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Click the image above to check out the 'Game Face" Activation on Youtube!
Dear Faithful Readers,
Before getting into the office today I checked in on my fantasy matchup for week two of the playoffs, tracked a workout, read through the day’s headlines and connected with a friend on social media… all through applications on my phone.
The mobile world hasn't halted for even a minute over the past 5 years. In fact, it’s grown at a rate of about 200 new apps per day according to a Flurry Five study. The report also states that gaming apps remain the largest category of all apps, taking up 32% of users time spent in applications.
Utilizing this knowledge gives sports marketers a huge advantage to keeping their fans entertained and connected during and between games/events. This week’s article features a gaming program with a social media tie-in that has proven to create new opportunities for teams to interact with fans and increase their engagement in-stadium.
Enjoy the feature,
Erin
[email protected]
P.S. - Feeling creative? Send in your best marketing and advertising campaign from 2013 and your team could be the next feature in "Selling It"!
PROGRAM TITLE
The Ice Hockey World Championships
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OBJECTIVES
Creativity for in-stadium activations and fan engagement can be a difficult task. It can be limited to the capabilities and amount of video boards and signage around the stadium. Moreover, tying-in social media with fan engagement while capitalizing on a unique partnership is an equally complex undertaking.
Finding the right mix of social media and fan entertainment can be instrumental in creating a fun in-stadium environment. With high involvement in social games, the crowd can raise the intensity of the atmosphere, giving players the opportunity to feed off that energy. Fan-focused programs give teams the opportunity to interact with their attendees on second and third screens throughout the game.
In this weeks article, we'll take a look at a program that can be used in stadiums and arenas across the country as a great social media activation. To do that, we're going to take a page from the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in Finland, in the first “Selling It...” article from across the world.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
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The IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) contracted Uplause, a fan engagement company, to get the crowd involved during their finals. Uplause specializes in fan activation, which they showcased in their “Game Face” promotion at the Hockey World Championships.
At the arena, fans could download a “Game Face” app and use it to take a picture of themselves. With a few clicks of a button, they could then edit their picture to make it look like a beat up hockey player. The fans could share their picture directly to Facebook, use it as a profile picture, email it to friends or share it to other social outlets easily through the app.
At the arena, Uplause had a street team promoting the application and encouraging game attendees to download it. For those without smartphones, the street team was equiped with Samsung Tablets which were set up with the app. The pictures were used on some of the digital signage around the stadium in a sort of “Game Face Gallery” where fans could see their own pictures on the video boards.
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Fans could upload their picture within moments to social media outlets AND see their face on the video boards at the game. The program was able to utilize the basic idea of Instagram and apply it to a sports arena with tens of thousands of fans, all in one place. Then the hundreds of thousands of social media impressions reverberated all throughout the hockey community in Finland as it became a way to show dedication to your team.
Click above to go to the IIHF 2014 Wolrd Champioships Website!
PARTNERSHIP
Uplause was the main partner for the IIHF at the Championships. They created the app and the interstitials for the boards. Uplause also partnered with Clear Channel Communications for the video boards and Samsung for the street team, using their tablets to let fans create their own “Game Face”. Integrating all three partners was a big win for all parties involved. "We were very please to work with the IIHF this year. The promotion was a huge success and we are looking forward to working with them in the future to see what some of our other fan engagement games can do," said Heikki Aura, Executive VP at Uplause.
RESULTS
The results from the program are big. Data tracked by Uplause shows over 720,000 social media impressions, with over 6,600 unique “Game Faces” created. Over 6.3% of IIHF Facebook fans were activated during the game through the app. Overall, the fans liked the promotion and the social chatter surrounding it reflects their opinions.
LOOKING AHEAD
The future for this exact promotion is uncertain, but Uplause has similar fan activation programs coming up. They will be partnering with the NHL and just started on programs with the Knicks and Rangers. There's more to watch out for from Uplause in fan activation games.
CONTACT
For more Information, contact:
Heikki Aura, Executive Vice President, Uplause
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