Sony ‘One Stadium Live’ Hub: A World Cup Social Network

Using the copy line ‘One World, One Passion, One Stadium’, Sony has released the hub of its 2014 FIFA World Cup activation – a brand-created social network called ‘One Stadium Live’.

The platform lets football fans around the world keep track of all tournament-related posts and news feeds from Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and the like and enables each individual user to set preferences that filter follow only the content relating to their favourite teams and players.

One Stadium Live tracks all new World Cup related posts in real-time and filters them through each individual user’s personal preferences. The social platform even automatically filters out fake content, so you can stay up to date with the most accurate and exciting information.

The platform aims for true global reach – with mobile and web versions accessible in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese.

The Sony campaign was initially launched at the end of 2013 via a campaign film, called ‘One Stadium’, showing fans across the planet celebrating the World Cup via different Sony devices.

Developed in partnership with Isobar (and directed by Samuel Abrahams), the 60-second spot rolled out to coincide with the FIFA World Cup draw and its fluid, cinematic style aims to reflect the global, borderless, all-encompassing shared spirit and passion for football right across the planet (and slot in as many Sony devices and products as possible).

It was broadcast globally and shown online across all global Sony-owned channels.

Sony’s ‘One Stadium’ creative aims to celebrate the spirit of the stadium and another strand of the initiative saw the FIFA sponsor commission Finn Taylor to translate this idea into a series of images to feature in the global campaign.

Crowd-sourcing competition and consumer creativity are key tactics within the wider campaign with several creative strands branching off from the central ‘One Stadium’ social network.

These included Sony’s ‘SuperSong’ crowd-sourced single competition which invited songwriters and football fans to pen an original track to be recorded by Ricky Martin and to be included on the official Sony Music Entertainment and FIFA Brazil 2014 album (see previous case study).

Another creative competition strand is Sony’s ‘Paint Stadium – One Stadium 11’ initiative: an original character design contest.

This global campaign strand invites consumers to ‘draw your football passion’ and submit illustrations to the campaign hub fitting the themes.

The One Stadium initiative also includes a set of ticket-led contest campaigns which began rolling out in early 2014 across various Sony regions, local markets and via category specific campaigns.

These included a January-February Sony Mobile competition offering consumers a chance to win a VIP 2014 FIFA World Cup Experience by asking users to simply record a short video showing how football brings people together – by creating a fan club, wearing team colours; singing, dancing, jumping, moving and shouting – and then upload it to the competition’s YouTube platform.

The top 10 videos from each participating market were then picked out for a public voting to determine national winners, followed by a final voting round for a regional winner of the all-expenses paid trip to Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Each of the top 10 videos submitted also received a limited edition 2014 FIFA World Cup trophy replica.

This competition was promoted across digital platforms – including an online promo film.

Another consumer-created element of the activation is One Stadium’s ‘Goal Fan Ambassador’ initiative which sees a set of 11 Sony-selected brand ambassadors from major World Cup nations (and Sony markets) provided with the opportunity (and brand support) to blog about the tournament and create country-relevant World Cup content for Sony’s activation.

This strand also promotes and involves a set of relevant Sony products from its Sony A6000 cameras and AS100VR Action Cams, to its MDR-10RBT headphones and its Xperia Z2 smartphones.

A further content strand that links to a specific Sony product on ‘One Stadium’ is the ‘Meet Your Hosts’ section, which sees ambassador reporters send their thoughts, opinions, news, views and insights into the Brazilian host cities, clubs and culture.

This is a photo-led initiative with the images taken on Sony Xperia Cyber-Shot devices.

One Stadium also includes a ‘FIFA World Cup History’ video library of alphabet –themed, one minute videos of action and fun from 1954 and 2002 World Cup games.

These short films include both more tournament football-relevant work like or ‘O Is For Opening Ceremony’ to more fun topics such as ‘H Is For Hair’.

Another aspect of April’s Sony World Cup activation came in the form of an announcement of a 4K TV alliance between FIFA and Sony Corporation.

The sponsor and rights owner will collaborate on a range of 4K initiatives at the 2014 FIFA World Cup including producing the Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Film in ‘4K Ultra HD’, plus the production of three full matches in 4K (one round of 16 game, one quarter final and the final itself).

Sony offers 4K products from shooting, broadcast and professional solutions, to 4K-compatible consumer products including TVs, projectors and video cameras.

Sony will also showcase 4K at its branded display booths at 2014 World Cup stadiums, at FIFA Fan Fests as it seeks to accelerate the expansion and uptake of 4K viewing.

‘We are very excited to offer an entirely new viewing experience at the greatest sport event in the world, the FIFA World World Cup,’ says Sony VP and head of its FIFA partnership Soichi Kawachi.

‘By leveraging our cutting-edge 4K technology and our premier products and solutions through our partnership with FIFA, we will deliver a unique and totally compelling entertainment experience, conveying the excitement of the matches in Brazil with the depth and vividness that the ultra-high definition of 4K delivers.’

The sponsor is also promoting its status as FIFA’s official 4K TV partner within its ‘One Stadium’ hub through brand ambassador and Ituano Stadium groundskeeping manager José Andrade who is quoted on the social network about 4K:

‘Finally, a TV that shows every blade of grass. Real football fans appreciate the importance of field conditions, which affect the flow of the game. We groundskeepers condition the grass to change the game.’

Comment

The depth and breadth of Sony’s multi-faceted Brazil 2014 activation certainly reflects its multi-category FIFA partnership which spans consumer electronic devices to music.

This reflects the diversified business of the Sony Group itself – which range from electronics, mobiles and computers, to movies, music, and games.

Sony’s FIFA sponsorship contract makes it an Official FIFA Partner in the ‘Digital Life’ category from the period of 2007-2014.

One of six top tier Official FIFA Partners worldwide, the partnership gives Sony access to more than 40 FIFA competitions, but the main property is, of course, the 2014 FIFA World Cup (with its cumulative worldwide TV audience of 30 billion).

But this sheer diversity of the business and the stretch of the ‘Digital Life’ category can lead activation complication and runs the risk of activation overload and creative complexity.

By creating a central social network hub, the sponsor can run its various activation strands as spokes that spin out from the central core.

Obviously huge events ignite explosions in social media activity and web news and this year’s World Cup will certainly break all previous social activity and digital content creation records.

So having a central platform which individuals can customise individually to filter through the tidal wave of output and focus in on only the posts that fit personally fit each person’s preferences sounds like a useful service.

But, while the spam filters that eliminate fake content will be useful, isn’t the idea essentially what all social platforms do anyway?

Links

Sony ‘One Stadium’ Website

https://football.sony.net/en/

Sony ‘One Stadium’ YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/user/sonyxfootball

Sony ‘One Stadium’ Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/sonyxfootball

Sony ‘One Stadium’ Google+

https://plus.google.com/+sonyxfootball

Sony ‘One Stadium’ Twitter

https://twitter.com/SonyxFootball

@SonyxFootball