This week in #SportsBiz sees Coca Cola marketing culture to local FIFA fans. Also, FIFA is getting a huge amount of requests for World Cup tickets, Fox unveils new technology for the MLB Postseason, the Red Bull World Series will be televised this year, and TV goes social with Comcast. Be sure to stay in the loop of the sports business world with this week’s top news!
Sports Marketing
Coca Cola Markets culture to local FIFA fans
With the coming of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the FIFA World Cup, Coca Cola is preparing to appeal to local cultures. How? By utilizing artists who are local to the events.
Music seems to be a universal language around the world. Regardless of language, everyone is able to appreciate the musical tones. In 1970, the Coca Cola company announced it would “Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony).” Global sporting events represent the perfect stage to do just that.
At next year’s Winter Olympics and FIFA World Cup, Coke will appeal to the world by working with local artists. For instance, X Factor finalist David Correy, who re-connected with his Brazilian mother on the show, will team up with the beverage company to record the song “The World Is Ours”.
The idea is to make songs that are relevant to the countries where the Olympics and the World Cup are taking place. “The World Is Ours” will include some “Brazilian sound” for the FIFA event. Joe Belliotti, global music director for Coca-Cola, explained the unique marketing angle of Coca Cola:
“Football is a very emotional sport. People are passionate about it and about music. The soundtrack helps the marketing connect with the audience and brings people to the event who might not be as passionate about football. We will also be leveraging our Spotify partnership at different moments, although Spotify is not in all the countries.”
The FIFA World Cup trophy is on a world tour and the Coca Cola Company plans to be present in many of the 86 countries involved. “The World Is Ours” will also be re-recorded in several languages to appeal to those stops around the world. This is global marketing at its finest. Take a look at the anthem for the 2014 FIFA World Cup:
You can read more here.
Photo credit – behance.net
Sports Media
Fox Sports brings Red Bull World Series to viewers
In the largest Red Bull Media House US licensing deal, Fox Sports plans to bring viewers some excited television programming. Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 will give sports fans something no other network can offer: The Red Bull World Series.
Included in Red Bull’s World Series are four unique competitions: Red Bull Air Race World Championship, Red Bull Crashed Ice World Championship, the Red Bull X-Fighters Freestyle Motocross World Tour and the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.
The entire Series will include 180 hours of coverage. With amazing action and equally amazing backdrops from around the world, fans are sure to tune in. Michael Bloom, SVP of FOX Sports Original Programming, explained how great this opportunity is for FS1:
“Red Bull Media House has a longstanding relationship with the FOX Sports Network family,” said Werner Brell, Managing Director, Red Bull Media House North America. “The Red Bull World Series programming deal solidifies our relationship with FOX Sports. It is exciting for us to deliver this programming live to FOX Sports 1 in the network’s inaugural year on air, offering the US audience thrilling sports series competition on one dedicated home year-round.”
Red Bull Media House offers superb championships and thanks to Fox Sports, the United States will finally get a good look at the competition.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – blogonlyapartments.com
Social Media In Sports
Twitter pushes for social TV
In a recent deal with Comcast, Twitter aims to push social television to viewers. It didn’t take long for the two companies to come up with a new feature to offer to the Twitter-verse.
The new feature is properly dubbed “See It”. With Comcast’s recent acquisition of NBC Universal programming, See It will allow Xfinity users to view live TV straight from the tweet they are viewing. This means sports fans will be able to see a tweet talking about a matchup on NBC and be able to tune in directly from that feed. Twitter CEO Dick Costolo explains:
“Millions of users are exposed to the live conversation that unfolds on Twitter while a show is on the air and now, with See It, they’ll be able to tune in directly from a Tweet.”
“See It” will strive to merge popular TV viewing habits and social conversation. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement:
“See It is a simple yet powerful feature that creates an instant online remote control. Comcast is taking a leap forward in social TV by enabling Twitter users to more easily find and view the shows they want to watch and discover new shows.”
Not only will shows be discoverable, but the best sports programming will be readily available to Xfinity users. Say there is a major arguable call and it’s a topic that is popular on Twitter. Users will be able to click, tweet and watch what’s going on directly from that specific tweet. This not only furthers the social conversation, but enables users to further benefit from their second screen.
This feature seems to hold a promising future for the world of social media and sports.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – thenextweb.com
Sports Technology
Fox unveils new technology for MLB Playoffs
Building on technology from last season, Fox is looking to push the limits in this year’s MLB Playoffs. The new technology will include enhanced “Phantom Cam”, overlay imaging and ball-trailing graphics.
These features will help give viewers an enhanced look at the game. The slo-mo phantom cam is capable of shooting between 3,000 and 5,000 frames per second. These super slow images have come to be known as “X-mo” because of the tech’s ability to slow down the action.
A completely new technology for this year’s playoffs is the addition of overlay imaging. This technology allows viewers to get a glimpse of multiple pitches at once. Mike Davies, VP field operations for Fox Sports, explains:
“If there’s a four-ball walk, the viewer can see all four of those pitches thrown at once. You could see how far off the pitcher was, or determine where a pitcher’s release point is during those pitches.”
Another technology Fox is looking to premiere is their new version of ball-trailing graphics. These graphics have been available from a camera angle directly behind the pitcher. Fox, however, is looking to show off some alternate camera angles of the enhanced tech, allowing viewers the chance to have a different perspective.
Fox’s plans featuring new tech will certainly please baseball viewers throughout the rest of the playoffs. Take a look at Phantom Cam:
You can read more here.
Photo credit – broadcastengineering.com
Sports Ticket Sales
FIFA World Cup tickets in high demand
The FIFA World Cup is making a lot of news lately. This time, it’s in the area of ticket sales. It’s a good problem to have when the demand for tickets is nearly twice the amount of tickets actually available.
During phase one of ticket sales, FIFA received 6,124,682 ticket requests. The number of tickets available, however, is hovering around 3.3 million. Of the requests, Brazilians accounted for 70 percent, followed by Americans, Argentines, and Germans. Furthermore, FIFA saw applicants from 203 different countries.
Because of this onslaught of ticket requests, FIFA will conduct a random draw to award tickets to fans that applied during the first phase. The second phase is slated to run from November 5th through the 28th. This second phase will see one major difference in that applications will be processed in the order they are received.
With one million ticket requests coming within the first hour, you can easily see how high the demand is. FIFA must be ecstatic about how well the ticket sales are looking. FIFA Marketing Director Thierry Weil is certainly excited:
“We’re delighted. More than 70 per cent of these applications were from Brazilians, which shows how excited local fans are about the World Cup. Approximately 29 per cent of the requests were from foreign fans, from 203 countries, which shows that the FIFA World Cup Brazil is an event of global interest.”
Thursday, June 12 is the day everyone is looking forward to.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – en.wikipedia.org
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