Heineken prepares to capture the emotional highs and lows of rugby fans
Munster’s win and a broken nose dominated the quarter-final Twitter chatter as Heineken gears up for a major social sentiment project around the Heineken Cup Final
Last weekend’s Heineken Cup quarter-final games provided many memorable match moments. From Munster’s remarkable win to Ernst Joubert’s broken nose, the Twittersphere was alive with ‘chatter’ which, when harnessed, paints a fascinating picture about the role of Twitter for Heineken Cup fans. Looking ahead to the Heineken Cup final in Dublin, Heineken has set out with an ambitious project to measure the mood of rugby fans across Twitter and use this information to project dramatic visual animations in Dublin city centre over the Heineken Cup final weekend, 17-18 May.
The Heineken Cup quarter-final infographic is the first of a series to be released by Heineken over the course of the Get in the Game campaign. It is all part of a broader project which will measure the ‘social sentiment’ of Heineken Cup fans across Europe. Starting with the Heineken Cup semi-finals, positive and negative sentiment will be measured along with volume and trends to reflect the vibrant activity on Twitter. The data collected will be used to drive large-scale visual animations projected onto a purpose built set in Dublin city centre on Heineken Cup final weekend. Heineken Cup fans will have an opportunity to influence the project by tweeting their support for one of the Heineken Cup finalists using #GETINTHEGAME. Those lucky enough to be in Dublin for the Heineken Cup final weekend will be able to interact directly with the large scale set by stepping up to kick virtual conversions. Each successful kick will convert into a tweet of support for a chosen team.
The Heineken Cup quarter-final infographic, which measured the Saracens v Ulster and Harlequins v Munster clashes only, demonstrates how much support Ulster enjoyed across Twitter. Ulster hashtags #SUFTUM, #MAKETWICKENHAMHOME and #ULSTER accounted for 58% of the top five hashtags or 12,235 tweets between Friday and Sunday. That is considerably more than #HEINEKENCUP and #HCUP combined.
Remarkably, the most featured Twitter handle belongs to a player who didn’t feature in either match. Despite not playing, Saracens’ Jacques Burger topped the Twitter charts after his team’s victory over Ulster. The game, an extremely physical affair, left Sarries’ number eight Ernst Joubert with a gruesome broken nose. After the game, Burger (whose Twitter handle is @Nabasboer) tweeted an image of a jubilant Joubert which resulted in 5,494 mentions. Paul O’Connell (@Paul_OConnell), who stole most of the weekend’s limelight, accounted for 4,137 mentions.
Karl Donnelly, Heineken’s Sponsorship Brand Manager, said: “Today, so much of the conversation around sports events takes place across social media. Heineken recognises how important this space is. We are utilising this rich conversation and harnessing it with visual animations and projections over the weekend of the Heineken Cup final. A custom built structure for this visual display will also provide an interactive virtual kicking game; fans can literally kick conversions which will, in turn, send tweets in support of various teams. A social sentiment project like this has never been seen before in Ireland.’
Fans can Get in the Game via www.heineken.ie/game or by stepping up to challenges featured in pubs throughout Ireland. Arcade-style games such as Conversion Challenge and Catch will be available to online players who will also have their Heineken Cup knowledge tested with quizzes and Match Predictor. It is all linked in one exciting system where the overall winner will receive a once in a lifetime VIP and back stadium experience at the Heineken Cup Final.
