Background
The FIFA World Cup is in full swing, and the eyes of the world are on Brazil with many stations already achieving record viewing figures (click here) for some of the early matches. This naturally presents both broadcasters and advertisers with opportunities to engage their audiences with innovative and clever ideas to sustain viewing interest and fill the halftime slot. Below are a few examples of creative ways in which egta members are embracing the event and using all available screens, as well as social media, to enhance the viewing experience.
The innovations
  ProSiebenSat.1 in Germany has used its female-targeted channel sixx to adapt a social media campaign to TV for the first time. The sixx Facebook page uses the station mascot, an animated chicken, to share funny posts relating to sport – and football specifically – during the World Cup. The campaign has been highly successful, attracting more than 20,000 likes and has been translated onto the TV screen as a series of bumper breaks around the station’s normal programming, using clever word plays to comment on the football. Clients have not been integrated so far, but if the campaign maintains its current rate of success the possibilities are endless for the next major championships in France in 2016.
  SBS Belgium has also used its women’s channel, VIJF, to launch a campaign throughout the World Cup, as it is known to receive higher ratings when football is scheduled on other channels. Club VIJF features special scheduling to “help women survive the football-intense period.” The channel uses its online site vijf.be to offer sponsored prizes every day of the World Cup to its viewers, including dinners, make-up workshops and discounts on shopping and flowers.
  In France, TF1 Publicité has joined forces with Visa, an official World Cup partner, to develop the VISA MULTICAM tool which offers viewers a more personalised and interactive match experience via five additional cameras. MULTICAM is available on the MYTF1 website and the app enables the audience to follow the star player, the substitutes’ bench, to benefit from an aerial view and replay key moments from different angles.The VISA MULTICAM also offers exclusive additional footage such as the arrival of the players at the stadium and the official press conference following the match. The initiative is promoted with a series of ten-second spots prior to the most highly symbolic matches of the tournament as well as self-promotion on MYTF1.
  In the Netherlands, the sales house Ster ran Super Bowl-style ads in the commercial breaks during the national team’s first game against Spain – the concept is called Super Dutch. Several advertisers have produced unique, one-off Super Dutch spots, one of the most original being an execution by the travel operator Sunweb.
  And staying in the Netherlands, you might want to check out this cheeky idea on how to attract viewers during the match breaks by SBS Broadcasting!
 Finally, in a great initiative to keep the advertisers themselves engaged with the competition, Belgian sales house RMB is offering Take The Bet and Cooling Breaks to the market.
 In Take The Bet, brands have the opportunity to take advantage of the extra commercial breaks in knockout games that go to extra time or even penalties. Advertisers wanting to appear in these unscheduled breaks effectively place a bet on the slots becoming available, with the investment rolling over to the future should the games be decided in normal time. The second offer presents a chance to advertise within the three-minute so-called cooling breaks that come into force when the temperature tops 32° shortly before any given match.
Why does this matter to egta members?
One of TV’s greatest strengths is its ability to bring people together, and live sporting events do this better than anything else. The FIFA World Cup, as the planet's most watched sporting event, is the perfect vehicle to try new ideas, trade on the power of television and inspire clients to explore new formats. For the audience, new screens and social media interactions offer a higher level of engagement with the competition than ever before. |
