Heartbreak Into Art: Behind Our Award-Winning Campaign for Payhawk
Some campaigns begin with a brief. Real-time campaigns begin with a moment. For “The Court of Resilience”, that moment happened on one of the world's biggest sports stages, Wimbledon.
On July 6, 2025, Bulgarian tennis star Grigor Dimitrov was forced to retire while leading two sets up against World No. 1 Jannik Sinner due to a painful injury.
What followed became even more memorable than the match itself. Grigor held up his right hand with his left arm to shake hands with the umpire before walking off the court. It was an instinctive gesture that said more about him than any interview could.
The photo went viral. At the gentleman’s tournament, sportsmanship was upheld. On Dimitrov’s sleeve? The logo of fintech unicorn Payhawk, for whom the gesture by their brand ambassador represented something bigger: resilience, integrity and the ability to show character in the face of devastation.
The question was how to turn a fleeting moment into something people could experience. Our answer was The Court of Resilience.
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The Concept & Execution
Developed for Payhawk as a tribute to Grigor's sportsmanship, the idea was to transform a historic tennis court in East Londoninto a massive, hand-painted piece of public art and film the whole process.
Working with our design team and local artists, we created a line-art mural of that exact three-handed handshake directly onto the court surface. Then we opened it for the public and let everyone play.
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The Impact
Without paid promotion, the campaign took off purely on organic emotion:
- 3.1+ million views
- 479.5 hours of watch time
- 1729 shares
- $0 media budget
- Got featured organically in Forbes, Guardian-Series, London Post, and others
- Grigor Dimitrov reposted the video himself to his 1.2M followers
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The Recognition
The Court of Resilience has since been recognised across some of Bulgaria's leading creative and advertising awards, becoming a Bronze winner at the IAB MIXX Awards 2026. The campaign reached the finals across three categories:
- Video Campaign
- Real-Time Marketing
- Digital PR Campaign (Bronze winner)
It was also a finalist at the FARA Awards, competing in:
- Brand Activation / Ambient & Guerrilla Marketing
- Topical and Real-Time Marketing
- Film & Audio / Other Film Formats
Six finalist nominations across two award bodies for a campaign that cost nothing to distribute. What makes that recognition even more meaningful is that it reflects the different faces of the project. It was a response to a real-time cultural moment. A physical activation. A piece of public art. A PR story. And a short film.
The Court of Resilience Comes Full Circle
The Court of Resilience began with a moment that could have easily disappeared from the news within days. Instead, a tennis court became a canvas. A gesture became an artwork. And a story about an injury became a story about willpower.
And recently, that story gained a new chapter. After receiving a wild card for Wimbledon 2026, Grigor returned to the grass courts of London.
On July 6, exactly one year after the heartbreaking injury, his journey culminated in a nail-biting match against Arthur Fery, which became another test of resilience. After nearly four hours on court, Grigor fought all the way to a deciding fifth-set tiebreak before losing by the narrowest of margins: 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(7-10).
It wasn't the fairytale ending, but the story still feels complete. Because resilience isn't a straight line towards victory. Sometimes, it just means you choose to fight until the last point. Always.
So, huge thanks to Payhawk for trusting us with this campaign and to the entire production team, crew, and artists who helped transform a court into a symbol of resilience.
Want to see the full case study?
And here is the campaign itself.
Team:
Leda Dragieva, Angel Ivanov – Producers
Kaloyan Andonov – Creative Director
Nikola Damov – DOP
Nikolay Georgiev - Drone
Dimitar Stafidov – Editor
Alice Sandalova – Designer
Alexander Vladimirov (Payhawk) – Brand Manager
Undercurrent, Wood Street Walls – Partners
Grigor Dimitrov – Special Thanks
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