The winner of the Sony’s ‘SuperSong’ World Cup crowd-sourced single contest has been released: the victorious track, ‘Vida’, was penned by American singer Elijah King and performed by Ricky Martin.
The global crowd-sourced contest, part of Sony’s umbrella ‘One World’ initiative, invited aspiring musicians to write original songs and then submit videos of the track to the competition’s digital platforms.
SuperSong saw Sony encourage talented and aspiring musicians, songwriters and soccer fans from anywhere in the world to create the song representing Brazil 2014.
Entry was incentivised by offering the lucky winner the chance to have their track recorded by Puerto Rican pop superstar Martin and his version of the song has not only been released as a video single, but it is also included on the official Sony/FIFA tournament album.
The SuperSong’s video, which stars Martin singing and partying on a Brazilian beach, includes shots of famous Rio landmarks, people playing football, and a slew of fairly subtle Sony devices (from headphones to smartphones), plus prominent product placement from fellow FIFA sponsor Hyundai/Kia.
The aims was to find the most entertaining, modern, catchy and original composition to unite fans throughout Brazil’s stadiums and to provide a significant music strand to the sponsor’s World Cup activation that would emphasise Sony’s values and its products (as well as its FIFA sponsorship).
After a long evaluation process judged by Sony staff, Martin himself and producer Salaam Remi, King’s entry,
beat out fellow finalists Sam Kwon from South Korea,
Rodrigo Alexey from Brazil,
Nik Salazar form Colombia,
and Tim David Weller from Germany.
Sony filmed the entire selection and creative process which led to a Sony Pictures Television documentary which aired as a TV special on Crackle, AXN, SET and SPIN.
‘Vida’, which has compiled 7.5 million YouTube views to date on Ricky Martin’s own channel (while the SuperSong Facebook page has more than 122,000 Likes), can be downloaded from iTunes here http://smarturl.it/RickyMartinVida.
Elijah King’s win also saw him scoop VIP tickets to the World Cup Final itself (plus additional Sony prizes).
‘We hope Sony’s unique combination of technology, TV content production and entertainment expertise will provide an entirely new, interactive World Cup experience,’ comments Soichi Kawachi, VP Brand at Sony.
‘It is a true honour to be able to collaborate with ‘SuperSong’,’ commented Ricky Martin. ‘I am extremely happy that I was asked to launch this special contest where fans have an opportunity to co-write the final version of the song with me. I think it is a brilliant idea and I’m grateful to be part of this important initiative.’
SuperSong winner ‘Vida’ is also included on Sony Music Entertainment and FIFA’s ‘One Love, One Rhythm: The Official 2104 FIFA World Cup Album’ which is released on iTunes, Amazon and at major retailers on 12 May.
The album, which is released in the US on RCA Records and available in Deluxe and Standard editions, aims to span the musical world (well, Sony’s musical world) with tracks from both Brazilian artists and from musicians across the globe.
May also saw the sponsor and rights owner also unveiled Pitbull’s ‘We Are One (Ole Ola)’ (featuring Jennifer Lopez and Brazilian artist Claudia Leitte) as the Official Song of the 2014 FIFA World Cup).
The official single, which has racked up 15 million YouTube views, will be performed by Pitbull (plus Lopez and Leitte) at 12 June’s Opening Ceremony in the Arena de Sao Paulo.
Fans pre-ordering the ‘One Love, One Rhythm’ album will receive an instant free download of the single ‘We Are One (Ole Ola)’.
There is also an Official Anthem of the 2014 FIFA World Cup called ‘Dar um Jeito (We Will Find A Way)’, featuring a musical superstar line-up including Carlos Santana, Wyclef, Avicii and Alexandre Pires, which will be performed at the 2014 FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony on 13 July in Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium.
‘We are very excited about the release of One Love, One Rhythm: The Official FIFA World Cup Album. The partnership with Sony Music Entertainment has allowed us to add some of the world’s biggest musical superstars to the FIFA World Cup line-up,’ comments FIFA marketing director Thierry Weil.
‘I’m sure that music and football fans all over the world will enjoy this great combination of top international stars and fantastic Brazilian artists and that this album will add great rhythm to the footballing action in Brazil.’
‘We have been working with FIFA for over a decade now and have developed a very successful partnership delivering hit songs and great performances,’ adds Sony Music Entertainment CEO Edgar Berger. ‘The FIFA World Cup will showcase great emotions and this album delivers the soundtrack for what will be the biggest worldwide event of the year.’
Comment
The FIFA World Cup claims a global TV audience of 30 billion and is unarguably the world’s greatest single sport property.
But as with almost all sports-led events, contemporary sponsors ensure that music plays a significant role in their activation as they attempt to stretch their appeal and reach even further by blending entertainment genres.
Indeed, like Sony, other official FIFA sponsors like Coca-Cola (see previous case study) and ambushers like Pepsi (see previous case study) have also placed music (even crowd-sourced music) at the heart of their work leveraging the World Cup.
There is also the chance that Sony’s Brazil 2014 SuperSong winning single may get confused with (and overlooked because of) Pitbull’s ‘We Are One’ official Brazil 2014 single, FIFA’s official Brazil 2014 anthem ‘We Will Find A Way’ and the Sony/FIFA ‘One Love, One Rhythm’ album ?
Sony, of course, has a FIFA partnership that spans multiple categories – its official partnership is in the ‘Digital Life’ category (covering a wide range of business areas from electronics and TVs, to music and entertainment) from 2007-2014.
Thus its ‘SuperSong’ work is just part of its wider ‘One Stadium’ Brazil 2014 initiative which has multiple strands and segments stretching across its product portfolio.
Combining Sony Group’s diversified business areas – from mobiles and TVs to movies, music, and games – is a challenging activation proposition.
Does the sheer volume of its activation strands – from SuperSong and – run the risk of losing creative clarity and of confusing consumers?
Links
Sony SuperSong Website
Ricky Martin ‘Vida’ Download
http://smarturl.it/RickyMartinVida
Sony ‘One Stadium’ Website
We Are One Sony Website
FIFA World Cup Website
FIFA TV YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/FIFATV
