With a tactic that neatly fits the brand’s service and specialisation, Sony Ericsson leveraged its Champions League rights with an innovative London location-based ‘social media meets mobile’ campaigns to build awareness of the sponsorship and showcase capability of Xperia range.
As part of Sony Corporation’s existing agreement 2009-2012 with the UEFA Champions League, Sony Ericsson is the official mobile handset of the UEFA Champions League and these twin consumer-participation Fouresquare initiatives were based around the idea of encouraging fans to use their smartphones to get closer to the game they love.
Primarily promoting/showcasing the capabilities of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia range, they offered football fans in London the chance to win football related prizes.
Following its initial ‘Football FANatic’ campaign, two game strands ran on Fouresqquare in the 24 hours before the Wembley final itself – Great Sony Ericsson Shirt Off and the Footy Final Exclusive Badge Game.
The phone giant teamed up with Iris with a brief to help build fans’ excitement ahead of the big match. Fans in and around London were given the chance to win football related prizes (from limited edition shirts to a pair of final tickets) and get closer to the game by utilising their smartphones ahead of the match.
Great Sony Ericsson Shirt Off saw fans hunt a Sony Ericsson football team through Foursquare across 11 London locations on the day before the Final. Once these hotspots are revealed on Facebook and Twitter through the day, fans must race to find the player, check-in and if they get there first, the player will reveal one of eleven exclusive prizes on the inside of his shirt.
Exclusive Badge took place on 28 May and challenged fans across Europe to unlock the new Sony Ericsson Xperia Footy Final Badge. Those who unlocked the badge between noon and midnight at Sony Ericsson’s Wembley Hotspot was entered into UEFA Super Cup in Monaco ticket draw.
Comment:
These twin campaign simply makes sense for a smartphone brand. Indeed, Sony Ericsson has previously used the exclusive badge device in both women’s tennis and skiing sponsorship campaigns.
They also had a connected feel and shared social media strategies with the brand’s wider Champions league initiative Football FANatic – which brought a Man Ut fan and a FC Barcelona fan to London to drum up support for their respective sides amongst Londoners using their Sony Ericsson Xperia smartphones.
A competition was held to find the most passionate supporter from each team. The winners were paired up with two London based Football FANatics who will use their local knowledge to help them reach as many fans as possible in London and beyond. So, in the week running up to the final the Football FANatics teamed up to host events, write blogs, secure endorsement from footballing heroes, film themselves on their Sony Ericsson Xperia smartphones and take part in footballing challenges to convince British football fans that their team is the best.
The winning pair, the team which generated the most number of followers on Facebook, won tickets to the Champions League Final.
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