When a football legend meets the world's most-watched screen - the result is pure magic.
There are milestones, and then there are moments. For Eleven Kings - the mobile soccer game backed by none other than Brazilian legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho - hitting 500,000 downloads was not just a number to post on a dashboard. It was a signal. A signal that something real was building, that a community of football lovers around the world had found the game and decided to stay. And when the team behind Eleven Kings decided it was time to celebrate, they did it the only way that befits a brand connected to one of the most flamboyant footballers ever to lace up a pair of boots: they took it to Times Square.
Specifically, they took it to the MiFi Billboard - the Midtown Financial Building's towering digital display in the heart of Midtown Manhattan - one of the most coveted and recognizable Times Square billboard placements in the world. The campaign, executed end-to-end by full-service PR and outdoor advertising agency PR to SKY, turned a download milestone into a full-scale brand moment that reverberated far beyond the streets of New York.
From the Pitch to the App Store: The Eleven Kings Story
Eleven Kings is not your average mobile football game. Built around fast-paced, skill-driven gameplay, the game blends tactical depth with the kind of joyful, expressive style that has always defined the beautiful game at its best. It is no coincidence, then, that the name synonymous with its rise is Ronaldinho Gaúcho — the two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, Champions League winner, and the man widely regarded as the most entertaining footballer of his generation.
Ronaldinho's involvement is not cosmetic. His backing brings authenticity to the game's core promise: that football, at its heart, should be fun. That philosophy clearly resonated. Within a short window of time, Eleven Kings crossed the 500,000 download threshold — a milestone that speaks to genuine product-market fit and a growing, loyal player base.
The question for the team was simple: how do you celebrate in a way that matches the scale of what you've built?
The answer, it turned out, was hiding in plain sight — or rather, on a 20-story LED screen in the middle of New York City.
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Why the MiFi Times Square Billboard?
For brands that want real visibility, not all billboard placements are created equal. The Times Square area houses dozens of digital displays, but the Midtown Financial Building — known in advertising circles as the MiFi Billboard — occupies a particularly powerful position. Towering over one of Midtown Manhattan's busiest pedestrian and vehicular corridors, the MiFi display is unavoidable. There is no scrolling past it. No ad blocker. No algorithm deciding whether it reaches your target demographic. It is raw, physical, unmissable presence at the intersection of global finance, media, tourism, and culture.
For a mobile gaming startup backed by a global football icon, the symbolism was perfect. Eleven Kings was no longer just a game living inside a smartphone — it was a brand claiming space in the real world, on one of the world's most prominent stages.
MiFi billboard rent is often one of the first questions brands ask when they begin exploring Times Square advertising. It is a fair question — premium placements in this market carry premium prices, and Times Square billboard cost varies significantly depending on location, screen size, duration, and timing. For Eleven Kings, however, the calculation was straightforward: the earned media value, the content generated, and the brand credibility gained from appearing on a landmark Times Square screen far outweighed the investment. When a brand appears at that address, it signals to the world that it has arrived.
PR to SKY: The Agency Behind the Moment
Getting your brand on a Times Square billboard is one thing. Making it count is another. That is where PR to SKY came in.
PR to SKY, the global outdoor advertising and digital PR agency known for delivering high-impact campaigns for technology, sports, and consumer brands, managed the entire Eleven Kings campaign from concept to completion. Their involvement covered every phase of the activation:
Creative Artwork & Design: PR to SKY's creative team developed the visual assets for the MiFi billboard display, ensuring that the Eleven Kings branding — and Ronaldinho's likeness — was rendered in a format optimized for the scale and brightness of a large-format Times Square digital screen. Anyone who has ever seen a poorly formatted image stretched across a billboard understands how much craft goes into getting this right. PR to SKY brought the technical expertise and creative sensibility to make the display genuinely striking.
Campaign Launch Coordination: Booking a Times Square billboard slot is not simply a matter of pressing a button. It involves inventory coordination, rate negotiation, scheduling, and compliance review. PR to SKY managed the full booking process for the MiFi placement, securing the right window and ensuring the campaign launched without a hitch.
Professional Footage Capture: One of the most underappreciated elements of a Times Square billboard campaign is the content it generates. A brand appearing on a landmark New York screen produces footage and photography that can power weeks of social media content, press releases, investor materials, and partner communications. PR to SKY arranged for professional on-the-ground footage of the Eleven Kings display on the MiFi Billboard, giving the team a library of high-quality assets that will continue to deliver value long after the campaign ran.
Press & PR Distribution: Visibility on a physical billboard is powerful. Visibility on a physical billboard, covered by media, is exponentially more so. PR to SKY leveraged their media relationships to ensure the campaign story reached relevant press, amplifying the Times Square moment into broader coverage about Eleven Kings' growth, Ronaldinho's involvement, and the brand's trajectory.
It is a comprehensive, turnkey approach that demonstrates why an increasing number of startups and growth-stage companies trust PR to SKY when they want to make a genuine splash — not just check a box.
What 500K Downloads and a Times Square Billboard Signal to the Market
For investors, partners, and prospective players, the combination of a legitimate download milestone and a Times Square billboard campaign sends a clear message: Eleven Kings is for real.
In the crowded mobile gaming landscape, where thousands of apps compete for attention, reaching half a million downloads represents genuine user acquisition success. Pairing that announcement with one of the world's most premium advertising platforms demonstrates something equally important — that the people behind Eleven Kings understand how to build a brand, not just a product.
Ronaldinho's stamp of approval adds a third dimension. His global reach spans continents and generations. Football fans who grew up watching him nutmeg defenders at the Camp Nou are now the core demographic for mobile gaming. His association with Eleven Kings does not just lend the game credibility — it gives it a narrative. And in today's attention economy, narrative is everything.
Times Square Billboard Advertising: What Brands Need to Know
The Eleven Kings campaign is a compelling case study in how startups can use Times Square billboard advertising strategically rather than aspirationally. A few key takeaways for brands considering similar activations:
Timing matters enormously. Times Square billboard inventory is finite. With major global events — including FIFA World Cup 2026, which will bring an extraordinary wave of international visitors to New York — demand for premium slots is rising. Brands that engage early, as Eleven Kings did, secure better availability and more favorable rates. Brands that wait often find themselves priced out or shut out entirely.
The MiFi Billboard is one of the best value-to-prestige plays in the market. For brands where the Nasdaq Tower or One Times Square is not yet the right fit, the Midtown Financial Building display offers a combination of high visibility, strong production quality, and relative accessibility that makes it a smart first Times Square placement. Many brands use MiFi as their entry point to Times Square, with larger placements following as the brand grows.
End-to-end execution is essential. The difference between a forgettable billboard run and a campaign that generates lasting brand value is almost entirely in the execution. Professional artwork. Coordinated timing. Quality footage. PR amplification. Eleven Kings got all of it right, because they partnered with an agency that has done it before.
Interested in placing your brand on the MiFi Billboard or exploring Times Square billboard advertising options? PR to SKY offers full-service campaign management, from creative development to booking and professional footage. Visit prtosky.com or reach out at hello@prtosky.com to check availability and current rates.