Sony Kicks Off World Cup With Fan-Powered Social Media Site
Sony’s most recent digital initiative, called "One Stadium Live," is a one-of-a-kind social media campaign dedicated to soccer fans around the world.
The kickoff of the 2014 FIFA World Cup is fast-approaching, and to unite soccer fans around the world Sony has created single digital platform “One Stadium Live” to curate their conversations on social media channels.
Created by global digital marketing agency Isobar, One Stadium Live gathers soccer-related content from Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
For the first time, soccer fans can share their opinions with other fans worldwide on a mobile-first website. Topics and posts from around the world are sorted according to people’s interests in order to present the most popular, relevant, and latest discussions and news on soccer.
“Sony believes in delivering the best possible experience for fans, wherever they are,” says Shunsuke Ueda, senior manager of Sony FIFA project office.
During the World Cup games, the site’s “Match Live” feature will deliver in real time a filtered stream of what global audiences are saying about a particular match.
“The [idea] was to position Sony as the supporter of football fans,” says Nick Bailey, chief executive (CEO) and executive creative director at Isobar in the U.K.
“By walking the walk rather than just talking the talk, Sony plays a much more authentic role in fans’ experience,” he says. “This further creates opportunities to deliver product stories relevant to the fan experience, from TVs to watch the games, to mobiles to share the experience.”
The agency also hopes the initiative will deepen Sony’s consumer engagement by demonstrating how Sony products can help keep soccer fans connected.
“Our idea, ‘One Stadium,’ makes this emotionally tangible through storytelling, through a range of online and ATL film executions, and functionally tangible through the One Stadium Live platform,” Bailey tells ClickZ. “[The site] captures football passion wherever it originates and brings it together, allowing fans to be inspired, share, and contribute – just like a real stadium.”
The digital platform is supported by a technology developed in partnership with text analytics company Luminoso. Rather than simply monitoring keywords, it can categorize users with similar passions from different countries to create an instant fan community, beyond personal connections.
Sony’s editorial team, which includes multilingual social media experts from Isobar in the U.K., uses the technology to monitor fans’ conversations on social media platforms. The team will filter profane language, and make sure the most relevant topics are displayed on the site. The content is available in six languages – English, Japanese, German, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
“One Stadium Live” is hosted on the “One Stadium” portal site. It is optimized for tablets, smartphones, and desktops.
