Eiffel Tower Lit By Fan Faces, Team Colours & Posts For Euro 2016 ‘Orange Sponsors You’

France’s most famous landmark, the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris, will be lit (in colours, words and pictures) by social media users throughout the month long Euro 2016 soccer tournament as part of sponsor Orange’s fan-focused activation that aims to incentivise fan engagement and encourage support.

Football fans will determine the structure’s lighting colour scheme through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram posts – with the most socially vocal supporters ensuring their own team’s national kit colours adorn the building.

The tournament’s official telco partner will calculate social supporter volume on a daily basis and the nation the network to determine’s to have the most active support – as defined by number of hashtag mentions (eg #Eng for England and #Fra for France etc) – will have its team colours light up the city’s tower 10 minutes after the end of each day’s round of matches.

Plus Orange will also project the day’s most creative and inspirational social posts on to the structure.

(A team of Orange editors/moderators/marketers will eliminate trolls and offensive comments from the selection process partly based on a pre-prepared word blacklist).

The activation is being promoted by online video spots in both English

and French.

as well as across the brand’s other digital and social platforms.

Orange’s approach to its Euro 2016 work, developed in harness with agency Poke, is focused on recognising the contribution which fans make to the game and reward them for their support.

From its traditional advertising executions (fronted by France and Real Madrid legend Zinedine Zidane), to its ‘Official Fan of the Match’ competition, the work shines the spotlight on the most passionate fans.

Another Eiffel tower aspect off the approach will see a dedicated team of photographers seeking out the most passionate fan at each game – who’s picture will not only be projected on the big screens around the stadium during half time, but also on Orange’s social platforms and on the Eiffel Tower too.

‘We’re not just putting the fans in the spotlight, we’re giving fans the opportunity to decide how Paris and the Eiffel Tower will participate in celebrating UEFA EURO 2016,’ explains Beatrice Mandine, senior executive vice president for brand and communications at Orange.

This initiative is just one strand of the telco’s fan-focused, umbrella ‘Orange Sponsors You’ sponsorship activation programme (see case study).

Comment

From EDF activating on the London Eye for the 2012 Olympic Games (see case study) to The Archdiocese of Rio de Janiero running national team kit light projections on its Christ The Redeemer Statue during FIFA’s 2014 Brazil World Cup,

connecting fans through social media to a city or a country’s iconic buildings within a sponsor’s event marketing programme is now a commonly used activation idea.

So much so that it was inevitable that open of the Euro 2016 brands would secure activation rights over the Eifel Tower and, well, it is appropriate that it is Orange – the most French of all the tournament’s official partners (after all, it is largely owned by the French state itself).

And the Orange looks sure to be very busy sorting through all the tournament related social posts.

After all, with every major sporting event comes a new set of social media activity records.

Will Euro 2016, despite only being a regional tournament, pass the mammoth 32.1 million tweets that were shared during the 2014 FIFA World Cup final?

As fellow sponsor Carlsberg might say….probably.

Links

Orange Sponsors You:

www.OrangeSponsorsYou.com

Orange YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDdBzyuqG1oWoQmf7Ih9isw

Orange Twitter:

https://twitter.com/orange

@orange

Orange Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/orange

Orange Website:

http://www.orange.com/