With the Games just a few days away, EDF becomes another London 2012 sponsor to switch its Olympic activation focus from loyalty to patriotism.
The utilities company’s latest Tweet-powered campaign, ‘Energy Of The Nation’, launches on 19 July and aims to measure the mood of the country during the Olympics and Paralympics.
Using data sourced from 10 million UK Twitter accounts, this will be a day-by-day expression of the host nation’s Games enthusiasm, patriotism and support. Its spearhead will be an illuminating light show on the London Eye.
A combined team from EDF, brand experience agency Ignite and a team of MIT tech graduates will filter, analyse and asses UK tweets referencing the Olympics and then express the results via a ‘low carbon’ nightly light show.
The campaign will amplify and express the highs and lows of the Olympic drama. The dazzling 9pm nightly illuminations will use colour, patterns and intensity to reflect how positive the country is feeling and the objective is to respond and express reaction to Games events – from Team GB medals, to shock defeats, from glory to injury and general fun.
The initiative will highlight EDF’s status both as official electricity supplier and a sustainability partner of London 2012 and as the sponsor of the London Eye itself.
The initiative will see a mission control type structure assembled beside the Eye, the world’s biggest viewing wheel that will enable people to participate directly in the campaign via physical, digital and social media.
The campaign is a multi-channel push that includes PR and above-the-line work, but heavily focused on digital platforms. In addition to the work at the London Eye itself, the campaign includes a supporting hub website, as well as an Energy2012 mobile app and an Energy of the Nation Facebook app.
The interactive Energy Map offers consumer the chance to explore how the country is feeling about London 2012 in detail. It enables consumers to zoom in one feelings and areas and to interact with tweets from around the country and explore the Olympic buzz.
‘We were looking for an experiential campaign that would create a connection between the London 2012 Olympics, the EDF Energy London Eye and EDF Energy,’ explains EDF head of brand communication Rob Merrington. ‘ This campaign will offer residents and visitors to London a unique experience – we hope it will excite Olympic fans and give everyone the chance to get further involved in the games.’
Paul Saville, client services director at Ignite says that this aims to be one of most talked about campaigns of the Olympics and that it has certainly flexed the company’s creative muscles by fusing live experience with social media in a genuinely new way.
Comment:
This week saw the Olympic Village open, the first athletes arrive, the first Olympic Lane operating and the first major negative Games story (the G4S security debacle). All of these led to a tidal wave of Twitter activity.
For the first time ever, Twitter is lifting the veil on Olympic life: from positive tweets about the range and quality of food in the athletes’ canteen and negative complaints from athletes lost in London traffic, to insider insights into the life of the sporting stars such as pictures of Team GB swimmer Rebecca Adlington’s messy room.
During the Beijing Games Twitter was in its early adopter infancy stage and there were only a few hundred thousand tweets per day. For London 2012 the platform is maturing fast and there are more than 400 million tweets per day.
So this kind of Twitter-powered campaign reflects a wider trend both for athletes and fans and offers the chance to create campaigns that are the first of their kind.
Links:
www.edfenergy.com/brand/energy-of-the-nation/
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