zeebox: Budweiser extends its sponsorship of the FA Cup to the second screen

written by: Richard Kastelein

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Published on Friday, 04 May 2012 14:30

This Saturday the FA Cup broadcast in the UK will for the first time enable fans to engage via the second-screen and social media in a coordinated campaign from FA Cup sponsor Budweiser in partnership with the Football Association.

Football fans will be able to enhance their experience of one the biggest football events of the year by tweeting to win the match ball, releasing their inner referee via the BE THE REF game in zeebox, voting for the Man of the Match via Facebook, participating in spontaneous match polls, and much more.

This ground-breaking social media campaign was created by Vizeum and zeebox withsupport from the Football Association via Engage Sports Media, Tellybug, Monterosa and Opta.  It brings together exclusive content from partners including the Football Association, with cutting-edge interactive widgets from Tellybug and Monterosa, and zeebox’s award-winning social TV platform that enables fans to engage with friends and get up-to-the minute match stats and behind-the-scenes videos.

Vizeum’s Head of Social Jonathan Palmer said:

“It is obvious to us and ABInBev that the future of watching TV will be a two-screen experience moving forward. That is why we are so excited about working with zeebox to be the first brand to trial this platform during a live sporting occasion. We believe that all our campaigns should be social by design and this really fits into that ethos.”

Simon Miller, Chief of Product & Content Development, zeebox said:

“we’re delighted to be working with Budweiser and the FA plus TellyBug, Monterosa and Engage Sports Media to pull together a set of compelling second-screen experiences during the FA Cup Final, the latest in our on-going mission to bring next generation social interactivity to sports fans as they watch TV with zeebox.”

The interactive fun kicks off on Saturday, 5^th May, at 9:30am with the special FA Cup documentary Kings for A Day: the Giant Killers of Football at 9:30am on ESPN.  Zeebox interactivity will continue throughout the ESPN run-up shows, and will come to a head with the start of the Final match shows at 3:15pm on ITV 1 and at 4:45pm on ESPN.

AB InBev and its media agency Vizeum are making the most of the first season of Budweiser’s 3-year sponsorship of the FA Cup by innovating across the social media spectrum to promote this weekend’s match and related TV shows:

• Twitter competition – fans can tweet during the match using special hashtags to win an FA Cup 2013 VIP match experience courtesy of ESPN, as well as the match ball itself (courtesy of Budweiser and the FA)
• BE THE REF game – a new social game inside zeebox enabling fans to share their most enthusiastic referee calls (Offside! Goal! Foul!) with friends and other fans.
• Man of the Match – links to the official Man of the Match voting page on Facebook.
• Instant polls – within zeebox to gauge the mood of the fan base.
• Contextual zeetags – links to behind-the-scenes videos from partners including the FA, and other special content.
• Opta live match data – scores, commentary, team & player stats and profiles live as you watch.

Since launching in 2011, zeebox has led innovation in the market of social TV apps, uniquely enabling consumers to discover TV content through their extended social graph, to follow their favourite celebrities’ TV viewing, and to automatically get more information about the programmes they’re watching. zeebox knows what consumers are watching, and engages them with relevant content and ecommerce opportunities in synch with live TV.

Zeebox is available on the Web, on iPad, iPhone and Android smartphones at http://zeebox.com.