Saturday’s FA Cup saw name sponsor Budweiser leverage its partnership with the Football Association through a blended second-screen, social media campaign.
An integrated initiative for the showpiece final offered a range of engagement elements including a Twitter competition to win the match ball, a ‘Be The Ref’ parallel game via dual screening social TV partner Zeebox, a ‘Man Of The Match’ vote on Facebook and an app offering a wealth of other touch points from match polls and FA Cup stats to behind-the-scenes video content.
The big game campaign, created by Vizeum (and supported by several other partners and agencies including Engage Sports Media, Tellybug, Monterosa anad Opta), opened on the morning of the match (5 May) with an FA Cup Final documentary on ESPN.
The programme, Kings for A Day: the Giant Killers of Football, included Zeebox-driven interactivity which continued throughout the ESPN pre-game and game shows.
AB InBev brand Budweiser is in the first season of its three-year sponsorship of the FA Cup and has been innovating and engaging throughout the tournament. Other innovative competition initiatives from Budweiser in recent months include an augmented reality FA Cup smartphone/beermat app and using football manager ambassadors Sam Allardyce and Ian Holloway in a radio campaign
On Twitter fans were able to tweet during the game match using special hashtags – #FACupFinal & #MyFACup – to enter a competition to win an FA Cup 2013 VIP match experience courtesy of ESPN, as well as the match ball itself (courtesy of Budweiser and the FA).
The collaboration with social TV companion outfit Zeebox was spearheaded by ‘Be The Ref’ – a new social game giving football fans to share their most outrageous refereeing decisions in a ive environment (such as (Offside, Foul & Penalty) with both personal friends and other watching fans.
Swearing and accusing the ref of being blind were not encouraged as part of the action.
Zeebox also offered a set of instant polls on performance and tactics in order to gauge the ‘live view’ of the watching football audience. Other features included a tech feature labelled ‘contextual zeetags’, which were basically links to behind-the-scenes videos from partners including the FA, and other special content.
Comment
Budweiser became the lead sponsor of the FA Cup back in June 2011 when it signed a three-year deal – with the competition renamed The FA Cup With Budweiser.
The American brand, despite being a long standing sponsor of football around the world, has been working hard at tapping in to core British football tradition and the grass roots game in order to shake off its ‘American’ reputation and genuinely connect with genuine football fans.
By teaming up with Zeebox on this two screen live social experience it seems the brand is focusing on younger, tech savvy football fans
Zeebox launched in 2011 and is a leader in the social TV apps field. The brand focuses on enabling TV viewers to engage with enhanced companion live synchronised content through their ‘extended social graph’ via the web, tablet and smartphone.
Other flagship Zeebox initiatives in recent months have included ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent voting and a guess the value game for the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.
Links:
http://facuppromo.budweiser.co.uk/
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