Sony has teamed up with media agency Isobar to create a new interactive platform for this year’s World Cup, called One Stadium Live. This online forum, which opened on May 1st, compiles the comments and conversations of soccer fans across the world on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, organizing them all on one website.
One Stadium Live will highlight the event’s most recent – and talked about – news, results, and (of course) conflicts. The forum will also keep statistics on all 32 teams and their players as the tournament progresses. Sony’s “Newsroom Team” will work around the clock to maintain the site, both leading up to and during the tournament, in six different languages.
This effort is part of Sony’s One Sony campaign, which is an attempt to use technology to help tell stories and display how customers feel. Nick Bailey, CEO of Isobar, sums up the user experience: “You’ll be able to tune in and see what people are saying, but in an engaging and entertaining way. It won’t feel like just a load of Twitter hashtags – it will be a snapshot of what the world is feeling” (AdAge).
One Stadium Live will evaluate the meaning of each post and group together similar comments, allowing fans to interact on a global scale. To safeguard against unwanted messages within these conversations, Sony’s up-to-date technology protects against bots and retweets. The Newsroom team is also in charge of moderating posts to eliminate racist and drug-related comments.
Bailey boldly predicts that 60% of all tweets during the month of the World Cup will be dedicated to the tournament’s action. With an exponential rise in the use of social media platforms between the 2010 World Cup and today, One Stadium Live provides a unique venue to aggregate the increasing amount of conversations soccer fans are having across the world. Through clean, yet spirited communication, this online hub hopes to bring fans closer to the action, and make them feel a part of this global tournament.
Trials using One Stadium Live were held during international friendly matches in preparation for the World Cup, and resulted in high engagement around a wide range of conversation topics (some examples: team strategies, jerseys, and which players are “hot”).
Following the conclusion of the World Cup, Sony and Isobar plan to modify One Stadium Live into a platform for other major sporting events and shows around the world (one possibility: the next Academy Awards).
