Together with Netball Australia and Origin Energy, we implemented a live decibel meter to engage directly with fans.
Territory: Australia
Agency: TLA
Objectives
In February 2020 Origin Energy, as part of its nationwide commitment to help local communities thrive, penned a three-year partnership with Netball Australia which supported netball in the country at every level from local netty clubs, through the Suncorp Super Netball League to the Australian national team which became officially known as the Origin Diamonds (often linked to the tagline ‘powered by teamwork / driven by good energy’.
The umbrella approach to activating the partnership was based around growing the game by bringing more opportunities for young people (particularly young women and girls – for whom it is the country’s highest participation sport) in sport through a range of initiatives including:
> Supporting communities through grassroots clubs
> Supporting the local players, coaches, umpires and volunteers that form the backbone of the sport
> Supporting charity events (eg the Origin Diamonds v Suncorp All-Stars bushfire charity match)
> Sponsoring 7 of the 8 Suncorp Super Netball teams
> Ticket giveaways and competitions
Following the sponsorship, the first game for the recently renamed and world number-one ranked Origin Australian Diamonds was a ‘Netball Bushfire Relief Match’ held in Sydney on 1 March where the national side took on a Suncorp Super Netball All Star team.
So, despite the short planning and creative timeframe, origin briefed agency TLA to engage fans at the game in a fresh way and use its new netball rights around the event to drive fundraising for the victims of the bushires.
Activation
The agency’s response was around leveraging one of its client’s court-side assets – LED Signage – in a fresh, brand relevant and fan-unifying way by testing the energy within the crowd with a Decibel Meter.
TLA’s aim was to repurpose an asset so often seen as merely a visual platform for passive brand logo exposure and turn it into an engaging and live fan-participation experience.
The Decibel Meter encouraged the crowd to unite in their support for the team by registering how loudly the live cheering was during the match through real-time decibel measurements displayed on the LEDs alongside the brand logo to encourage and display the live level of excitement.
TLA teamed up with InCrowd software to develop and implement the ‘Decibel Meter For Netball Australia’ at the Bushfire Relief Charity Match.
InCrowd CEO Seb Lear believes that this kind of collaborative activation to convert static signage into live digital fan engagement is part of the future of sports media and marketing.
The match itself was also promoted by and broadcast live across Australia on Channel Nine and streamed live on the Netball Live Official App.
The funds raised were donated to a Natural Disaster Relief Fund established through the Confident Girls Foundation with the purpose of supporting netball-specific bushfire relief and recovery projects.
The at-match Decibel Meter was followed up later in the year when Origin launched the ‘Origin Diamond For A Day’ online video activation series in October running across its own digital and social channels which also highlighted some of the brand’s work with Netball Australia to support bushfire-affected netball teams and communities through funds and surprise visits from the Origin Diamonds.
Outcome
The agency claims that this was the first time the live technology had been used at a sports event and the highest recorded reading on the night was 138 decibels.
Among the other statistics linked to the match and the cause were:
> 140k+ TV audience for Australia v All-Stars Bushfire Relief Game
> 138 decibels recorded by the crowd
> AU$50k raised at the match for the Netball Bushfire Appeal organised by Netball Australia, Origin and Suncorp Super Netball
> AU$870k donated by Origin and its employees to support communities impacted by the bushfires
> AU$4m set aside by Origin for a bushfire relief package to help impacted customers
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.