The Football League and tournament sponsor Capital One gave fans on Twitter the chance to decide the colour of the Wembley arch for the final as part of the campaign to generate engagement and awareness of the Capital One Cup final between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
The social media vote saw the lighting scheme stadium’s iconic architectural arch put into the hands of the supporters for the very first time.
The activation was also the first time the arch had ever been lit up in club colours.
The League and sponro promoted and then tracked two designated hashtags on Twitter throughout the week before the game – #ChelseaAtWembley and #SpursAtWembley.
The mechanic was simple – the hashtag that receives most use on the social network before 6pm on Saturday was declared the winner and the arch was lit up in that club’s colours the night before the Capital One Cup final.
Updates on who was leading the #OwnTheArch vote were provided via the @CapitalOne_Cup Twitter account through the week.
Indeed, from Thursday evening, the arch itself lit up to show the latest standings from Thursday evening.
While Chelsea won the match, its was Spurs who won the arch.
The impressive levels of interaction saw Spurs come out on top in the Twitter vote.
It was close: the north London club getting 51% of the more than 500,000 mentions.
.@SpursOfficial win battle to #OwnTheArch ahead of the #CapitalOneCupFinal >> http://t.co/H8IT7BBU1G pic.twitter.com/Ipsi3VdYFO
— Capital One Cup (@CapitalOne_Cup) February 28, 2015
‘The Football League is always looking at innovative ways to bring fans closer to the action and this vote really does allow fans to play a visible part in the build-up to the final,’ said Football League marketing boss Drew Barrand.
‘We are delighted to be able to bring this unique first to Wembley and are looking forward to seeing what colour the arch will be.’
Alex Trickett, head of sport Twitter UK, added that Twitter is the place where people come to share in the biggest moments in the football calendar, in fact eight of the 10 most-Tweeted-about UK moments in 2014 were football-related.
Unsurprisingly the biggest spike in social conversation came when the Blues clinched the cup and when skipper John Terry and prolific forward Diego Costa hit the net.
.@ChelseaFC captain John Terry strikes to give his side a 1-0 #CapitalOneCupFinal half-time lead pic.twitter.com/57cgB8zaQ7
— Capital One Cup (@CapitalOne_Cup) March 1, 2015
There was also huge interest in behind-the-scenes access shared by The Football League, the two clubs and the players themselves.
Absolutely buzzing with the win! Well done lads, what a team! #CFCWembley #CapitalOneCupChampions pic.twitter.com/RhgxBXGj6a
— Gary Cahill (@GaryJCahill) March 1, 2015
and, of course, the title sponsor.
Congratulations @ChelseaFC – you are the 2015 #CapitalOneCupFinal winners! pic.twitter.com/C3sSQsvb4R
— Capital One Cup (@CapitalOne_Cup) March 1, 2015
Comment
The #OwnTheArch Twitter vote was just part of a range of social activity around the final that ensured it become the UK’s leading trending topic on the day.
The match generated significant social buzz around the world and was the day’s most talked about sporting event in the UK on Twitter – generating eight times as many mentions as the Ireland v England RBS Six Nations clash.
The world watched @ChelseaFC beat @SpursOfficial on Twitter #CapitalOneCupFinal
LINK: http://t.co/cuGQZBlcdH pic.twitter.com/a2jnzefvCM
— Twitter Data (@TwitterData) March 1, 2015
The property owner and sponsor also enabled supporters to submit motivational messages for the two teams via the Capital One Cup official Facebook page – one message for each team being selected to be displayed in the tunnel as the last thing the teams see before they walk out at Wembley.
While on the day of the big game itself, those supporters around the not attending in person were given a chance to have their photo featured on the giant screens at Wembley with fans encouraged to post a #FinalSelfie on Instagram and Twitter.
Sooooo excited! #FinalSelfie @CapitalOne_Cup #ComeOnYouSpurs pic.twitter.com/3enDcranAi
— Hannah Newman (@Hannahnewm) March 1, 2015
Another interesting activation element for the final, which kicked off at 4pm on Sunday and was aired exclusively live on Sky Sports 1 saw the title sponsor launch a launch of a unique product to prevent rogue channel-hoppers from switching away from the game – a limited-edition ‘Remote Control Defender’.
After all, the game was up against a major sporting weekend that also included the RBS 6 Nations, the ICC Cricket World Cup and the Premiership.
Competition sponsor Capital One created lockable cases specially designed to keep satellite TV remotes locked down so that even if fans take their eyes off the ball, the channel is safe.
Jason Carr, the credit card company’s head of sponsorship, said: ‘We realised that Sunday is a fantastic day of sport – with the Capital One Cup Final and Man City versus Liverpool for football fans, 6 Nations for rugby fans, plus the cricket World Cup. We wanted to do something for fans across the country who are desperate to catch all the Capital One Cup action without any interruption. “Now fans can literally lock on to their favourite sports programme, sit back and enjoy the action.’
Capital One gave away the limited-edition ‘Remote Control Defenders’ to 50 lucky winners through Twitter via @CapitalOneUK and via Facebook in a prize draw in the lead up to super Sunday.
Links
Capital One Cup Website
Capital One Cup Twitter
https://twitter.com/CapitalOne_Cup
Football League Twitter
Football League Cup Facebook
