London Wasps have recently launched a supporter-driven, summer-long campaign to build up to the new season.  Match tickets, hospitality, signed shirts, playing kit, exclusive training with the Club and even Season Tickets are up for grabs in their #EveryFanCounts campaign, where they will be asking supporters across all of their online platforms to share their memories, highlights, views and reasons to look forward to the new season.

Throughout the summer there will be lots of ways for fans to take part in the campaign across wasps.co.uk, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. They will run a series of competitions on these platforms with no limit to how many of these you can enter as well as online chats with players and coaches at Wasps.

London Wasps have also teamed up with American-based company tagboard to collate the interactions around #EveryFanCounts, across all of the Club’s digital platforms into one place. The London Wasps #EveryFanCounts tagboard can be found at wasps.co.uk/EveryFanCounts.ink

Over the summer they will be collecting as many supporters’ messages, pictures and comments as they can and the best will be posted up in the Twickenham changing room for the London Double Header, before being transported back to the Wasps Nest at Adams Park in time for the first home game!

The campaign will provide a great outlet for fans to engage with the Club in the summer months, sharing images, messages and videos in time for the new season as well as offering a great way to engage with the team and the coaches.

To launch the campaign London Wasps players new and old combined to let fans know why they are so important to the club…

A couple of weeks ago we were lucky enough to be invited along to the UCL Champions League event being run by adidas at Vistoria House, London.  It was a great event where we have the opportunity to try out the latest boots, test our shooting and running and also sit in on an interesting panel session on the future of football (see previous write up)

On the panel were some big names from digital sport and was hosted by Marcus Speller (The Football Ramble). It included Richard Welsh (Creative Director, Copa90), Tom Ramsden (Global Brand Marketing Director – Football, adidas),  Steve Nuttall (Senior Director – Sports, YouTube), Nick Chiarelli (Account Director, Future Foundation) and BT Sport’s Leigh Moore.

You can check out more from the event and the panel session itself in this video that adidas have recently made available.  Thanks to the guys at We Are Social for putting together the event and making such a top day.

Here are some great quotes from the panel that I’m sure you’ll find fascinating…

On the future of broadcasting:

Steve Nuttall (Google):

“There’s a terminology issue that we have to deal with because I’m not really sure what ‘broadcaster’ means anymore. It’s now possible for so many more people to tell stories than it used to be.”

On the second screen:

Leigh Moore (BT Sport):

“Social media, first and foremost, is about connecting people with people, and the more we can do that and the more that we are allowing people to have better conversations with each other around a sports product, the better that’s got to be for fans.”

On data in football:

Tom Ramsden (adidas):

“I think people are crying out for a new level of insight and a kind of reinvention in many ways. miCoach and the Elite Team System is a perfect example of that, where we could potentially deliver real time physiological data to people, a completely new way to experience the game. I think football demands it, consumers demand it, and the rate of progression is really starting to pick up.”

“We all like football because it’s football, not because it’s maths, and the idea behind driving innovation is to make the game better and help athletes perform better. It’s not data or innovation for innovation’s sake.”

“Data’s nothing without context and insight and if you’re not delivering both of those around it, then it’s useless.”

“We’re still at the tip of the iceberg, we’re nowhere in comparison to what we have available, but actually who’s bringing value to the new insight and new levels? That will come through things like miCoach and through, in the future, saying that, ‘he’s just controlled the ball the greatest way anybody’s controlled a ball,’ and we can statistically prove that.”

On trends and consumer demand:

Nick Chiarelli (Future Foundation):

“One of the things is a sort of fragmentation of the content piece into constituent parts that people can dip into and dip out of. So you’ve got your picture, you’ve got your official commentary, you’ve got reams and reams of unofficial commentary supporters. It’s almost piecemeal and patchwork, pulling together their own ideal, putting together this jigsaw puzzle of content which is uniquely tailored to them, and potentially takes crowd noise from a particular part of the ground that they may sit in when they go.”

“Longer term there are concepts we’ve developed for zonal TVing, where you’ve got your main piece which is the game, and then all of these discretionary areas in the screen where you’ve got your Twitter feed, you’ve got your local pizza delivery place, for example, you’ve got your fantasy football team being constantly updated with whoever just scored a goal and the impact on your team, and there’s a lot of fun you can have with that.”

On the value of storytelling:

Steve Nuttall (Google):

“I think the power is in the hands of the consumer because of the advances in technology and the fact is it is now possible for five teenagers in a bedroom in Queensland to create a 30-second video, stick a house music track on it, upload it to YouTube, and a couple of weeks later there were 14,000 videos a day being posted to YouTube that emulated the video that they created. It was something called the Harlem Shake. Anyone can tell stories.”

“Technological advances in the internet make it possible to tell stories that were never known before.”

On football-related content and the importance of context:

Tom Ramsden (adidas):
“The challenge for us as an authentic football brand, whether it’s talking about all of the exact details of Leo Messi’s boots or saying ‘Well, here’s what he did last weekend, here’s what he had for breakfast this morning,” is how do we become part of a seamless experience in serving up the right level of football content?”

Richard Welsh (Copa90):
“Google Glass is an amazing piece of technology but ultimately it will be validated by what it gets used for. Imagine Lionel Messi has a pair and you could see him in training or on the pitch and it’s that intimacy…I think everyone would want to see what it’s like to be Lionel Messi scoring that goal in that match. It’s how these amazing industries will knit together to create new stories and new experiences.”

“We’re working with stuff at the moment where content is triggered from the TV series through audio triggers and sound waves, so it’s not something that’s interrupting the experience, it’s just making content fluid across different platforms.”

Sports Social Media agency We Play are currently on the look out for a couple of amazing people to joint their team.  There are two posts being advertised, details of which are shown below.  To apply then send your CV and why you think you would be a great fit to hello@weplay.co

• Position: Community Manager
• Work Basis: Full time
• Location: Angel, London
• Duration: Permanent

The role: 

The Community Manager handles social media platform management for our clients, including management of the brand voice, analysis of the audience, competitors and be active in the creative ideas process to generate more traction for the clients.

Your experience:

• First and foremost, you are a sports fan and have excellent knowledge of the sports industry
• Community management experience and knowledge of how to manage a brand online
• Confident user of digital platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WordPress
• Strong English grammar skills
• An understanding of strategic development, analytics and campaign execution
• A passion for understanding sports fans, their motivations, desires and habits
• Minimum 2 years experience in social media/digital marketing
• Degree standard qualification

To apply for this position, please send us your CV and a short description of why you think you’ll be perfect for this position to hello@weplay.co

Role 2 is a 3-month paid full time internship opportunity:

• Position: Social Media Intern
• Work Basis: Full time
• Location: Angel, London
• Duration: Temporary/Permanent

The role: 

The Social Media intern will spend time researching the sports sector, analysing brands and clients, assisting with strategic planning and campaign execution. You will also assist in content creation and content management for both clients and the We Play brand.

Your experience:

• First and foremost, you are a sports fan
• Confident user of social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WordPress)
• An understanding of strategic development, analytics and campaign execution
• A passion for understanding sports fans, their motivations, desires and habits

What we can offer in return:

We will dedicate as much time as possible into helping support and mentor the intern. We believe that “an internship should provide on-the-job mentorship as well as the opportunity to take on responsibility and learn new skills to better the chance of securing a great job, either at We Play or elsewhere.”

• Travel expenses included
• Fun, fast-paced working environment
• Work with an ambitious and forward thinking team
• Learn and develop your skills to a high standard

To apply for this position, please email your CV and a short description of why you think you’ll be perfect for this position to hello@weplay.co

Guest Post:  James Hunt is Client Services Director at GMR Marketing, an innovative sponsorship and brand experience specialist.

As sports leagues expand into growing markets, fantasy sports go with them. In the past few years, global fantasy sports participation has skyrocketed, including 10% of the US and UK populations as of 2010, and emerging markets growing strong.

Enthusiasm for fantasy sports helps leagues augment existing fan loyalty and prime the pump in new markets. And because fantasy leagues are changing the way people watch and consume sports, brands have a big opportunity to tap into this new form of fan engagement.

The Changing Fan Experience

Almost 85% of NFL supporters we surveyed would rather watch a game at home than in a stadium, with 37% admitting to regularly checking the progress of their fantasy team on a second screen while watching on TV (Source: GMR proprietary research).

This trend has led many fantasy players to lose some interest in their favourite teams, instead focusing on the individual athletes on their fantasy team. And it’s not just a distraction: the emotion runs deep. A recent survey from Turnkey Sports found that 28% of participants “feel worse when their fantasy team loses than when their favourite NFL team loses.”

“I cannot watch football the way it was meant to be watched,” wrote fantasy football advocate C.D. Carter for the New York Times’ football blog, The Fifth Down. Since first starting a fantasy team in 2006, Carter wrote, “I watch for stats. I fret about fantasy points, not game outcomes. The game, in short, is meaningless.”

Is Fantasy Helping Drive the Game?

It’s not just individual fans: fantasy’s impact on the game is replicated on a larger scale. Typically, the popularity of a fantasy game within a particular market has depended on that market’s underlying interest in the sport: the real world leads, and fantasy follows. But the rise of fantasy platforms (and digital obsession in general) is helping these sports introduce themselves and their stars to new fan bases all around the world: it’s becoming a reciprocal relationship.

For example, Fantasy League, a market leader of English Premier League fantasy football, now boasts users from more than 99 countries. And as more players from around the globe are signed by British clubs to play in the Premier League, those home markets then become potential new markets for the league’s fantasy game.

“The Premier League now sees developing countries as a major growth market — and that will benefit fantasy games,” said the company’s commercial director Richard King, singling out sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia as important areas for growth.

Brands: This Is an Opportunity

As consumers continue to adopt fantasy sports – and the live sports that inspire them – brands have a big opportunity to integrate themselves into the evolving fan experience. But surprisingly, they’ve been slow to tap into it.

One exception is Microsoft, who’s begun a strategic partnership with the NFL to tie fans’ TV experience to their fantasy league teams. Xbox One users can watch live games on one side of the screen and access their fantasy league data on the other.

This is a great example of a brand getting in on the ground floor. And as entities like the Premier League use fantasy to expand into growing markets, we expect to see many more strategic successes. The fan experience is not static – neither should be brands’ and sports marketers’ approach to reaching those fans.

Guest post: Duane Roft is the founder of teamtrackr, who make fan engagement apps for sports teams, organisations and sponsors.

On Wednesday the 8^th May the football world rocked at news of the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson – one of it’s longest-standing and most recognizable and successful characters.

On the same day the blue half of Manchester released their own news that could have an even greater impact on the game; that they were installing high density Wi-Fi at the Etihad, effectively turning it into the “Premier League’s most technologically fan-friendly stadium.”

While other clubs (most notably Liverpool) have begun trialing solutions of their own connected stadia, Man City are unleashing the big guns with Cisco’s Connected Stadium Wifi and StadiumVision Mobile.  Capable of delivering live video and other event information direct to mobiles, Man City are promising one of the most “immersive, video rich experiences in sports” and will effectively turn fans’ mobiles into a second screen for live games.

The potential for this type of technology is huge, and it’s clearly a direction that a lot of clubs are heading in and many more will head in.  With ticket prices continuing to rise, the pressure is always on to improve the fan experience and open up opportunities to drive further revenue, and mobile presents huge opportunities in both of these areas.

But mobile also changes our behavior, which could potentially lead to a negative impact on the atmosphere at games.  When was the last time you sat through a TV programme without checking your phone 57 times to see what film that actor was in or if anything was happening on Twitter, just because you could?

It’s no different socially either, with measures like “phone stacking” having to be employed so that we can actually focus on real-life communication rather than the mystery and potential of a new email, Tweet or text.

Live Events

Using technology at live events could be great, but there is a fine line between engagement and distraction and complimenting the matchday experience and fragmenting it.  The Brooklyn Nets basketball team (cited in the press release as currently utilizing this technology) play a sport known for its stop/start nature; there are regular time-outs and breaks in play that a fan could take advantage of to maximize the impact of the technology.

One of the great things about football is that there’s a collective of people with their attention on the game, willing their team to victory.  It’s like being part of an organic mass that reacts to the action, encouraging and motivating the players; feeling like their support makes a difference.

By providing opportunities that distract from being part of this collective, is there a danger of creating a fragmented fanbase, leading to a loss of atmosphere for all in attendance?  If people are Tweeting during the game or looking for other fans to chat to does that mean they are fully invested in the match day experience and want to share it or does it mean that they are looking for a distraction?

It’s a concern that Mark Bradley of the Fan Experience Company also has.  “It’s a sign of the changing times.  The nature of fans is changing – especially younger generations who have a bigger need to interact – and there’s a danger that if we go too far down the line it could finish off the traditional atmosphere of a game.”

Bradley believes that Barcelona illustrate the perfect example of a club who’ve gone from a hardcore “tribe” of fans to everyone holding up their smartphones during games.  “Our research always pinpoints ‘atmosphere’ as a big driver of fan engagement, so clubs would need to get the balance right. Otherwise we may damage one of the core elements of the UK football experience.”

It’s unclear exactly what Man City will do with the technology, but as a club who have such a strong and authentic relationship online with their fans you can bet that they’ll be looking to be as interactive as possible.  Even a cynic like me can see the value of goal replays from multiple angles in the dead time after someone scores, but a “live” video stream of alternative angles during the game feels like a step too far.

Datatainment

The biggest opportunities to engage will be through the “dynamic data channel”, with “stats, trivia contests and multi-player games” cited as potential possibilities.  Stats – or “datatainment” as termed by City’s digital savant Richard Ayers – is already something that the club have been focusing on, opening up player stats data publicly at the start of last season, so it seems reasonable to assume that there will be an emphasis on that.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of stats, but this raises an interesting point about their relevance in real-time at live events.  At what point are we expected to stop watching the game to check them?

The key to success is through simplified processes and genuine engagement, and it’s exciting to see what other features will emerge.  The opportunities to add to the pre-game experience both in the stadium and at City Square, the club’s fanzone area, and at half-time are huge, without infringing on the distraction debate.

Giving the fans more of a voice by allowing them to rate player performances or vote for their man of the match in real time will be an exciting evolution to the experience, as will curating user-generated content for use on the web and beyond, potentially creating a virtual stadium for fans not at the game and the huge international audience.

Commercially, the US currently leads the way in at-event opportunities, with apps allowing seat upgrades and the ability to order food from your seat widely available already.  Keeping all of this functionality in one place and providing a seamless customer experience is key, but it still feels like a fragmented landscape that nobody has really cracked yet.

Whatever City come up with one thing is for sure; the engagement/distraction line will move significantly in the next few years as technology improves and the cost to implement it reduces.  The key, Bradley notes, is to listen to what your fans want.  “If you can understand what motivates different fan groups you can find ways to satisfy them all.”

City are a club that get digital and if anyone will come out with an offering with the genuine intent of improving their fans’ experience then it is them.  But even they can’t predict what impact this technology will have on the overall matchday atmosphere, and it will be interesting to see on which side of the line this lands and how it evolves.

At the UKSN event last week, we discussed in great length the future of sport and broadcasting. One interesting point that emerged from panel guest Mark Coyle was BT Sport’s interest in Google+ and that they have big hopes from that platform. This was echoed by Leigh Moore at the adidas lab this weekend. They both appear to believe that Google+ could be a real trump-card in the battle with Sky.

So why, when most others have abandoned the platform, do BT Sport see a future on Google+? The interest seems to lie predominantly with Google Hangouts which, without doubt, have been one of few shining lights for Google. Hangouts have been used with the likes of Pele and Beckham, and can certainly offer a bridge between fan and sportsperson.

If BT Sport can integrate this as a regular feature and be creative with the platform then there’s a high chance of encouraging regular conversation and engagement that forms part of the 360 package that BT Sport is aiming for. “The conversation never stops” as Leigh Moore pointed out at the adidas lab panel, and BT Sport want to be part of it throughout. Current engagement levels on the page are low but it’s still an active community of 300+ followers.

How they intend to maximise the platform will be revealed over the next month or so but for the moment, BT Sport’s intent to make social media a focal point of their outward communications is a positive move. Sky use these channels as more of broadcasting tool and it is clear that BT Sport are correctly looking to encourage regular conversation.

Other companies have seen potential in G+ just to have backed out not long after. The platform remains almost a graveyard of company pages. BT Sport believe they can reverse this trend and good luck to them.

Do you think Google+ could work for BT Sport? Would you consider getting involved in conversations and hangouts on the platform?

On Saturday, UKSN (and a group of UKSN competition winners) took a trip to the adidas lab in Bloomsbury, London. The pop-up studio was created to compliment the Champions League Final festivities around London and aimed to highlight the adidas football products of the future and a glimpse into how football kit, match balls and a dugout could look like in 2015.

Alongside having the opportunity to try on the three new adidas boots: Nitrocharge, Predator Lethal Zones and f50; we could also see the potential of miCoach and adidas smartball. We were also shown the 99g concept boot and the rest of the 2015 concept kit that will weight just 630g, head-to-toe!

adidas had also set-up several interactive stages to demonstrate their technology:

• ‘The Track’: A shuttle-run, with ball-control added, to be completed in one pair of the new boots as quick as possible. This positioned you on a leaderboard with your key stats, suggested the boot for you and uploaded your efforts to YouTube.

• The Dugout: Whilst watching a video of FC Bayern training, we were able to flick through slides that demonstrated the data collected how this contributed to the potential of miCoach.
• Shooting: Wearing the Lethal Zone boots, and using the smartball, adidas could track the speed of the ball, as well as the bend, flight path and where the ball was struck.

The whole event was superbly integrated with social media whereby those in the lab were able to connect RFID wristbands with a chosen social network, and throughout the session this data was tweeted/posted instantly to your feeds. With ‘The Track’, a 30 second video was uploaded immediately to YouTube, and posted on your feed. Below is an example of Dan demonstrating great footwork and the pace and agility of Eden Hazard:

In the evening, during the Champions League Final build-up, adidas put on a panel session hosted by Marcus Speller (The Football Ramble). The panel included Richard Welsh (Creative Director, Copa90), Tom Ramsden (Global Brand Marketing Director – Football, adidas),  Steve Nuttall (Senior Director – Sports, YouTube), Nick Chiarelli (Account Director, Future Foundation) and BT Sport’s Leigh Moore.

The discussion focused upon the future of football, and sports broadcasting. Key topics included the differences BT Sport could bring to the market, the importance of user-generated content and second-screen viewing. Of course, there was also significant discussion about the adidas products on show and how they will contribute to the future of football, and of broadcasting. Much of this conversation centred upon data, and how this could be used for football in the future.

With a drink in hand and several projectors set-up, we then enjoyed the Champions League Final amongst many, apparently Dortmund, fans!

A neat touch was the inclusion of a stats board that tied with Opta and Twitter. This live-board constantly updated to show top Champions League trends, top #UCLFinal tweets, a minute-by-minute comparison between #BVB and #FCB and in-depth match stats such as possession and passes completed. It was a great addition to the match viewing.

A big thank you to adidas and the others that helped to organise the event. It was a roaring success and showed adidas at their innovative best.

Leading lights in video production, social media and sport descended upon Bar Kick, Shoreditch on Tuesday night to discuss the poser: “Video: Is it a missed opportunity for sport?”

After some grabbing of free drinks, introductions and reacquainting, the evening was kicked off by Dan McLaren who provided a brief overview to the evening. Setting up for a night of discussion around the opportunities for video across different platforms and with various objectives in mind.  We then enjoyed a quick intro from one of the sponsors, Stream UK.

Richard Welsh, Creative Director at Bigballs Films was the first to present as he introduced Bigballs and discussed their development as a partner with YouTube on the Copa90 channel. Richard spoke of the need for brands to be “agile” in the direction video content progresses; meaning companies can no longer think “year-by-year” about video, and must go granular and learn “minute-by-minute”. When producing content, brands must be willing to listen to audiences and adapt to the feedback received. He spoke of how Copa90 had used “Comments Below”, a show focused around discussions on football, to dictate the talking-points and content for the following week.

After Richard wrapped-up his presentation, there was plenty of food-for-thought to be discussed in a relative intermission before Pusher took to the stage to produce a live demonstration of reactive content and polling by asking the audience to vote on a choice of “Best Premier League goals of the season”. The demonstration was successful and was sure to provide onlookers with ideas about how the platform could be adapted for the needs of other, traditional broadcasting.

After a bit more mingling, the evening was concluded with a star-studded panel featuring (left-right) Dan McLaren of Pulse/UKSN, Mark Coyle of BT Sport, Denis Crushell of YouTube and Tom Hines from the RFU.

Questions for the panel were submitted from the audience and with the hashtag #UKSNvideo on Twitter. Much of the conversation revolved around the legalities of content ownership rights, second-screening opportunities and the value of user-generated content. Interestingly, the panel were unanimously agreed that the second-screen phase was going to be short-lived and that Smart TVs will soon integrate the second-screen onto one. Mark, being in an interesting position with BT Sport, strongly defended high-end production of video in an age of user-generated content.

For more detail in what happened on the night we have Storified all the tweets that used out hashtag, #UKSNvideo.  We’ll also be releasing video’s of the main presentation and panel session.  So stay tuned!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED!

This weekend is going to be a special one here in London.  With the UEFA Champions League Final being hosted in our capital for the second time in three years it going to be party time once again.  Now we don’t run competitions very often on here but for this we thought we’d make an exception.

We’ve teamed up with adidas to offer something very special indeed for anyone in London this weekend.  adidas will be showcasing and looking ahead at the ‘Future of Football’ with their adidas lab (#adidaslab).  The lab will give a sneaky look at adidas products of the past, present & future.  It will give consumers a glimpse into how football might look in the next  six months, year and beyond.  You’ll be able to test unseen products first-hand in a series of high-tech football experiences featuring real-time data visualisation – all at this behind-closed-doors event in London this weekend.

We’ve got 12 pairs of tickets for the adidas Labs on Saturday 25th May between 11.30am and 1.00pm and we want you guys to come along.  To enter, post a comment at the bottom of this post to say why you want to go and you’ll be in with a chance of winning this money-can’t-buy prize.  We’ll be in touch to let you know if you are going!

You have to be 18 or over and resident here in the UK and must be able to make it to the event on Saturday.  There is no travel as part of the prize, only entry to the event.

So what are you waiting for??  Get writing now….

One match to go. Two teams left and one of them 80 minutes from glory. Now it’s your chance to get involved and make a difference to the two Aviva Premiership Rugby finalists.  This is the message being driven by Premiership Rugby ahead of the big day between Leicester and Northampton at Twickenham next week (25th May).

It’s a game I was looking forward to going to but its going to be all about football for me instead (more details to follow soon).  My better half will be there cheering them on, my rugbyt will have to wait for the next day when its England v Barbarians. Should be a cracking weekend!

Aviva and Premiership Rugby have joined together to give the fans a chance to have their messages of support actually seen by the finalists. All you have to do is send in your messages of support via Twitter using the hashtag #LittleThingsMatter and the best messages will be selected to appear at Twickenham on the day. These messages will be displayed on the LED boards in the stadium, in the tunnel for the players to see, or even on boards that will placed in both dressing rooms.

Aviva’s Senior Sponsorship Manager, Louisa Cheetham explains the thinking behind the campaign;

“Players and coaches love to hear messages of support from their fans. The connection between rugby fans and their club sides is so strong they appreciate every word of encouragement from their supporters.  So this year we are going to make it as easy as possible for the players and coaches to find out what their fans think and how much they want them to bring the Aviva Premiership Rugby trophy home.  Think about the little thing you could say that could help your team on the day and use that thought.”

The best messages will be mounted on boards in the Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers dressing rooms, displayed on LED screens around Twickenham and written on the tunnel. So your message might be the last thing the players see before they run out onto the pitch at Twickenham.

It’s a nice touch by the league and stadium as they look to maximise the use of the screens on match day.  We have seen a trend for their to be more fan engagement around big matches in different sports over recent times.  The technology is getting better, stadiums are starting to ramp up their wifi and 3G capabilities and its all about the fan experience.

Here’s a great video to help promote the initiative.  They gained the help of players from both teams, fans and some other notables.