Liverpool FC teamed up with shirt sponsor Standard Chartered for an initiative to help eliminate avoidable blindness run via the bank’s Seeing Is Believing’ community programme and activated at Anfield through an audio ‘Kop Roar’ experience.
A 360-degree initiative centred around a binaural’ audio Anfield match-day experience designed to ensure that all the club’s fans around the globe regardless of visual ability can experience the power and emotion of the Kop singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
Territory: UK/Global
Agency: Octagon
Objectives
The objectives were threefold:
- To drive awareness and build support for the ‘Seeing Is Believing’ corporate social responsibility initiative to combat avoidable blindness (253 million people suffer visual impairment and 80 per cent of cases can be prevented/cured).
- To raise funds for the community cause and to enable all Liverpool fans around the world – regardless of visual ability.
- To experience the Kop singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
Activation
For Liverpool’s biggest home game of the 2017-18 season, the October 14th match against Manchester United, the club teamed up with main sponsor Standard Chartered to roll out an audio-led match-day experience that included a temporary shirt logo switch, a fundraising auction and a ‘binaural’ audio recording.
The initiative was built around an audio piece, called ‘Number 64: Hear the Kop Roar’ and recorded live at Anfield, which was created together with visually impaired Liverpool fan Pat Rodaway.
Rodaway has been attending games since he was 14, but he has never seen Liverpool score a single goal.
A ‘binaural’ recording is a recording process using special, multiple microphones shaped like human ears and set up to create a 3-D stereo sound sensation for the listener so that it feels and sounds like they are actually in the same space with the performers or instruments (or in this case, with the players and the fans).
The objective behind using this technology was to enable all Liverpool supporters around the world, including those with various different visual challenges, to experience the Kop singing the team’s famous ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ fan anthem.
The experience was amplified across both club and sponsor YouTube channels.
It was also posted across multiple social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and on a bespoke online microsite.
While in-stadium, the players took to the pitch for the match wearing shirts carrying the ‘Seeing is Believing’ logo instead of the usual ‘Standard Chartered’ bank logo.
Following the match there was an online charity auction, on the Charity Stars platform, in support of ‘Seeing is Believing’ which saw supporters bid for the limited edition match shirts worn and signed by all the players.
The donations were matched by Standard Chartered and used in the fight against avoidable blindness globally.
The Utd game was chosen both because it is Liverpool’s highest profile game of the season and also because it fell two days after World Sight Day.
This initiative dovetailed both with ‘Seeing Is Believing’ (a long-running Liverpool and Standard Chartered CSR initiative based in the local community) and Standard Chartered’s season-long content series celebrating ‘The Power of Numbers’ that commemorates Liverpool Football Club’s 125 th anniversary.
This campaign was ‘Number 64’ in ‘The Power Of Numbers’ content series: an initiative which highlights meaningful numbers in the rich history of the club and brings them to life in entertaining and relevant ways.
The initiative was developed in harness with sport and entertainment marketing agency Octagon (led by its is APAC team in Singapore) and content creators MilkMoney.
The campaign was created for Standard Chartered Bank Senior Manager (Sponsorships) Marc Davies and Manager (Sponsorships) Helen Morgan by an Octagon team led by Ben Hartman (managing director, APAC), Aykan Azar (managing director, SEA/Japan), Adam Hodge (head of strategy, APAC),Lizi Hamer (regional creative director), Yoky Pandowo (regional art director), Jeanette Won (account director), Sameer Rasheed (account manager), Tan Yen Fenn (senior account executive) and Brenda Wong (account executive).
The production company was Milkmoney where the team included Matt Taylor (managing director), Ethan McLean (head of creative), Richard Mullane (director),
Adam Docker (DOP), Charlotte O’Rourke (producer) and Rebecca Shawyer (producer) and audio production was by Jungle Studios.
“We wanted to bring all the emotion of The Kop in full song to fans across the globe – regardless of their sight. It forced us to consider how other senses can provide a new perspective on the things we love” explained Octagon Regional Creative Director Lizi Hamer.
“Working purely in the medium of sound, provided us an opportunity to approach the task of immersive storytelling from a whole new perspective. The technology is now at a stage of refinement making it an incredible way to capture atmosphere,” added Matt Taylor, founder and managing director for Milkmoney
“I am inspired by the amazing support that Seeing is Believing continues to receive from Liverpool. 89 per cent of avoidable blindness occurs in low and middle income countries, affecting many of the communities in which Standard Chartered operates,” said David Fein, chairman of Seeing is Believing and group general counsel at Standard Chartered.
“This initiative is making a tangible difference to the lives of millions of people around the world, and Liverpool’s support brings us one step closer to eradicating avoidable blindness,” he continued.
Billy Hogan, chief commercial officer and managing director at Liverpool Football Club, added: “We are delighted to partner with Standard Chartered for a sixth year to support Seeing is Believing. By building awareness about visual impairment amongst our players and fans, I am sure we can progress the fight against avoidable blindness and improve the lives of millions globally.”
Outcome / Results
The hero spot alone notched up 32,284 views on Liverpool’s YouTube channel with 1,500 Likes and 2,122 views on Standard Chartered’s own channel (plus 3,900 on Facebook).
Standard Chartered has focused on eliminating avoidable blindness since 2003 and has reached over 150 million people through medical interventions, eye exams and eye health education.
This 2017-18 season marked the sixth consecutive year that Standard Chartered and Liverpool have joined together to support ‘Seeing is Believing’ which, since it was founded has run 166 projects across 36 countries.
Thus far the bank/club partnership has raised more than £300,000 through fan contributions, auction proceeds and bank matching.
