In previous reports we have examined numerous examples that support the “Monday’s Experts” insight platform as well as the rise of digital and social media’s as part of the fan experience. No example to date (with the possible exception of Carling “Be the coach”) captures these two elements more powerfully than Heineken’s activation of the UEFA Champions League.
The problem
The UEFA Champions league is one of football’s most compelling spectacles with over 100 million viewers. The flip side of this is that it is a media-saturated cauldron in which achieving standout is increasingly difficult. With this in mind, Heineken was determined to transform its sponsorship of the event from an ostentatious display of badging to something which added major value to the fan.
Heineken’s Brand Essence
“Be a man of the World”.
This essence, which implies sociability, reflects the brand’s desire to be an entertainment brand and not just a beer brand.
The insight behind it is that men of the 21st Century hate being seen as “provincial amateurs” or “small town hicks”. They aspire to be “Citizens of the World”, experts in all they set their heart and mind to doing. Part of this involves seeking out, accumulating and sharing knowledge and experiences.
Of course, simply saying all this is not enough. The key is to facilitate it. In the UEFA Champions League property, Heineken had the makings of the perfect vehicle.
What brought Heineken to this place isn’t what would take if forward
The brand team realised that in sponsorship, money doesn’t buy you love and that in today's hyperconnected world, just being a headline partner is no conversational guarantee. Nike’s upstaging of Adidas during WC2010 showed that. Indeed, in the Champions League, a headline sponsor paying $15m a year can be easily upstaged by a smaller, smarter player. “Essentially, official sponsors must act like challengers lest they get outflanked by other challengers” says Simon Wassef of AKQA, (Heineken's agency).
With this in mind, the tired “Men enjoying Heineken while watching the match” adland formula was clearly not going to cut it.
Heineken’s UEFA Mission
To connect Heineken drinkers to football and give them the best UEFA Champions League experience by enforcing their “man of the world” status
Insight first
As with all great communication, the journey began by gathering insight. How do people enjoy sports beyond the stadium? Where do they go to watch? What sort of conversations do they have while watching? What are the rituals associated with watching soccer?
The first important discovery was that the majority of “fans” were in fact not fans of the teams playing but football lovers and connoisseurs of the game in general – satisfied to adopt a team if theirs was either not represented or if it had been knocked out.
It was also noted that far fewer men watched the game in pubs than expected with a vast majority enjoying the game at home alone.
How could Heineken indulge and romance the football connoisseur who watched the Champions League from his favourite armchair?
Expressing Connoisseurship through Anticipation
Research showed that “in-home” fans have one mental state in common: anticipation. Anticipation leads to verbalisation which in turn is the way in which the fan showcases his knowledge and expertise of the game to those around them. Much of this “showcasing” and “sharing” was taking place through “multi-tasking” – the simultaneous viewing and sharing of predictions on SMS, Facebook and Twitter. This begged the question: how could Heineken slipstream this trend yet deliver it in a fresh and exciting way?
And so to the Heineken Star Player Game!
Available as an app in the iStore, fans could download the game and create a profile for the match they were about to watch. The game’s timer syncs automatically with the match clock and players can play either against their friends or against fans all around the world.
During a match, users are given 8 tries to predict whether either team will score within in the next 30 seconds. A correct guess wins points with the first to take the plunge scoring more highly than those who call it closer to goal time.
Heineken Quiz questions pop up during slow moments of play
A Facebook connect functionality allows you to publish your results to your profile and various proficiency badges were awarded
Here’s a great video summary of the game in action...
Results
- Though the game was piloted towards the end of the tournament with only 3 fixtures remaining, the app was downloaded 30 000 times
- Heineken’s share of voice over the UCL doubled compared to all UCL sponsors
- An estimated Twitter audience of 39 million people have either participated in the game or seen evidence of it on Twitter.
- Do the groundwork - it all started with a powerful insight into the home fan experience
- Make bold moves and invest heavily - I can't find any data on how much it cost to develop this game but it can't have been cheap. However, it would seem the gaming experience was a highly satisfying (even addictive) one with plenty of room for scaling in coming years
- Integate fully - the game was integrated fully not just with other social platforms - but with all above the line activity relating to the UEFA Champions League
Diageo seems to be an organisation that has taken the digital revolution extremely seriously and I am amazed by the pace at which the company is evolving in this space. Heineken has produced some excellent activity for the Rugby World Cup 2011 and seems to be building on prior learnings.
The time for SABMiller to draw a line in the sand is now! Yes, there is much to learn. Yes, mistakes will be made. But this is true of anyone seeking to break new ground with digital. The key is to experiment. I believe the Carling Black Label Cup is a prime contender for digital and we should plan now to leverage this exciting channel in 2012.
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