During the build-up to this weekend’s Capital One Cup Final at Wembley, the Football League is incentivising fans of both Liverpool and Manchester City fans to show their support through social media by offering them instant, digital personalised club shirts.
The #ShirtOfSupport campaign see supporters of the two clubs who tweet their team’s Twitter handle along with either #RedsAtWembley or #CityAtWembley receive a real-time reply in the form of a personalised social shirt.
This club cyber kit comes complete with the individual’s Twitter handle on the back, as well as a thank you message from the Football League and a fan number.
@SuperPusha Thanks for backing @MCFC in the @CapitalOne_Cup Final. Here’s your #ShirtOfSupport and Fan No. pic.twitter.com/yhyIYCD7ob
— #ShirtOfSupport (@ShirtOfSupport) February 25, 2016
The campaign is primarily being promoted across social media channels by both the league
Got your personalised #ShirtOfSupport for @CapitalOne_Cup Final? @MCFC & @LFC fans back your team to get one now! pic.twitter.com/Q65UdOoV7h
— Capital One Cup (@CapitalOne_Cup) February 25, 2016
and by the clubs themselves.
These digital shirts form the spearhead strand of a multi-purpose social media initiative that also gives supporters an in-game photo feed of the two club’s dugouts – to capture the reactions of the team managers to the on-field action and to offer a glimpse of the substitute’s bench.
During the match, fans can simply tweet to to @CapitalOne_Cup using #LFCBench or #MCFCBench to receive an on-demand photo of that team’s dugout (taken by special technical area cameras).
The Football League will track the total number of fans registering their support and offer then a chance for a live update on which of Liverpool or Manchester City has registered the most supporters ahead of the Final just by tweeting their club’s final hashtag to @CapitalOne_Cup.
Latest standings update for #ShirtOfSupport – @LFC with most fans backing them ahead of @MCFC so far! pic.twitter.com/v5ji37iB2g
— Capital One Cup (@CapitalOne_Cup) February 24, 2016
A further Big Game Day #FinalCam campaign strand will see fans tweet @CapitalOne_Cup using the hashtag #WembleyWay in order to trigger an ‘instant photo reply’ from a camera positioned to show the famous sight of fans making the way to the stadium along ‘Wembley Way’.
Also on-site on match day itself, each team’s digital support will be amplified through a visible presence at Wembley Stadium Connected by EE on matchday – with the Twitter profile pictures of fans registering for #ShirtOfSupport creating a giant mosaic image to be displayed at the game.
The objective behind this strand is that the combined physical 90,000 fan total combined with the digital ‘crowd’ will ensure the 2016 Capital One Cup Final is the ‘most attended’ final ever.
To close the Cup campaign, the Football League will send a congratulations tweet after the final whistle to all the fans of the winning team who registered for their #ShirtOfSupport – this tweet will include a photo of the winning team lifting the trophy.
‘The Football League is always looking at innovative ways to engage our fan base around our major events. This year’s Capital One Cup Final activity once again breaks new ground by bringing a unique first to Twitter for the UK sport industry,’ explains Football League marketing director Drew Barrand.
‘We look forward to both sets of fans backing their team and receiving their #ShirtOfSupport, as well as for the first time ever, providing supporters with exclusive images of their team’s bench during the match through our unique #FinalCam activity.’
Comment
According to Kantar Media data Sunday’s Capital One Cup Final saw over one million tweets posted about the event.
This level of social interaction was driven by The Football League’s innovative #ShirtOfSupport and #FinalCam campaigns.
Ensuring the event was one of the most talked about sporting events on Twitter across the weekend, attracting more than five times as many tweets as the England v Ireland RBS Six Nations match
The tournament property owner claims that this campaign marks the first time football supporters in the UK are being offered instant personalised responses on Twitter specific to the team they support.
Indeed, the Football League’s objectives for the campaign are to utilise innovative technology that is shareable across social media channels to engage with a wider digital audience for Final.
The aim is to get supporters excited and talking about the final in the week building-up to the match, rather than just on matchday, to highlight that the Capital One Cup Final is a major event in the footballing calendar (both domestically and globally) and to make fans not able to attend the final feel as though they are part something.
The campaign’s success will be measured by a set of metrics spanning:
>Total number of personalised shirts (#ShirtOfSupport’s) received in the week build up to the final
>Total number images received on match day from #FinalCam
>Tracking # usage across all 7 hashtag activations
The standard reach and engagement metrics for social channels will also be compared to activity in previous years.
Indeed, this campaign builds neatly on the property owner’s previous work around the cup final.
Last year’s campaign objective was to ‘become the most socially engaged final ever’ through the #OwnTheArch campaign (see case study).
While this year’s work aims to grow the digital audience further through innovative technology across social media.
The Football League as worked closely with several partners involved in the match to developed the campaign – from title sponsor Capital One (to ensure the campaign worked alongside their activity in the build up to the final and on matchday), to both competing clubs, as well as with Twitter UK, Hobbynote and Synergy
Links:
Capital One Cup Website:
www.capitalonecup.co.uk
Football League Website:
http://www.football-league.co.uk/
Campaign Twitter:
@CapitalOne_Cup (Capital One Cup)
@football_league (The Football League – Competition Organiser)
@LFC (Liverpool FC – Finalist Club)
@MCFC (Manchester City – Finalist Club)
@CapitalOneUK (Capital One – Competition Sponsor)
@SkySports (Sky Sports – Lead Broadcaster)
Campaign Instagram:
@FootballLeague
@liverpoolfc
@mcfcofficial
@SkySports
