In case you haven’t heard me say it before – the marriage of Sports and Social Media is a union made in Heaven. In a recent post, David Taylor of the Brandgym said that “social is unimportant for 99% of brands”. No one would refute that Sports is in the 1% of phenomenon that has “social” well and truly baked in. That presumably goes for most – but not all – of the brands that sponsor sporting properties or who are involved in sporting partnerships.
In this month’s deep dive, we continue to look at the innovative ways in which digital technologies are being used not only to enhance the existing social vector of sports but to introduce new aspects to the experience too.
See it all as evidence of the “gathering” storm soon to break in SA.
Earlier this month, we noted the fine efforts of the AFL in using digital tracking technology to create "art" out of a player’s on-field movements. We also looked at how Bud Light has fan-sourced reporting for both Major League Baseball and for the upcoming Super Bowl. For more information click here and here.
The London 2012 Summer Olympics are likely to be the most digitally driven spectacle yet. Mashable reports that London is to soon install Europe’s biggest Wi-Fi Zone to power the fan experience of the games. In a press release, mobile service provider O2 said the free service was the result of a deal struck between itself, the Westminster City Council and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
“We want to ensure that the millions of visitors that come to the city have the best experience possible and can make the most of what the city has to offer”, an O2 spokesman said.
Said a City Councillor: “the free Wi-Fi will allow tourists to be able to more easily share pictures and status updates from the games on their social networks”
Picture courtesy of Mashable
The power of Twitter to fuel sporting conversations continues unabated, in spite of the obvious threat which new social networks like G+ are posing. Manchester City has decided to start broadcasting fan tweets from around the world on the big screen at home games. All tweets accompanied with the hashtag #blueview will be picked up by the stadium webteam, presumably vetted and then if suitable, streamed for all in the stadium to see. (Incidentally, Man City is also the first Premiership team to sign a YouTube
content deal. For more information click here).
In College Football, Mashable reports that Mississippi State University is to paint its team hashtag (and team rallying cry) #hailstate in the northern end zone of the home ground. Traditionally this space is dedicated to the school’s mascot or coat of arms so this departure from convention is creating a real buzz. As one commentator said: “it’s a great way to involve social media at the game, and to TV viewers it’s going to stir up some emotions between fans of both teams”
A final footnote which tesifies to Twitter's phenomenal popularlity involves the intergalactically famous Denver Bronco quarterback Tim Tebow. When the player completed a successful 80 yard touchdown pass in overtime to win against against the Steelers, tweets relating to him peaked at 9420 per second. This places the match into the second most tweeted about events in the history of the platform - surpassing such momentous events as the death of Bin Laden, the passing of Steve Jobs and the Japan Tsunami of 2011.
In South America, ViralBlog reports of how Mexican soccer team Jaguares will soon be replacing player names with the player’s twitter handle. This is not the first club to do this however. Earlier in 2011 Valencia slapped Twitter handles on team Jerseys and the club’s twitter following leaped exponentially.
Meanwhile, digital-football.com is calling 2012 “the year of the pitch-side reporter” saying that the year won’t be as much about the digital platforms that are used by teams, marketers and sporting bodies but about the people behind them.
“Anyone who follows Social Media and Sports in the US will already be familiar with this role and completely understand what it entails. But for the rest of us across the Atlantic, it’s still a job title that doesn’t particularly mean anything else other than ‘junior journalist’. Wrong.”
The site identifies 4 essential disciplines of pitch-side reporters:
Micro Journalism: Lively reportage on the game. What’s the score? What’s the atmosphere like? It might be a live blog on a website (the type we saw on the RWC 2012 page during the tournament) or simply a stream of tweets.
Live content creation: provide a bridge between the fans who actually have tickets and those who don’t. This means picking up engaging content – e.g. half time interviews recorded on a Smartphone, sideline antics or celebrations – and streaming it in real-time.
Life content curation: pitchside reporters will have not just have to create content but keep an eye on what is being said online e.g. they might bring in tweets/updates into their own feed, collate photos and videos of match moments which fans are sending from their various vantage points in the stadium. A great example, shared by sports marketing expert Brian Gainor, is a (BRILLIANT) fan video of the San Francisco 49ers winning touchdown against the New Orleans saints. The footage was clearly taken on a high quality Smartphone and as such, was good enough to share with a broader audience. Look at the fan celebration!
Fly on the wall reportage: Sports is a phenomenon of thousands of different moments which traditional broadcasters tend not to pick up. The pitchside reporter has access to the small moments that make the spectacle so absorbing. A star’s warm up routine. The tunnel. The warm-up room. The physio’s room. Even the changeroom.
Indeed, it sounds like a huge role but experience is showing that it is often delivered through a frontline team with each member carrying a particular set of responsibilities. (See my earlier deep dive into the NBA as well as Dan Brooks' excellent analysis of how the NHL is using social media in this regard). The key point is that the role of pitchside reporter is not something that gets handed out to juniors or interns - it requires a thorough briefing and a lot of experience, not just with the digital platform in question but with the sport itself.
There's probably a lot to take out of this post but here are the essential points and actions:
- Any team or brand in SA that is not considering how to maximise the social component of their brand/team or sport using digital technologies is going to fall behind.
- Look at your brand as well as its partners - spend some time "smashing" both brand and partnership to find out how many "touch points" can be optimised with digital media.
- Include these touchpoints in negotiations with your partners
- Start a conversation within your business about developing a frontline team of trained, passionate "pitchside"/stadium/event reporters - (whether it is a full time, company owned unit or one sourced through a 3rd party is not the point) - to help drive your sponsorship objectives
