As the greatest manager of his era, perhaps of all time, brings to an end his reign at Old Trafford, quick witted marketers at Nando’s came up with a fast response Twitter-led micro-campaign.

Twitter was certainly the appropriate medium for the theme. After all, within 8 minutes of the official retirement announcement it was the number 1 global trend on the microblogging site and within three hours there had been 140,000 uses of the #thankyousiralex hashtag.

So, in the early afternoon after the news broke, Nando’s official Twitter account tweeted:

“In honour of Sir Alex Ferguson we’re proud to introduce #NandosFergieTime - all our Manchester Nando’s will be open 5 minutes later tonight.”

Nando’s also updated it’s website opening hours details for its Manchester branches accordingly – citing “#NandosFergieTime”.

The stunt was also covered on the brand’s own blog.

The FergieTime reference, is, of course, a tribute to the supposed favourable extra injury time Manchester United have benefited from at Old Trafford during Ferguson’s 26-years as manager.

Within 30 minutes the tweet had racked up 6,000 retweets and after five hours the post had received an impressive 14,272 retweets and had been favourited 3,142 times.

Comment

This is an example of a real-time response with an actual relevant brand benefit attached – albeit not much of one.

Jumping on the newsjacking bandwagon? Probably!

But funny nevertheless.

And it certainly ticked the ‘relevance’ box and drove brand coverage across the UK media and international marketing press.

In addition to the official PR earned, the stunt is being widely shared online and via word of mouth.

Perhaps the cleverest feat is to please Utd fans by marking the occasion, without annoying City fans who often poke fun at Fergie time.

A rare feat, last achieved by Betfair’s 2011 ‘Trash Your Tevez Shirt’ stunt (see previous case study).

It certainly seemed to gain more traction than any of the club’s official sponsors’ reactions – although the news did  prompt a whirl of brand activity across digital channels from both current partners and brands that have relationships with the club during Ferguson’s reign.

For example, former club sponsor Umbro, which was the club’s kit manufacturer between 1992 and 2002, took to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram today to ask fans to choose their favourite club shirt over the period.

While Sharp Electronics, the club’s shirt sponsor between 1982 and 2000, also paid tribute by simply wishing Ferguson “Happy retirement” on Twitter.

Nike, the club’s current  kit supplier, released an official statement saying: “Sir Alex Ferguson is one of the greatest managers the game has ever seen and he will be greatly missed by all of the Nike employees who have been lucky enough to work with him during the last 10 years.

“We’re sad to see him stepping down from his role as Manchester United manager, but we’re delighted that he will remain at the club as a director and ambassador.”

Thomas Cook, the club’s official travel partner, and Aon, the current shirt sponsor, also put out official statements paying tribute to Ferguson.

As for how the club itself dealt with the story, Manchester United issued an official statement to the New York Stock Exchange and broke new news on its official Twitter feed using the hashtag #thankyousiralex.

Within an hour of the news breaking, there had been 1.4 million mentions of it on Twitter

Utd also offered supporters a chance to pen their own eulogies to Ferguson via Facebook and said that the best of the messages would be put into a special book for the retiring manager.

Links

Nandos Website

https://twitter.com/NandosUK/status/332129355411111936/photo/1

Nados Twitter

https://twitter.com/NandosUK/status/332128852916715521

Nando’s Blog

http://www.nandos.co.uk/blog/food/nandosfergietime-3918/

Perhaps imitation is indeed the best form of flattery in the car business.

Lotus 2013 Season Trailer, which its major new Coca-Cola-owned Burn sponsor on-board  takes a fairly different approach again with a short film from Ridley Scott Associates called #ShowTime.

Starring drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean and counting down to the new F1 season, its focus is on Lotus’ positioning as the team that does everything just a little bit differently.

Burn itself kicked off its own multi-year Lotus F1 partnership with a Twitter initiative to encourage fans to ask drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean questions about the season ahead.

It is also using its Facebook, Tumblr and Flickr platforms to promote the Ridley Scott teaser trailer ‘#Showtime’ (which has racked up 116,000-plus YouTube views to date).

The brand symbol of active fire, which simulates the senses and provides a symbol of the brand’s mission to provide drinkers with the energy to channel raw creativity into purposeful self-expression, features prominently on the car and the driver suits this season.

According to Burn, this Twitter push is the first phase of a wider strategy the energy drink brand says will dovetail with its existing art and music initiatives as it aims to change the traditional hospitality and reach-and-frequency conventions of so much previous F1 activation.

This is set to reflect Burn’s wider objective of encouraging and inspire everyone to live in a ‘Free State of Creativity’; challenging norms, without fear and boundaries, in the pursuit of creative expression.

This reflects the wider ambition of Burn to add to culture, be a place to bring talented people together, and energize creators in all fields.

Comment

In past years Burn has linked with a span of elite creators around the world – from snow and skate sports to electronic dance music – individuals who are living manifestations of the brand.

These partnerships have been activated by giving these creators a voice and a platform to ignite their creativity.

For years, while F1 has more than its fair share of creative visionaries, it’s sponsorship activation has tended to be fairly standardised, dominated by reach and awareness and generally lacking in imagination and innovation.

Perhaps Burn, along with other major new F1 sponsors in the 2013 season such as Blackberry, will begin to change this approach for one more focused on original, experience-enhancing engagement.

Links

Scott Associates Season Intro Film YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=IPpS1adn9T0

Burn Tumblr

http://burn-energy.tumblr.com

Burn Twitter

https://twitter.com/burn

Burn YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/burn

Lotus F1 Website

http://lotusf1team.com

Lotus Twitter

https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team

Lotus Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/LotusF1Team?group_id=0

Lotus Pinterest

http://pinterest.com/lotusf1team/

The spearhead ‘Legendary Journey’ commercial leverages the fact that it is 125 years since the British & Irish Lions first set sail to Australia.

The creative re-imagines Captain Cook’s epic voyage aboard HMB Endeavour.

 
The explorer, navigator and cartographer actually made three journeys to the Pacific Ocean and achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia.

But this time retelling of his story sees the vessel is crewed by Brian O’Driscoll, Warren Gatland and other famous lions legends and rugby figures.

The campaign features a selection of HSBC rugby brand ambassadors – including Jason Robinson, Jonathan Davies, Gavin Hastings, Brian O’Driscoll and George Gregan – all of whom will provide unique insights in to the Lions through the course of the tour.

The TV ad was launched to coincide with the squad announcement – which was also covered by HSBC’s Lions Monthly long-form video updates.

Supporting the online trailer and the TV ad, an interactive YouTube experience hosts the story of the legendary lions. This platform will also evolve with up to the minute exclusive content including all the latest news from the tour.

Another online element of HSBC’s British & Irish Lions campaign sees the launch of a digital Lions shirt as the centrepiece of the main online destination for all Lions rugby fans – www.lionsrugby.com.

The touring team’s iconic red jersey has been reworked as an online content sharing platform which hosts hundreds of existing Lions related photos and videos. It also invites fans themselves to upload their own Lions-related photos and good luck messages into the digital shirt’s empty pixels.

The digital jersey, which can be viewed and shared online, features innovative ‘deep zoom’ technology (created by software and data visualisation outfit Shoothill).

Former Lions (and Scotland) captain Gavin Hastings, in his role as HSBC ambassador, fronts a digital shirt promotional video.

The digital Lions shirt, complete with all its support messages, will be shared with The Lions squad to illustrate the depth of support they have from fans around the world.

‘It’s fitting that as we celebrate 125 years of The British & Irish Lions we have been able to create a virtual version of the iconic jersey that allows all fans to be a part of the shirt,’ says Charlie McEwan, Director of Sales and Marketing for British Lions Limited. ‘We’re urging as many fans as possible to sign up and register their messages of support and play their role in the success of the Tour off and hopefully on the field.”

‘Rewarding fans with exclusive never- seen-before imagery and videos as well as providing an opportunity to lend their support has been a priority for HSBC since we renewed our partnership with The British & Irish Lions,’ outlines Andrea de Vincentiis, Head of Rugby Sponsorship HSBC Holdings plc. ‘We are urging everyone to join the journey and upload their messages of support for the team.’

Comment

The bank was the Principal Partner to the last British & Irish Lions Tour to South Africa in 2009 and becomes the first Lions Principal Partner to renew their association for two consecutive tours.

HSBC has a long-standing investment in global rugby, with several professional and grass roots community rugby programmes around the world.

HSBC’s support for the game aims to boost the international growth of the game and to help rugby to achieve its potential for bringing together different people from different cultures through a shared love of the game.

The objective of the TV part of the latest campaign is to build excitement around the tour and awareness of HSBC’s Lions partnership, while the digital shirt aims to encourage fans to get directly involved and become part of history.

HSBC will also use the sponsorship to continue building long-lasting relationships with its key stakeholders, provide unique opportunities to its customers and to further engage and motivate its employees.

Links

Lions Legendary Journey TVC Trailer YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YdTjHUICVs

Lions Website

http://www.lionsrugby.com/home.php

Digital Lions Shirt Online Film YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueokTZJBEIU&feature=youtu.be

Digital Lions Shirt Mosaic Website

http://www.lionsrugby.com/jointhejourney

HSBC Website

http://www.hsbc.com/

The exclusive, invite-only 13 April event was hosted poolside at the Merv Griffin Estate and the celebrities amongst the 500 guests included: Diane Kruger, Joshua Jackson, Julianne Hough, Darren Criss, Sophia Bush and Justin Chatwin.

The event was spearheaded by live performances by Santigold, The Dough Rollers, DJ Shorty Stump and DJ Michelle Pesce.

The clothes retail brand, under its H&M Life online magazine sub-brand also uses various platforms, such as its YouTube Channel, to showcase what it deems to be the best looks at Coachella.

In addition to the flagship party, activation ranged from branded pedalos to the H&M Loves Music tent. This year the tent had a ‘Loop Booth’ where festival attendees were incentivised to ‘dance their GIFs off’  in a best dance moves shareable photo competition.

During the March lead up to the festival, H&M also partnered with fashion magazine Refinery29 on a photo competition challenging fans and consumers to upload their best single shot image ‘capturing the fun and fashion of the summer festival season’ to Instagram.

The 2013 winner was Pastel la Mode’s relaxed boho-chic picture.

The pre-festival activation continued with an H&M Festival Collection ‘On The Way To Coachella’ video.

The film drives consumers to its Festival Collection website.

The Coachella activation kicks off the brand’s wider ‘Love Music’ initiative which aims to helps consumers experience the ‘ultimate festival summer’.

This ongoing Spring/Summer campaign revolves around global music festivals and has the H&M Love Music Tumblr page at its heart.

The Tumblr is populated with copy, photo and video content both from the brand itself and from a team of influential style, fashion and music bloggers.

It also offers consumers the chance to win prizes and listen to up and coming hot new 2013 bands.

Leveraging Coachella’s reputation for fashion leadership and trend influencers, H&M is the only fashion brand on the official sponsorship roster. The other six lead sponsors for the 2013 festival were Heineken, JBL, Red Bull, Fruttare and Playstation.

The global high street, fast-fashion brand has used the event to promote its ‘Conscious Collection’ and ‘Fashion Against AIDS Collection at the festival polo grounds and associated VIP events.

‘We have watched first-hand how music and fashion inspire and change trends,’ says H&M spokesperson Jennifer Ward. ‘After three years of presence on the polo fields, we decided it was time to host our own private VIP event in addition to the sponsorship.’

Links

H&M Love Music Website

http://hmlovesmusic.com/

H&M Loves Music Tumblr

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/h&m%20loves%20music

H&M Life Website

http://www.hm.com/gb/life

H&M Website

http://www.hm.com

H&M Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/hm

H&M Twitter

https://twitter.com/hm

Coachella Website

http://www.coachella.com/

ZooZoos, tiny white animated creatures with ballooned bodies and egg heads, have fronted Vodafone’s IPL work since Season 2 and they have almost become an almost iconic part of the wider IPL landscape.

Season 6 sees Vodafone bring back Zoozoos with a fresh twist via a new avatar, as the brand aims to make itself more engaging and consumer friendly.

In the past the Zoozoos have featured in IPL activation campaigns promoting the mobile giant’s various valued-added services and promotional offers and to generally extend the brand’s consumer reach and this season sees the brand add a fresh twist to the concept.

This year the Zoozoos are being used to create relevance for using internet on the mobile and improving the quality of awareness of the internet.

2013 sees Vodafone launch a major mobile internet campaign, with an objective to drive trial of the internet using either ‘Rs 25 2G Starter Pack’ and ‘Rs 49 3G Pack’.

This year’s activity initially began with a Zoozoo teaser spot running on social media via its Facebook page. Vodafone already has over 10 million fans on Facebook, and with this new campaign, it expects to add to that number significantly.

The commercial then aired on TV during the IPL opening ceremony.

The telecoms company is following this up by rolling out nine further spots, each different, through the course of the tournament.

These include the new SuperFan execution,

which encourages consumers to send an SMS to a competition to become one of 76 Vodafone SuperFans to win the chance to watch the match from the hospitality stand, receive a Vodafone kit, and appear live on TV while taking the signed match ball from the winning captain.

In addition to the TV and digital work, the campaign also includes point-of-sale, on-the-ground, radio and press strands to drive mobile Internet pack sales.

The overall aim is to demonstrate mobile internet relevance – from entertainment (video, music, games, social) and information/utility (job search and how-to) – to non-internet users.

The campaign aims to make the online world more interesting and less intimidating.

The concept behind the campaign is to use the executions to promote key triggers for internet adoption: downloading songs, watching videos, sharing photos and connecting with friends.

‘Vodafone India was one of the first few brands to associate with the IPL and iIt has been a fruitful association wherein IPL has delivered high reach through TV and a strong consumer connect for the brand through the on-ground engagement with our customers,’ says Anuradha Aggarwal, Senior Vice President – Brand Communications & Insights, Vodafone India.

‘This year’s campaign aims to drive adoption of mobile internet targeting non users of internet.’

Comment

The TV ratings aren’t quite as high as in the early days, but online and social statistics for IPL 2013 continue to grow at impressive rates.

So a telecoms sponsor using its tournament to promote mobile internet usage seems to be a sensible strategy.

Indeed, most key IPL sponsors are focusing a lot of their firepower and marketing investment on digital and social platforms.

For example, new title sponsor Pepsi has tied up with Twitter to allow viewers to play a Tweet 20 cricket game on the mobile internet, while Google+ is running special Hangout sessions to generate post match conversations

‘The IPL product has become more social, and so have the consumers. Social media is a strong indicator of engagement with content and brands are leveraging the same connection,’ says Tushar Vyas, managing partner of media buying giant GroupM.

‘The IPL is a place for us to catch the consumer and create a buzz around our campaign. We are where our consumers are and these consumers use our service to access social media, which works great for us,’ says Aggarwal.

Links:

Vodafone Zoozoos SuperFan Website

http://microsite.vodafone.in/superfan/index.aspx

Vodafone Zoozoos Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/zoozoo

Vodafone India Website

https://www.vodafone.in/pages/index.aspx

IPL Website

http://www.iplt20.com/

The FMCG giant’s sponsorship of the Palm Springs based Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival saw it launch frozen fruit bar range Fruttare in the USA.

The activation focused on a custom-built branded space called the ‘Fruttare Hangout Booth’.

The space aimed to become a cool little oasis – complete with air conditioning, cushioned seating and a waterfall coming from the ceiling into a pool in the middle of the tent – where hip music lovers could grab a spot of calming R&R, chill out with ice cream bars and write their own messages about the experience on the graffiti blackboards.

The aim was to create a chilled out area for festival goers to relax, socialise and sample free products.

The sampling spanned two Fruttare product lines, Fruit & Milk bars in Strawberry, Coconut, Banana and Peach flavors, and Fruttare Fruit & Juice Bars in Strawberry, Orange, Mango and Lime flavors.

There was also a photo booth element when saw festival goers have their pictures taken in front of various LCD screens showing desert scenes (hot locations with ice cream to cool down – get it!).

The objective was to use Coachella as a platform to generate a pre-launch buzz among influencers on Fruttare’s ‘Millennials’ target.

This, according to Unilever research, is a demographic that is changing the snacking landscape as it prefers healthy snacks and eats 35% percent of meals as snacks (plus, helpfully for Fruttare, they are willing to eat desert before breakfast).

‘Coachella has quickly become the quintessential music festival and is one of the key places where our target consumers are checking out the latest bands and newest sounds,’ says Nick Soukas, Unilever’s director of ice cream.

‘Those consumers tend to be someone who’s positive, upbeat, fun, so as we thought about the brand how it could play those roles in people’s lives, music really helps us connect with that mindset.’

Unilever is a first time sponsor of Caochella in 2013, joining a crew of existing sponsors that includes H&M, Heineken, JBL, Play Station and Red Bull.

Fruttare’s other high-profile music partnerships came in the form of a tripartite collaboration between the brand, the consumer and musicians Ne-Yo and Cher Lloyd.

The initiatives will culminate with the two artists write and perform an original song that is inspired by lyrics submitted on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and based on the brand’s tagline “It’s All Good” (or hashtag #ItsAllGood.)

A suite of content, all carrying the ‘It’s All Good’ hashtag was carried on Fruttare’s US Facebook page and this was then informed the musicians in the writing process as they penned an original song inspired by the campaign’s theme.

The track itself is due for released later in the summer and will be performed by Lloyd and Ne-Yo at Clear Channel’s IHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas.

A national TV, digital and social media campaign – from Spanish agency Lola – will also support the launch.

Comment

Sponsorship is clearly playing a significant part in Unilever’s aim to become the leading player in the US ice cream market.

As it battles for supremacy with current category leader Nestlé, Unilever has consistently used sponsorship as the launch pad for its US ice cream new product launches.  

Fruttare, which has had a presence in 15 other countries since the late 1980s, ran a Coachella sponsorship and music partnership strategy that replicates elements of Unilever’s American launch strategy for Magnum ice cream in 2011.

This saw the premium brand’s single-serve bar not only in a music-led partnership with the Billboard Music Awards and artists Natasha Bedingfield, but it also sponsored the Tribeca Film Festival.  

In addition to the classic attendee sampling strand of the campaign, this launch also featured a partnership with fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who directed three Magnum-inspired films starring actress Rachel Bilson.

The films were premiered at Tribeca before the movies were posted the Magnum’s Facebook page.

Magnum credits the sponsorship with generating 157,000 Facebook fans and more than 33,000 followers on the brand’s Twitter feed and with helping it win a PR Week Award in the Best Use of Social Media/Digital category.

Its success was further echoed when Magnum renewed the sponsorship for in 2012.

Links

Fruttare Facebook ‘Its All Good’

https://www.facebook.com/Fruttare/app_231509773662524

Fruttare Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Fruttare?group_id=0

Fruttare Twitter

https://twitter.com/fruttare

Unilever Fruttare Website

http://www.unilever.pk/brands/foodbrands/Fruttare.aspx

April’s music extravaganza saw it official beer/malt beverage sponsor provide Wi-Fi for festival fans to interact with one another and update their social sites from inside its Heineken Dome.

It also gave dancers the opportunity to interact with the Heineken Dome DJs and the accompanying digital light shows and projections. Festival goers were able to control the visual content displayed inside the domes using iPads – thus creating their own personal artistic light show courtesy of Heineken Light.

This year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2013, which ran from 12 to 14 and 19 to 21 April, saw the Dutch beer giant leverage its rights with top DJs and incredible light shows in its branded owned, a festival-wide bottle green brand presence, plus the return of last year’s popular fingerprint-functional Cold Storage beer lockers too.

Select fans of Heineken also had the opportunity to upgrade all these experiences by visiting the brand’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Heineken) or following it on Twitter (@Heineken_US) and thus entering the chance to win added-value experiences.

Indeed, Coachella attendees who purchased one or more festival passes and one 12-pack (or the equivalent or larger) of Heineken were eligible to receive a $25 rebate by mail.

The full run down of 2013 Heineken Coachella activations includes:

Heineken Domes: immersive air conditioned domes (with drinking and dancing) featuring top VJs and DJs (with selected meet-and-greet events), 360º HD video and pictures of dome attendees projected on the ceiling surface and consumer-controlled iPad light painting and Wi-Fi.

Cold Storage: convenient, fingerprint-security, 24-hour access beer cold storage for campers.

Heineken Light Pavilion: beer brand’s largest high volume output festival beer bar complete with queue cool-off misting system

And for those who like their festivals tech-free and old-school and just want to drink the beer, then Heineken brought something for them too this year – a new high speed tap system that pumps 200 beers per minute at the Heineken Light Pavilion and throughout the festival.

Prior to the festival, Heineken also ran a ‘VIP Coachella’ Sweepstakes 2013 competition through March offering winners a VIP trip to the Palm Springs event, plus travel and transport and Heineken branded goody bags.

‘Heineken is thrilled to continue our relationship with Coachella, which is a premiere destination for our brand loyalists,’ said Pattie Falch, Director of Sponsorships and Activation for Heineken USA. ‘As a partner for 12 years, we strive to create authentic experiences and services that embody the energy of Coachella, and enhance the festival attendee experience.’

Comment

Somehow Coachella is an event which seems to maintain its hype.

Some cynics might be weary about constantly hearing about innovation at the festival, while it’s fairly sponsor-heavy presence can be polarising.

Glastonbury may have been first,  Roskilde might be bigger, while Bonnaroo and Bestival may have more indie credibility, but Coachella still boasts the glamour, the fashion (and the weather).

That’s why big brands, from Heineken to H&M, use it as a flagship for innovation and a platform for cool credibility and influencer engagement.

Links:

Sweepstakes Website

http://www.rsvlts.com/2013/04/17/heineken-coachella-festival/

Heineken Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/heineken

Heineken Website

http://www.heineken.com

Coachella Website

http://www.coachella.com

First the National Rifle Association sponsored a Sprint Cup race and plastered its logo across the centre of the track and throughout the venue while the US Congress battled over gun control legislation.

Then there was the lack of F1 sponsorship activation at the Bahrain Grand Prix, while news outlets reporting the controversy carried images of a protest graffiti image of a Ferrari car complete with Shell logo.

Now Jason Collins has become the first openly gay professional athlete in a major US sport.

Sports Illustrated received five million story views in the first two hours after it posted the article and several brands, both sponsors and non-sponsors, have been showing support for the NBA player’s courage.

Nike, the brand endorsed by Collins, issued a short statement after the announcement saying: ‘Jason is a Nike athlete. We are a company committed to diversity and inclusion. We admire Jason’s courage and are proud that he is a Nike athlete. Nike believes in a level playing field where an athlete’s sexual orientation is not a consideration.’

Interestingly, Nike has also recently sponsored women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, the first 2013 WNBA draft pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft, who also openly discussed her sexuality in Sports Illustrated.

Perhaps a more interesting mini social media campaign came within a few hours of Collins’ announcement from airline JetBlue.

It posted a picture, created by its ad agency Mullen, across its social sites showing a rainbow image of the “i-people” from the company’s “You Above All” brand campaign.

The image, and its accompanying copy which read ‘Thanks Jason, today we’re all on the same team‘, showed the brand’s support for Collins.

The message was posted to the brand’s Twitter and Facebook sites and generated a mixed response. While most fans and followers lauded the airline for supporting Collins, a handful of dissenters commented that they wished the company had stayed ‘neutral’ on the issue.

Absolut USA, a brand that has championed gay rights for years with campaigns ranging from its Absolut Coming Out Colours work

through its Absolut Support for gay marriage initiative,

to its sponsorship of Dubline’s Gay Theatre Festival (see previous case study) also tweeted its support for the athlete.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) also created its own supportive image and urged its followers to share the image socially.

Elsewhere, the league announced its support of the LGBT community via message from NBA, commissioner David Stern through Twitter which said: ‘Jason has been a widely respected player and teammate throughout his career and we are proud he has assumed the leadership mantle on this very important issue,’ and used the hashtag #NBAFamily.

While Ernie Grunfeld, the President of Collins’ Washington Wizards team also released a statement that shows his support of Collins:

‘We are extremely proud of Jason and support his decision to live his life proudly and openly. He has been a leader on and off the court and an outstanding teammate throughout his NBA career. Those qualities will continue to serve him both as a player and as a positive role model for others of all sexual orientation.’

There were also a number of high profile NBA players who reached out in support through Twitter: these included Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash (who tweeted ‘The time has come. Maximum respect’.)

While other celebrities – from President Barack Obama to film director Spike Lee and comedian Ellen DeGeneres – also expressed support.

Jason Collins, 34, made his big revelation in the Sports Illustrated magazine May 2013 issue.

Comment

Of course, any courage on a brand’s behalf is overshadowed by the player’s own bravery, nevertheless it does show that companies are prepared to speak out in support of issues they believe in and values that they stand for.

The JetBlue campaign is another example of how tuned-in brands can respond to significant events in real-time and take part of the serious debate (as well as everyday consumer conversation).

Collins’ announcement may well be followed not just by social media activity, but by fully-fledged big brand endorsement deals?

But perhaps what Collins himself most wants is a concrete NBA contract for next season.

Links:

JetBlue Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/JetBlue

JetBlue Twitter

https://twitter.com/JetBlue/status/329311813181255682

JetBlue Website

http://www.jetblue.com/

Sports Illustrated

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/

Essentially this is a web and app platform, by Stockholm-based Åkestam Holst for Audi, that aims to enable skiers all around the world to discover and explore new slopes in a new way.

Encouraging consumer contributions with a ‘Be The First To Claim Your Slopes!’ call-to-action‘, the platform relies on user generated content to populate an interactive map of the world.

Ski enthusiasts are encouraged to film their journey down the piste and then upload the video to the site.

Each video can then be tagged with the exact location of the run.

The project is promoted through online video

and via Facebook, as well as across digital skiing sites and cyber word-of-mouth.

A series of ‘digital graded badges’ are awarded to participants: for instance a Pioneer Badge is earned by any user who uploads five videos from five different resorts, while a ‘Launch Control Badge’ is awarded to anyone mapping three different slopes in their first week as a member.

There is a further competition-style incentivisation for consumers to populate the project: the member who uploads the most videos throughout the FIS World Cup season wins an Audi A3.

The project targets a blend of ‘ski addicts who love to record their performances’ and ‘fans of the FIS Ski World Cup’ and aims is to offer them .

The platform itself is a pure and clear web-based tool that, like Audi itself, employs the very latest technology trends such as 3D map navigation. As well as taking technology approach with synergies to the car brand, the colour palette also matches that of Audi.

Comment

Audi, which has been the title sponsor of the Audi FIS (Federation International De Ski) Ski World Cup since the 2002/2003 season, is aiming to turn its long term support and commitment into a community engagement platforms and branded utility.

Initially this platform appears straightforward to use and provides fresh slope profiles and information that is seldom available.

Audi says that this is a long term project that will expand and grow as it becomes more populated season-by-season.

Whether Slopedia inspires competitive ski and tech enthusiasts through badges and a grand prize, or provides a useful pre ski trip tool for those about to hit the slopes may depend upon whether it builds a sufficient sense of community and social spirit.

Links

Slopedia Website

www.slopedia.se/

Slopedia Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Slopedia

Slopedia Introduction YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ino0OMRfF1I

Audi Ski World Cup Website

http://www.audi.com/com/brand/en/experience/sponsoring/sportsponsoring/winter_sport/audi_fis_ski_world_cup.html

FIS Website

http://www.fis-ski.com/

A fleet of Audi models features in the film: most notably billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Iron Man) played by Robert Downey Jr drives the all electric Audi R8 e-tron prototype, while is assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) drives an Audi S7.

But these days, in-film product placement alone is simply not enough when it comes to maximising a major Hollywood movie partnership

So the alliance, which was brokered by Disneymedia+, is truly multi-faceted.

Audi is the official première partner and is driving the R8 e-tron down red carpets around the world,

while the car brand is simultaneously rolling out an Iron Man TV campaign to promote its partnership with the Disney/Marvel movie (complete with the tagline ‘Audi: Engineered for Iron Man’).

Audi ‘Making Of’ online films

Its CRM activity sees it offer Audi customers the chance to attend previews

In the UK Audi is blending its film tie-in with its football partnership with Chelsea FC and is hosting several Iron man events at the club’s Stamford Bridge, while Iron Man 3 branding is also wrapping around Audi driving events (with pit crews at Brands Hatch dressed as Iron Man himself).

But perhaps the most interesting co-promotion between Marvel and Audi is a creative crowdsourcing cartoon initiative called ‘Steer The Story’

An online comic book thread that enables consumers to tweak the narrative, drive the plot and draw the story.

In short, to become co-creators of a Marvel Iron Man digital comic book.

This element of the movie partnership, which sees social media play a major role, consists of two major phases.

The first enables fans of the franchise (and of the car brand) to be part of the story and choose the narrative direction of the plot by casting a vote through social media sharing.

The second phase, gives consumers the opportunity to draw frames, finish the story and illustrate the eventual fate of Iron Man.

To assist fans with their cartoon drawings skills, Audi has also launched a set of instructional videos with tips on drawing Iron Man and the Audi R8.

For example, ‘Learn How To Draw Iron Man’s Helmet’

or ‘Learn How To Draw An Audi A8′

It encourages creative consumers to draw a comic strip ending on paper and then take a photo of it, or get friends to dress in costumes and act out an ending while you shoot it on video.

Whichever artistic style a consumer chooses, the finished work is simply submitted it to the campaign site: making each entrant a co-creator of the story and getting a credit as such.

The entries will be judged by Marvel and the winner’s work will be used to end the story.

Then the completed consumer-created comic book will then be mae available for download, and everyone who submits a version of the ending will get a credit as a “co-creator.”

Comment

The German premium car brand partnered with both the first and second Iron Man movies and versions of the R8 featured in both. It seems like there is some validity and synergy to the fit.

‘Stark and his passion for innovative technology, his sophisticated wit and his character overall are great representatives for our brand,’ says Drew Elliott, a social-media specialist for Audi of America.

‘The Audi R8 is the perfect car for Iron Man super hero and ingenious inventor, Tony Stark,’ says Florian Zitzlsperger, head of brand partnerships at Audi AG. ‘His drive for innovation represents the constant quest for progress, which is a hallmark of the VorsprungdurchTechnik philosophy.’

But perhaps this campaign shows we have reached a tipping point where the on-celluloid placement is just the spark, rather than the main driver of a movie partnership.

With brands always looking for forms of interaction and engagement that cuts through the cyber clutter and digital noise, this kind of crowd sourced initiative – which spans incentivisation, education and sharing (not to mention further boosts awareness of and builds excitement around the main movie event) has its benefits.

It keeps audiences engaged around the core platform and offers a route to ensure they are part of the story.

Links

SteerTheStory Website

to http://www.steerthestory.com

TV Commercial YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RJRA5T0nIf8

Marvel Website

http://marvel.com/

Audi Website

http://www.audi.com