Sporting Portugal In Viral Hall Of Fame 2008

Written by Igor Beuker on August 5th, 2008 |

Sporting Portugal made the Marketing Sherpa Viral Hall of Fame 2008 with an interactive web ad, that made Sporting coach Paulo Bento call you back saying: come to the stadium, we need you. It reminded me of Playertalk, a similar mobile concept that Arsenal and O2 UK already launched many years ago.

Sporting Portugal created a website that let users submit their name and telephone number to become part of an interactive ad. A video showing a well-known soccer coach stressing out in a locker room ended with a phone call to the submitted number with the coach encouraging the visitor to come to the stadium because “the team needs you.”

The idea attracted plenty of blog coverage and more than 610,000 people to the site in two weeks. The all-time record for season ticket sales was shattered on the first day of the season. The creative agencies were Draftfcb and eStara. The campaign was targeted at fans and was launched August 2007.

Campaign Goal: To create a memorable, interactive Web ad that would promote the Sporting Portugal team and brand, encourage game attendance and drive season ticket sales.

Creative: An ad was created for the Sporting website. It asked viewers to first supply their name and telephone number to find out more about how to help the football team succeed.

Users who entered their name and number were shown a brief video of the team in the locker room before a game while coach Paulo Bento paces in the hallway. Another coach hands him a list of names, and tells him that someone is missing. The coach looks at the list, sees the viewer’s name on the list and dials his phone. The viewer’s own phone rings, and the coach urges the viewer to get down to the stadium fast because the team needs him/her.

Measurement criteria included the number of calls made via the eStara Click to Call service that powered the interactive capabilities of the ad and the number of new memberships secured.

Seeding Strategy: The ad was placed on the homepage of Sporting Portugal’s website.

Buzz Generated: The creativeness of the campaign resulted in massive interest from the local and national media in Portugal. The campaign was covered on various marketing blogs. For example: Vanksen Culturebuzz, Viral marketing for Sporting Portugal. A Source of Inspiration, Sporting draft. and Technorati: Sporting Portugal campaign.

Specific (Goal-Related) Campaign Results: The ad and the Internet call to action had Bento making 200,000 calls in two days! Word of mouth drew 610,000 visits to the Sporting.org website in just two weeks, resulting in 1,500 new memberships. The campaign helped to break the all-time record for season ticket sales on the first day of the season.

As jury member of many digital awards (Spin, Webby) I like the case, but find it a bit strange that the case study first speaks about 610.000 unique people and later it says 610.000 visits. We all know that the number of visits is not the same as unique visitors.

Also I think that 200.000 calls in 2 days is very, very much. Especially if you read in the case study that as seeding strategy: the ad was placed on the homepage of Sporting Portugal’s website. Would an ad at this site really be able to drive 200.000 into a calling application in just 2 days? How many UV’s does the Sporting Portugal website attract per day?

See the full case study here at Marketing Sherpa

Maybe you can help our community crack the numbers above?