in a few major league baseball games, as well as on a TV weather broadcast.

Perhaps one of the most successful guerilla marketing stunts was Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke campaign, where the company printed the most common names on its packaging. Launched in 2011 in Australia, the campaign resulted in sales of more than 250 million bottles and cans of Coke with names on them.

Scroll through the gallery below to see some of the latest photos from the Qatar World Cup