Last week I wrote a post that focused on Eye of the Fan which is an innovative campaign run by Turkish Airlines.  This operates via a series of cameras that are attached to a ‘fan’ who has been given complete, unrestricted access to the ‘Final Four’ and reacts to tweeted requests from contributors.

Since then, Turkish Airlines have released a slick 2013 campaign teaser trailer (check it out below).  An addition to the 2013 campaign is ‘#whoisup’. This is a new hashtag to find someone to accompany the ‘UpTeam’ behind the scenes at the Final Four event in London. Users have to upload their favourite fan photo with the hashtag #whoisup to be in with a chance of joining the Team. Another addition is that the best tweets will be transferred into ‘fan-banners’ that will held up in the crowd for the arena to see – and also viewable by the TV audiences.This is a great example of an integrated multi-media campaign and I look forward to watching it in action.

 

Guest Post:  Tom Kelk is a tech/sport blogger and Account Exec at global social media agency We Are Social.  You can find him on Twitter (@TomKelk), LinkedIn and his blog.

Eye of the Fan is a neat campaign run by Turkish Airlines to attempt to promote the basketball Euroleague through social media. Whilst basketball doesn’t have the biggest UK following, it is massively popular in mainland Europe and therefore, Eye of the Fan has received the required interest to return for a second stint.

Simply put, Eye of the Fan is a series of cameras attached to a ‘fan’ who has been given behind the scenes access to basketball matches and reacts to live requests from contributors. The heart of the campaign is its integration with social media. Those following the action can tweet their requests to the ‘Fan Cam’, who will duly oblige to the requests chosen by the ‘Up Team’ in London, and a team in Istanbul which will deliver tweets right to the ‘Fan’ in the O2 Arena. Further to this, these teams will keeping an eye on activity within the stadium and direct the Fan towards events of interest. This responsive caveat brings the fans closer to the game, but also engrosses them in the app.

This a great use of the popular go-pro equipment and fantastic to see it revolving around social media engagement. How well it captures the atmosphere of the stadium and an event is yet to be seen but there is clearly potential. The access to athletes away from the traditional media will certainly attract interest from the majority of sports fans who rarely see players in an ordinary light. The most important aspect to the success of this is the completely free-rein of the Fan who “will be going everywhere cameras normally can’t or won’t go to offer fans and media an exclusive behind the scenes view.” Fans can ask him to joke around with a player, chat with a manger or find the best-looking person in the crowd (see video…).

In my latest blog I spoke about Vine and how it could be used to capture an atmosphere and how clubs were not making the most of their assets and behind the scenes footage; Eye of the Fan manages this with a real-time and responsive element added-on.

Here is the video of the 2012 ‘Final Four’ and this gives an indication of what can be expected this time around. There have been no significant changes since last year’s campaign but the ‘Up Team’ intends to interact with contributors to a higher level than previously:

All the footage will be accessible on a constantly updated website and, once watermarked, can be fully integrated, embedded and shared across websites. Footage of the game itself will not be available due to licensing regulations.

In 2012 the Eye of the Fan Facebook app received 150000 visits; Eye of the Fan posts on the Turkish Airlines received 15000 likes in 3 days. Overall, the 2012 event received 3.7m impressions. It is hoped that the 2013 Eye of the Fan campaign will exceed these numbers by quite some distance.

Regardless of your interest in European basketball, this is a fascinating campaign and should be looked at. Eye of the Fan can be seen from 10-12^th May when the Turkish Airlines Final Four will be broadcasting from the London O2 Arena. The ‘Final Four’ is the culmination of the Turkish Airlines Euroleague – the ‘Champions League’ of European Basketball. The top sixteen teams are currently fighting out to be involved in the ‘Final Four’. Before the Final Four tips-off, you can follow @eyeofthefan on Twitter and see what it has to offer.

It will be interesting to see where Eye of the Fan goes from here. There is a great potential in the idea. At the moment, Turkish Airlines have indicated that they are keen to focus on further communications through basketball and would welcome any opportunity to increase engagement and buzz alongside improving the content output.

There must be opportunities to translate this forward thinking approach over to other sports and hopefully brands will take a close look at the ideas behind this campaign.

Video marketing is one of my newest passions, having spent a good amount of time looking at the nuances of it both at We Are Social and particularly now at Copa90. Now with the start of the new F1 season with us, a new report [infographic] has come out revealing huge areas of opportunities for brands.

Formula 1 is the biggest global sporting series in the world yet its brand partners are struggling to amplify the value of their sponsorship rights through branded video content.

As the new season gets underway, over 200 sponsors have again committed to the adrenalin-fuelled sport.  Yet Blended Republic, a new branded content consultancy with specialist F1 experience has revealed huge gaps in marketing potential after reviewing all video content created by each of the 221 listed F1 sponsors during the 2012 season.

The report: “Content Marketing in F1: From Exposure to Engagement” highlights that:

• Only 24% of sponsors create video content around their sponsorship
• Most video content fails to gain a significant audience with 66% of those videos achieving less than 1,000 video views on You Tube.
• Despite a quoted global TV audience of around ½ billion across 185 countries, less than 10% of F1 sponsors create content for use by F1 broadcasters.

Chris Sice, Managing Director of Blended Republic says:

“Formula 1 delivers unrivalled global exposure but most sponsors are struggling to create video content that connects with F1 fans.  The rise of social media and the popularity of F1 on TV present a huge opportunity for sponsors. Audiences crave content about F1 that fuels their passion for the sport.  As the news season dawns, there is enormous scope for those sponsors that can create video so compelling broadcasters will air it and fans share it on social media.”

The report highlights some of the best recent examples of branded videos created by F1 sponsors, summarises the potential benefits and provides a checklist of how F1 sponsors can develop effective branded content.

The key findings from the report can be viewed as an infographic below or check it out at http://www.blendedrepublic.co.uk/insight/f1-content-strategy-report.  

What do you think, are brands missing a trick here?

Vauxhall last week empowered the fans to get up close and personal with players, managers and legends from Home Nations football.

The sponsors of Home Nations football delivered a number of exclusive twitter question and answer sessions on their dedicated England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales’ twitter handles.

In the first opportunity of its kind with Ashley Cole, ahead of winning his 100th cap, England fans were asked to send in their questions and Cole responded to them directly via a video message which was published on YouTube.

Whilst in Scotland fans were given the chance to quiz new National team coach, Gordon Strachan, before his first game in charge against Estonia.

Strachan took time out of his busy training schedule to answer questions on the selection of his Scotland team and even his preference for steak bakes against pasties!

Twitter reach totalled over 11 million during an international week that also included competitions, a hide and tweet ticket giveaway and a viral video to celebrate Ashley Cole’s 100^th cap.

Chris Hornbuckle, Head of Sponsorship at Vauxhall, said; “The response from the fans to our exclusive activity last week has been phenomenal.

“Through our twitter takeover programme we are aiming to get the fans closer to life inside the international camps and give them the chance to put their own questions to players, managers and legends at the heart of Home Nations football.

Working closely with the respective football associations we have been able to deliver a truly unique fan engagement opportunity and look forward to giving the fans a behind the scenes view of international football in the future.”

Vauxhall facilitated twitter takeovers across the four nations on @VauxhallEngland, @VauxhallNI, @VauxhallScot and @Vauxhall_Wales and included question and answer sessions with former international captains Kevin Ratcliffe, David Weir and Gerry Taggart as well as leading journalists John Cross and Henry Winter.

As part of their extended digital programme Vauxhall are offering fans the chance to play at their national stadiums in Vauxhall’s Big Pitch which is in its third year.

Since the launch in 2011 Vauxhall now have over sixty thousand followers on their social media platforms across all nations.

Another post about Nike but they have been making more moves when it comes to what they are doing next with Nike+ and FuelBands.  In a release made just before Christmas they have really gone for the jugular when it comes to gamification.

Since the FuelBand was released this time last year, to great fanfare, they have been adding new features to keep consumers hooked.  The gamifying of everyday activities is something that has been around us for a couple of years and been done with varying degrees of success.  Our pals at We Play have written a series on gamification (in case you are interested and like to find out more).

Back to Nike – the game is powered by the user’s everyday movement and uses NikeFuel to track and monitor progress. Based on the difficulty level that the user chooses, they’re challenged to earn a specific amount of NikeFuel to move to the next level. Each mission and level is played against the clock and utilizes any device that collects NikeFuel, including the Nike+ FuelBand.

During each mission the user meets a Nike athlete — Calvin Johnson, Allyson Felix, Alex Morgan or Neymar Jr. — who provides advice and suggests innovative products to help the player battle the elements and get to the next mission.

After each mission, users can sync the Nike+ device to track their progress. If they haven’t reached their goal, they can replay the mission.

NikeFuel Missions is available to play now at www.nike.com/missions

Here is a typically cool Nike video to go along with the launch…

I’ve been involved in social media now since 2009, which isn’t a long time in most people’s books, but in this industry it can feel like an eternity.  During this time I have watched those who have been doing great things in sport and social media, people who think like I do.

One of those who constantly caught the eye wasn’t in Europe but over the pond in the US.  That person was Amy Jo Martin, the founder of Digital Royalty; someone who took the risk and set up her own business in an industry that didn’t really exist at the time. Something I admire.

She started off working with the one and only Shaquille O’Neill – an enviable first client!  Since that time she can include some of the biggest names in US sport; Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), the UFC (and its president Dana White), the Chicago White Sox , FOX Sports and LA Kings.

But it’s not only sport she has been busy helping navigate these new seas; add to the previous list Zappos, Double Tree by Hilton and The X Factor USA.

Not a bad list of clients!

Recently, I was one of the lucky few who managed to get my hands on Amy’s first book.  At the moment it is available on pre-order with general release tomorrow (2^nd October).

The book is entitled “Renegades Write the Rules”. It hits upon two of my reading passions; Social Media and Entrepreneurship.   (I’ve read many autobiographies from business giants including Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Google, Peter Jones, Theo Paphitis and Duncan Bannatyne.)

What Amy has produced is a personal insight into her experiences as she evolved from Director of Digital Media & Research at the Phoenix Suns to running her own successful company.

My most recent book aquisition in this area was ‘Velocity – the Seven Rules of a World Gone Digital’ by founder of AKQA, Ajaz Ahmed, and Nike’s VP of Digital Sport, Stefan Olander. It was very much a conversation, concentrating on their beliefs and  punctuated by the odd case study.  It was interesting without being inspiring.

“Renegades Write The Rules” offers more of what I enjoy reading.  It really fired up the mind, providing inspirations that had me dreaming up new ideas.  It is creating this inspirational feeling that makes a book significant for me.

One of the biggest announcements she (and almost anyone in sport) has been involved with was the shock announcement about Shaq’s retirement.  Rather than it being a straight press release or tweet, they went one step further, planning out the script for 15 seconds of video using the new app Tout.

It sent shockwaves around the NBA universe.

“The mind-boogling statistics of Shaquille’s tweet are ultimately the result of a creative, personalized communication strategy that anyone can use as a template for social media success and much more.  The foundation is an understanding of a major shift that has occurred in our media-driven world that established a new rule of innovation.”

“No longer do the broadcasters, advertisers and PR moguls control the news.  In the digital age, you are the media.”

Yes, this was Shaq talking to his 2.1m fans but it is open for others to try as well. This is not a matter of doing one off stunts, but building up a relationship and trust with fans so that when something like this does happen they are ready to listen.

It’s about laying sound foundations when it comes to your social media presence and working on what you are connecting with people about.  As Amy says “The foundation is mattering in people’s lives.  The more often you matter, the more often people will tune in.”

“…to matter, you have to continually deliver something your audience finds valuable, even if that value is simply great entertainment.”

Amy draws our attention to the fact that for all the changes we have seen in the technology, the human behaviour behind it has rarely altered.  The real change has been in our ability to reach others in real time around the world.

Many brands are still very faceless on social media, much as they always have been, because they are used to controlling the message and perceptions of their brand with consumers. Now that has all changed.  At the end of the day, people like to deal with people.  How many times have you been faced with choices between different items to buy or services to bring in?  And how many times have you gone with recommendations from friends or because you know someone within that service?

So, in this new world of communication, how can we ensure that our brands are the ones that remain trusted and at the forefront of peoples minds?  Well we look to personalise our brand and give it character through the people within the business.

Amy talks about building loyalty with the people who are engaged with your product, whether that be a hotel or the NFL.  Looking past the sponsorships, advertising campaigns and logo placements and thinking about how to actually connect with fans.

[Connecting with People, not Logos]

The book makes you think about what you are doing and how it can be done better (or differently).  If your methods aren’t working then it may help you to find out why and gain new motivation to bring about the change needed.

What Amy delivers isn’t a “5 steps to social media success” but an honest look at the work she has done, what has worked and how this journey has impacted on her personal life.

Do you see yourself as a Renegade?  Do you find yourself ‘colouring outside the lines’?  Then you should read this book, you will take a lot from it.  Even if you are not quite so much the renegade there are enough anecdotes to spark off ideas and give you new things to go into work with the next day (and the day after).

Is the book perfect? No. Is it going to be of interest and useful to many of us in the industry and those who just want to learn more? Definitely, yes. And the reason is where the book starts, when her boss wrote down three words:

‘Work. Family. Self.’

“Choose two,” she said. “You can’t have all three.”

But Amy Jo Martin, Digital Royalty and ‘Renegades Write The Rules’ prove otherwise.

So well done Amy on a great first book.  If I find myself in Las Vegas at any stage I’ll certainly pop into the Digital Royalty office and say hi to the rapidly expanding crew!

Two things have resonated with me these last few days and I wanted to share these with you.  It is in regards to how powerful it is to show the people behind the logo.

The first was reading Amy Jo Martin’s new book “Renegades Write The Rules” (Amy is the founder of social media agency Digital Royalty) where she talks in some detail about this humanisation*.  That people want to connect with people, not logos.

This is something I have heard a lot about in my time in the industry and continues to strike a cord.  The second thing came to me whilst watching ‘Undercover Boss USA’, one of those programmes that I find fascinating.

Why does the show work so well?  It’s because it shows to the boss that it is not about technology or strategy or product, it’s about the people you have in your company.  More importantly it shows to employees that their boss is a real person with falabilities, a family and with beliefs…. this develops an emotional connection between them all.

The biggest frustration of both employees and fans in any business is lack of communication.  How can they buy into something when they have no idea what the philosophy is or what direction they are going?  Just ask the fans of Blackburn Rovers!

If you have employees who want to work for you and believe in the direction you are taking them then it improves your chances of success exponentially.

The same can be said for the external image of a company.  Those who hide behind logos and send out controlled corporate messages will have no emotional link with consumers.  If a better product (or even similar) comes along there is no affinity to stay with your brand.

So how can you ensure that you can have that relationship like others have done.  Those such as Apple, Virgin, Zappos and UFC to name just a few.  What do they all have in common?  They have leaders who have a vision, are very public/visible and approachable.

Even though Steve Jobs was never one for Twitter, he was the face of the brand and it was his vision that people bought into rather than any individual product.  The other mentioned are Richard Branson, Tony Heish and Dana White, all advocates of social media, who give consumers an insight into what their brand is all about, where it is going and why they should buy into their dreams.

So how does this relate to you?  It has always been said that people buy into WHY you do something rather than WHAT you do.  Whether it is a club, NGB, brand or charity, once people understand what you stand for and can feel part of the journey then they will follow you through thick and thin.

If you develop the ‘why’ you should be on there and how you can help give fans/consumers an insight to what you do and be a positive influence… then go for it.  Developing that link with them and showing people there is more than just a logo to what you are doing then I believe you will succeed.

As Amy says in her book;  “In contrast to traditional branding, social media focuses on building loyalty through community because…. humans connect with humans, not logos.”

“This human connection to brands isn’t groundbreaking.  If you think about your favourite brands, you’ll typically be able to identify the people you connect with, whether it’s the CEO you heard speak, a celebrity who endorses the brand, or someone you know directly who works for or advocates the brand.  There’s usually a human touch point that makes that brand more meaningful to you than your agreement with a tagline.”

Shaun, over on Digital Football, wrote about Chairman of clubs tweeting.  Should they do so and who does it now?  It is an open-ended question as they tend to do it with no real strategy and is more personal to them.  Are they doing a good job or damaging their clubs?  If you have no strategy then you could be doing the opposite of what you want to achieve.

For the record there are only 3 currently tweeting;

• Tony Fernandes                  (QPR)
• David Gold                            (West Ham)
• Darragh MacAnthony       (Peterborough)

Remember, people like to connect with people, not logos. 

*You can read more about Amy’s great new book (which launches tomorrow – 2nd October) with my review/write up tonight.

Gillette, which is the sponsor of football on YouTube in EMEA, has launched the Gillette Football Club channel on the video site, with content including goals, highlights and behind the scenes footage from international football leagues and clubs.

The channel has gone live today in beta. It features content from leagues including Spain’s La Liga, and Italy’s Serie A, and over 50 different clubs, including Manchester City FC, Chelsea FC, Paris Saint-Germain, and Olympique de Marseille.

It does not have online Premier League highlights, however, as the rights are owned by Yahoo.  Much of the ‘football shows’ comes from a new partnership with Copa90, part of Big Balls Films, as the brand looks to set up a video football magazine style site.

The channel will feature news from sports content providers such as TalkSport and ESPN. Gillette plans to launch exclusive branded football content on the channel and social gaming.

It also has a stats page with information on leagues, including the English Premier League and players, provided by Squawka (well done Sanjit!).  The stats section includes information on top European goal scorers and Gillette’s team of the week.

Gillette already has an association with football through its partnership with grassroots football organisation streetfootballworld. For every user which registers on the new Gillette YouTube channel, P&G it will give one dollar to streetfootballworld, up to a limit of $3m.

The channel also has an “explore Gillette” section for the channel, with videos of past TV campaigns, information about products and the ability to click through to buy Gillette them on Boots’ ecommerce store.

Matt Brittin, vice president of sales and operations at Google, said: “The ever expanding team of YouTube football partners create a diverse and compelling content line up for fans.

“We’re delighted to join forces with Gillette to build a fantastic new YouTube experience for our passionate football community.”

The channel was developed with Proximity BBDO Paris.

The launch comes shortly after YouTube launched a foreign football league highlights channel by sports media rights company MP & Silva. The Scottish Premier League also recently launched a highlights channel on YouTube.

Watching rugby these days, sports fans are likely to have more than just the remote in one hand and a cold beverage in the other. Making a regular appearance at match time are digital devices – laptops, smartphones, tablets…

This growing trend for “dual-screening” or “second-screening” has inspired adidas to build a cutting-edge Facebook site called adidas Game Day, where All Blacks fans can gather together virtually while they’re watching the match (or if they can’t get to a telly). It ran for the first time last Saturday night during the Bledisloe Cup test.

“adidas Game Day will provide serious All Blacks fans with an outlet for their dual-screening urges, on a Facebook app like no other,” says adidas Marketing Manager Nadia Scott. “It harnesses the power and reach of Facebook but it doesn’t look like your usual Facebook app. It’s really a conventional website within the Facebook framework, that capitalises on the site’s latest layout capabilities.”

adidas has developed the pioneering site in conjunction with Facebook. It has far more functionality than the standard Facebook pages for businesses, and a unique design custom-created for adidas. adidas Game Day has been developed by boutique Auckland web development company Tailor.

It will be the first home on the web in the world for rugby fans that will offer them the combination of:

• live commentary, including the views of All Blacks greats and other experts;
• a chance to discuss the game as it unfolds through live chat;
• up-to-the-minute game stats, equivalent to those provided to match commentators;
• All Blacks team profiles;
• player line ups for both the All Blacks and their competition, for each fixture;
• online voting on contentious decisions;
• a vote for the man of the match; and
• a link to buy official supporters gear.

The initial line-up of guest commentators is injured All Black Ali Williams, former All Black Andrew Blowers and rugby-mad broadcaster Nathan Rarere.

“adidas Game Day is an awesome place to get into the action,” says Ali Williams.

“If there’s one thing Kiwi rugby fans love, it’s having a good argument about an All Blacks game. It’s going to be a great new way to talk rugby, and I’m looking forward to hanging out there in the next few weeks. If I can’t get to the match, this will be the next best thing.” The app, at www.facebook.com/adidasrugby, will also be a hub for All Blacks fans between games, where they can dissect match stats, view fixtures and results, follow links to buy official All Blacks gear, and read and discuss match previews and news from the All Blacks.

In the launch phase, adidas Game Day will only work on computers and tablets viewed through the internet browser. More exciting pioneering functionality will be rolled out in future seasons, including a smartphone app. Details of these advances will be released closer to the time.

* Local stats for dual-screening aren’t available, but sports and entertainment consultancy Gemba New Zealand notes that during last year’s Rugby World Cup internet consumption of rugby union by New Zealanders increased almost four-fold.

Below are some screenshots from the app:

(Disclaimer: adidas Rugby is a client in my day job)

This is a new offering from Foot Locker and adidas featuring the social media superstar that is Snoop Dogg, a long time ambassador for the brand.

With over 10m fans on Twitter and 20m on Facebook, he is what ever brand wants to have on board.  Companies are finding that the status of the ambassadors they bring in is not just about what they do in their respective industries but also what they offer within the social space.

Snoop is one of those who has a great brand of his own, fans love and has a massive audience he can promote to.  The video is actually a part announcement as Snoop Dogg changes to become Snoop Lion!  He says that he underwent a complete spiritual and physical rebirth during his staying in Jamaica and has even stated his intention devote the rest of his career to raggae, not calling himself a rapper anymore.

The ‘monster’ in the video is a giant dreadlocked lion and is the product of award-winning German director duo, Alex and Steffen.

Since its launch it has gone from 7,000 views (when I first watched it yesterday) to over 240,000 views now.  Once it goes up on Snoops own pages you can expect that number to double and beyond.

There is also a chance for you to get involved and win a pair of the Space Diver shoes by entering a Twitter competition.  You just have to say how being in the shoes will make you feel and include #inmyspacedivers to enter. Simples!  Here is a screengrab with some more info…

You watch the film and find out more on the Foot Locker website

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by adidas