The FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 Mobile Roadshow Gets Comprehensive, Breaks Tradition
by EVENTFAQS Bureau Entertainment | February 26, 2018 | News
FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017
The FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 Mobile Roadshow toured over 75 locations and took place over 200 days, making it by far the most comprehensive and innovative fan engagement outreach to be executed in the region. The FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 took place between December 6 and 16, 2017 at multiple locations like Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain, and Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi.The entire progam of the road show was created keeping three key considerations in mind:
- Youth, (especially millennials) want to be a part of the action and are not passive fans
- Converting Participants into Attendees by tapping into their passions
- Revamping the Fan Engagement experience and instead providing self-identification to interested participants
Flash Entertainment, the Local Organising Committe, transformed the traditional model by identifying a series of linked solutions to create deeper and meaningful fan engagement. Below are some of the key transformations:
There were two Mobile Roadshows conducted for over 8 months:There were two different touring units constructed, which traveled to over 68 unique locations (45 in Abu Dhabi, 11 in Al Ain, 11 in Dubai, 1 in Sharjah) activating over 200 days. By offering two distinctive units, it enabled Flash Entertainment to re-target fans to play both units to complete all skill challenges, as opposed to a one-off engagement. Extending the duration from a few weeks to eight months of engagement, meant reaching the maximum number of touch points including malls, schools/universities, recreational and professional football academies, large events, public locations, corporates, airports, residential communities, and cultural activities.
As the next step, instead of the typical fan zone engagement there was a new model similar to the NFL Combine. The model showcased 12 skill-based games which were individually measurable (Power, Dribbling, Accuracy, Throw-In, Precision, Speed, Save, Passing, Heading, Touch, Reflex, E-Sports) and 6 social activities (Trophy Display, Locker Room, Goal Commentary, Goal Celebration, Goal 180, Dugout). The skill games enabled players to understand how they performed individually by capturing measurable personal results across each football drill and share experiences through social media channels.
Flash Entertainment also developed a bespoke tracking system: Instead of just providing raw data or comparing it to FIFA Legends scores, there was a special mobile phone app launched which helped create engagement and interaction among fans and their friends. The app also led to the building of communities based on the users' interests. The fans were ranked and the numeric gratification led to re-engagement and reward in the form of ‘Ultimate Heroes’ competition and eventually match attendance. For the FIFA CWC 2018 edition of the tournament, Flash Entertainment will focus on app downloads as opposed to direct marketing.
This process also helped us indirectly link fan engagement to attendance: Having various classifications enabled us to re-activate each player. Instead of keeping the fan engagement separate from the match day, we re-targetedeach player to inform them of the specific skills where they outperformed their communities. By indicating when they were in the Top 10 of a specific skill challenge, we were able to invite all winners back to compete at the Fan Village at the stadium, thus driving maximum conversion to the event.
Both Mobile Roadshow units were fully branded with the FIFA Club World Cup branding and served as pop-up advertisement assets in each of the 68 locations visited. Additionally, a nation-wide search for Youth Leaders was rolled out in schools, universities and youth football academies across the UAE, and was open to students aged 10-21 to identify the most passionate fans to serve as grassroots influencers. In their role as FIFA Club World Cup Youth Leaders, participants had four key areas of responsibility encompassing physical and social tasks that help drive interest and create a buzz around the competition in December.
“Having hosted the FIFA Club World Cup in 2010, we were aware of the challenges with getting fans to attend matches that didn’t feature their favorite teams, and therefore had to find alternative solutions to revolutionize the approach to getting fans to attend all matches” said LOC Director of Marketing and Communications, Ahmad Al Qubaisi.
“Typically when fans participate in actions, they play without any feedback to the purpose. We developed an Android and iPhone app to enable each fan to capture their results and compare their results against friends and their communities against your age group, gender, country or origin and even favorite team fans. In doing so, we were able to re-target each fan to reward their performance and challenge them to become the Ultimate Heroes of each challenge. The activities were designed to be accessible to all ages, gender and skill levels, engaging even non-footballers who set top scores. Notable examples were events with the Dubai Police to bring the Mobile Roadshow to the People of Determination community and at the Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Open where UAE national team football players competed against top LET female golfers. Ultimately, the top performers were rewarded at the venue with prizes, autographs and meet & greet opportunities with football legends” said Taylor Agisim, Head of Experiential and Community for the LOC.
“Our approach to fan engagement was on fans active participation to compete and showcase their own football talent, which was linked to a ticket purchase for early-round matches. This proved to be invaluable as we managed to convert an additional 15,000 fans or 70% of fans who purchased a Ticket Vouchers through the Mobile Roadshow to attendance the early-round matches” said Taylor Agisim, Head of Experiential and Community for the LOC.
“The success of this model has inspired FIFA Partners to further collaborate with the LOC to engage the UAE community. Visa were the first sponsor to recognize the opportunity by developing the Visa Dugout to show the Top 50 Goals of the history of the tournament and create exclusive access for their cardholders. Presenting Partner of the tournament, Alibaba developed a bespoke activation using elements of the Mobile Roadshow at the stadium called the Striker Zone and plan on showcasing their technology by advancing the development of the Mobile Phone app for the next tournament and using this as a case study to activating other global sponsorships including their partnership with the Olympics”. Adidas, Mubadala and Etisalat also engaged fans utilizing the platform.
“The success of Fan Engagement started with developing deep relationships with each participating community. This started with meeting the Ambassadors of each country and being introduced to the business leaders in the community. In this case, the largest Moroccan companies participating in the Community Leadership patron program to purchase over 3,000 additional tickets and transportation for the Moroccan community living in the UAE to support their country and the team. This created incredible atmosphere that makes football matches fun to witness to see how each culture celebrates and cheers for their teams. For both the FIFA Club World Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019, we will leverage each community national pride to drive full stadiums” said LOC Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, Reeva Bains.
The FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017 Mobile Roadshow was by far the most comprehensive and innovative fan engagement outreach to be executed in the region.