The All Ireland Football Final on Sunday is the hottest ticket in Irish sport. In the build up to the big day we take a look at how each of the three main sponsors of this years Championship have activated their involvement across the summer.
Today it is the turn of Eircom who have sought to showcase their many digital assets through a summer in which football fans were invited to ‘experience more.’
Every trend within sport and the brands looking to benefit from an association with big events is pointing toward the need to activate digitally.
In this sense there could hardly be a more appropriate relationship than between an organisation like the GAA which delivers on emotion and which has totally gotten to grips with new media, and a brand like eircom that has heritage and trust in the market, allied to a wide range of services that enable the digital fan to get the most from their sport.
This is the third year of an initial three year deal and much may depend in the future on how the sport and the brand can develop a shared vision on how those services can best be rolled out across the Association.
Across the world of sport the idea of a connected fan base and especially a connected stadium are becoming increasingly important.
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A recent survey of major US venues revealed that 33% of stadia now deliver hi speed wifi to all seating areas and an additional 63% with either targeted delivery to certain areas or planning for a roll out of more.
The challenge for sport is that in homes, offices, hotels and public spaces, the idea of always on connectivity is now the norm for people who are tied to their world of social media, email, text and knowledge through the mobile internet.
Sports stadia though gather large numbers at infrequent intervals and the cost of delivering those services in those circumstances is high.
In the US the cost is being met and seen as a capital investment that will yield a return by the stadium operator and often in partnership with a carrier who is also a major sponsor.
It is partnership in every sense and is the likely course of future collaboration between the GAA and Eircom.
For the present, eircom’s focus has been on delivering engaging content. The Experience More website brings together a wealth of original material aimed at occasional as well as committed fans and is a central point of the brands positioning as a hi speed broadband provider.
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The e-fibre network is rolling out quickly across major urban centres and the rest of the country. The research and writing of this piece was made faster and easier across its network.
30% of our readership will engage across either a smartphone or tablet device and again this is an area where eircom through eMobile is already a major player.
In social media one of the main successes of the year has been the use of fan pic technology provided by Irish company Huggity at Croke Park.
A total of over 18,000 fans have tagged themselves in the hi resolution image shot at a single point in the stadium for the two All Ireland football semi finals. This compares to only 3,000 that did likewise at Old Trafford for the Man United Chelsea game in the Premier League that took place at around the same time.
That in itself is testament to the reach which Eircom as a sponsor was able to effect through smart promotion to a connected audience.
Short form video content and articles by leading personalities in the game have driven traffic to the brand’s web portal which has succeeded in staying fresh when other similar experiments in brand ‘ownership’ within the media space have fallen flat.
The battle raging in rugby and soccer between Sky Sports and BT Sport shows how important sport is going to be in the near future as the content which really delivers in terms of television, broadband and mobile.
Negotiations on a renewal of a partnership between the GAA and Eircom will take place along the same timeframe as those surrounding media rights over the next three years.
There will be an overlap of those two discussions as the lines between the channels become ever more fluid, pretty much like the attacking formations of Dublin on Sunday.
Eircom is a strong partner of the countries strongest sporting asset. Long may that continue, and help to deliver the ability of fans on Hill 16 and around the stadium to tweet and share images and thoughts on the action, providing real evidence of the value of ‘being there.’
Day One: Supervalu and Community
Day Two: Eircom and Experience More
Friday: Ulster Bank and getting local
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