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Tag: 2014 FIFA World Cup

  • MSM and Blogmint felicitate the winners of the LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup

    MSM and Blogmint felicitate the winners of the LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup

    LIV Sportsand Blogminttodaycrowned Nekib Ahmed as the winner of the first LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup at a grand event in Gurgaon.The Bloggers world cup was a unique Influencer Marketing initiative from LIV Sports and Blogmint that allowed bloggers to blog about their favorite team and compete on a real time basis. The LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup was hosted on the Blogmint platform, a leading Bloggers Marketplace, managed by Tangerine Digital.

     

    The LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup was launched to kindle the football passion in social media savvy youth of India received over 10,000 entries from football bloggers across the Indian sub-continent. Top 32 bloggers were selected to participate based on their social influence, Sports relevancy and passion for innovative Digital Marketing. They followed the similar format as the 2014 FIFA World Cup, from the qualifying rounds, to knockout stages. The top two bloggers from each group were further shortlisted to the quarterfinals on the basis their Blog Score – a measure of their influence.

     

    The awards were given by Mr.Nitesh Kripalani, Executive Vice-President – New Media, Business Development and Digital/Syndication at Sony Entertainment Network.Launched in June this year, LIV Sportsis the Official Mobile and Internet Broadcaster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. LIV Sports offers both LIVE and Video-on-demand match content, with rich and informative statistics and analysis

     

    Nekib Ahmedwon the month-long competition with a whooping number of views; he had stiff competition from Faisal Haq and Jatin, they finished second and third respectively.“I am so glad that I had the opportunity to be part of this exciting LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup. The entire journey has been a learning experience and every challenge has helped me discover my strength.” said, Nekib Ahmed.

     

    The innovative Influencer Marketing initiativereceived a phenomenal response on the digital platforms with an organic reach of 3 Mn on Social media based on the 151 blogs written by the contestants.

     

    Commenting on behalf of Blogmint, Kesavan Kanchi Kandadai, Chief Executive Officer, Tangerine Digital stated, “We are delighted with the response and interest that the LIV Sports Bloggers World Cup has received on the digital platform. We would like to congratulate the winners and assure that similar properties, across Sports will be launched in the near future.”

  • LIV Sports uses social media beyond advertising during 2014 FIFA World Cup

    LIV Sports uses social media beyond advertising during 2014 FIFA World Cup

    MUMBAI: With football craze gripping the Nation days before the start of the World Cup, LIV Sports, Sony’s online and mobile based VOD platform, anticipated a huge surge in Social communication and engagement from fans. Also, considering the LIVE streaming of the 2014 FIFA World Cup matches was a paid subscription service, LIV Sports decided to service queries from India’s mobile and social first users directly on their platforms. LIV Sports teamed up with Social IQ, a disruptive social media solution from TO THE NEW to set up The Social Command Center – a 24×7 social response solution. The team used social media as a customer support channel that helped in quick, transparent and efficient delivery of responses and updates to its users.

     

    The Social Command Center that consisted of a well-defined service framework of people and processes along with proprietary social customer support software helped LIV Sports with a quick response time of 2 hours over the period of the World Cup; addressed nearly 1000 customer support queries from the users. Additionally, the Social Command Center helped LIV Sports identify query patterns with deep analytics, thus guiding the LIV Sports Product teams to enhance Product improvements and User experience real-time.

     

    Launched in June this year, LIV Sports is the Official Mobile and Internet Broadcaster for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

     

    Mr. Nitesh Kripalani, Executive Vice-President – New Media, Business Development and Digital/Syndication at Sony Entertainment Network commented – “Social IQ’s Social Command Center and customer response platform definitely helped us build trust with our fans and followers; it also helped us reduce our support costs. Our goal that both Sony LIV and LIV Sports need to be where the consumers are, was further enhanced by the Social Command Centre’s ability to talk to our consumers on Social platforms.

     

    The personal touch, quick turnaround response and transparency helped achieve our goal of being connected to digital users irrespective of where they are.”

     

    LIV Sports successfully harnessed the power of social media beyond advertising to build brand awareness and become more relevant to the social and mobile first consumer.

     

    “When we were building the software and service frameworks, we knew this would be very new for the Indian market. However, for brands who want to reach out to today’s social and mobile first customer, leveraging social media for customer support can be a key differentiator. The same got validated with our engagement with LIVSports and I believe it is just a matter of time when we will see many more brands having a Social Command Center established”, said Mr. Kesavan Kanchi Kandadai, Business Head, Social IQ and CEO, Tangerine Digital.

  • Adidas the ‘sole’ winner of 2014 FIFA World Cup?

    Adidas the ‘sole’ winner of 2014 FIFA World Cup?

    If you thought FIFA was all about the game then you are highly mistaken. While Brazil was spending millions to prepare for the world’s biggest extravaganza, the two brands which rule the football merchandise market, had been busy playing their own matches.

    Even before the tournament began, the two giants with their marketing strategies were all set for FIFA 2014.

    It was in the month of May that Adidas, which has sponsored FIFA, the world football’s governing body, since 1970, launched its ?50million plus global World Cup campaign featuring Lionel Messi. Titled ‘Leo Messi’s World Cup Dream,’ the campaign also included Luis Suarez and Dani Alves and associated with Kanye West.

    The $1.9 billion Nike’s ‘The Last Game’ animated short film was launched a month later. To keep the buzz alive, the brand also opened its first pop-up store in Brazil. The five-minute World Cup film featured animated versions of the sport’s best players, from Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo to Brazil’s Neymar Jr., under the Nike Football campaign tagline, ‘Risk Everything’.

    Overall, Nike with $25 billion revenue has 17 per cent market share worldwide while Adidas with $20 billion revenue owns 12 per cent of the market share.

    Nonetheless, Adidas which has signed an agreement with FIFA until 2030 for $70 million for every four-year cycle, created the colourful WC ball – known as the Brazuca – which surpassed sales of the 2010 World Cup ball.

    Although eight different companies provide jerseys to the 32 participating teams, as the tournament entered the nail-biting semi-finals, the fight was no longer between Argentina, Brazil, Germany and Netherlands, but was all about Nike versus Adidas.

    The two companies with a combined market share of 70 per cent of the world football merchandise market sponsored two teams each: Argentina and Germany wore Adidas while Brazil and Netherlands wore Nike.

    But one can note that though Adidas provided the German kit, about nine of the country’s top players wore Nike boots. This WC Nike made a shoe statement with its new Magista and Mercurial boots.

    The marketing war at its highest saw the two in a tightly-cornered match. Social and digital media was conquered by both as fan base increased manifold. So much so that in the last five months or so Nike grew its Facebook fan base by approximately 14 million users, largely due to growth in markets like Indonesia, Turkey and India and thanks to ‘Risk Everything.’

    The last year has been volatile for the companies on the Wall Street index as well. Over the past year, Nike shares have trounced those of Adidas.

     

    If one goes by the numbers and strategic marketing, the competition between Nike’s and Adidas’ battle for the hearts and minds of soccer fanatics would have made the Goddess of Victory (Nike) take the trophy home.

    However, as Brazil and Netherland crashed out of the tournament, it was Adidas vs Adidas at the finals.

    Even though Adidas and Germans took the Golden trophy home, Nike the unofficial partner created enough buzz and revenue throughout the tournament.

    The companies are sure that even though the tournament is over, the momentum will remain the entire year. And keeping in mind that today the competition has moved beyond the pitch; with brand ambassadors and innovative marketing strategies, there is no longer but one winner.

    It was a win-win situation for both sport giants.

  • Germany versus Brasil: most anticipated match

    Germany versus Brasil: most anticipated match

    MUMBAI: The long nights of patiently staying awake and following the players across the football field is coming close to an end. The first semi finals will kick off today and will see host Brasil face-off against Germany.

     

    Football fans in India will get to see the match on Sony Six at 1:20 am on 9 July. The quarter finals saw Germany defeat France and Brasil defeat Colombia to reach the semis. Both sides are crossing fingers and hoping for their teams to win.

     

    For Brasil it is about being the host country and winning the title for the sixth time which they will be one step closer to, if they defeat Germany. On the other hand, Germany will look forward to breaking its World Cup semi final curse. The previous two World Cups’ saw Germany lose the semi finals to Italy and Spain, just short of reaching the finals.

     

    Germany also has to deal with a ‘vodoo man’ who is out to curse the team and make Brasil win. The home team which will be playing without its captain Thiago Silva and striker NeymarJr is already causing concern among Brasil fans.

     

    Germany coach Joachim Lowe has raised concerns over Brasil’s behaviour and has asked the match officials to intervene if Brasil plays rough.

     

    The match will be played at 5 pm on 8 July according to Brasil standard time, 8 pm according to GMT and for countries in the east such as beyond Pakistan will see it early morning on 9 July.

  • 219 private websites blocked for showing FIFA, Google does not figure in list

    219 private websites blocked for showing FIFA, Google does not figure in list

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has been informed by telecom player Airtel that it has already blocked 219 websites which were illegally streaming live the matches of 2014 FIFA World Cup.

     

    The Court had earlier on 23 June issued an injunction restraining over 400 private websites from showing the matches, following a petition by Multi Screen Media (Sony) that holds the exclusive rights for beaming the matches in India.

     

    Interestingly, the list given by Airtel does not list any Google website despite the fact that the Court had specifically cited two Google sites.

     

    The vacation bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao gave a directive to the Department of Information Technology and Telecom to ensure implementation of the order of the court. He also said that his directive would be forwarded to the concerned Ministry.

     

    The judge, who listed the matter to come up in the last week of July, gave the directive after hearing Saikrishna Rajagopal who was arguing on behalf of MSM.

     

    The sports arm of MSM, Sony Six is the official broadcaster of the football extravaganza, while its digital platform LIVSports.in has the exclusive rights to live stream the event.
     
    The network had moved the court after it found out that several unauthorised websites were streaming the World Cup matches illegally.

     

    MSM had said that it has the official rights to telecast matches in six channels in the Indian sub-continent, including Sony Six and offers live streaming on Sony Liv and Liv Sports (for mobile).

     

    The court order was revised on 1 July and the list of sites was modified after a list was submitted again by MSM. The High Court had also directed that the copy of the order must be sent to DoT and DIT, so that the Internet Service Providers can block the websites.

  • Kolkata LMOs to set up another cooperative post 2014 FIFA WC

    Kolkata LMOs to set up another cooperative post 2014 FIFA WC

    KOLKATA: The last mile owners (LMOs) in Kolkata are yet again gearing for owning their subscribers. While earlier a group comprising 100 LMOs had announced their plan of setting up their own cooperative, news now is that another set of ‘unhappy LMOs’ in Kolkata has united to set up their own control room and headend.  

       

    According to cable TV sources operating in the region, LMOs will declare their plans only after the end of the ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup. The delay is to ensure that the 33 lakh cable TV subscribers in the area do not see any disruption in their cable TV services, especially during the football World Cup.

     

    The trend of more and more LMOs joining hands to set up their own cooperative has come from the rising concern over MSOs becoming the owners of the subscribers, which according to the LMOs have been owned by them for years. Sources hint that the industry will soon see some major announcements.

     

    Indiantelevision.com was the first to report on how around 100 LMOs in the region had united a few months ago to form a cooperative called ‘Bengal Broadband’.  The aim of this was to provide independent cable TV services to customers like any other multi-system operator (MSO), namely SitiCable, Manthan and Incable among others.

     

    ‘Bengal Broadband’ aims to start operation in the current fiscal 2014-15 and has already invested around Rs 4.8 crore in setting up the headend equipment and office infrastructure at Salt Lake College More in the city. The cooperative is looking at a subscriber base of one million in the first year of its operations. Not only this, it also aims at providing cable TV connections at a cost which is 15-20 per cent lower than the other MSOs.

     

    While Cable & Broadband Operators Welfare Association convener Swapan Chowdhury refused to comment on any such development, Cable Operators Sangram Committee general secretary Apurba Bhattacharya confirmed the news of LMOs in Kolkata venturing into forming a cooperative. “The operators are happy to get into this space. We will run the business ourselves.”

     

    A LMO, who is a part of the new venture said, “We are setting up our own control room and it will involve a cost of around Rs 1 crore. We will be able to offer services to customers at a cheaper rate. It will be an operators’ driven MSO.”

     

    “During the analogue regime, the revenue share between the MSO and LMO used to be 20:80 but after DAS, it has come down to 65:35. The business model is not at all lucrative. If this continues, we will die and not be able to arrange our daily bread and butter,” added another LMO who is a member of the group that is setting up the control room.

     

    Small operators will become a part of a larger LMO network, said another, without divulging much details.

  • Taste of India available at Sony’s ‘Cafe Rio’

    Taste of India available at Sony’s ‘Cafe Rio’

    MUMBAI: It was almost 65 years ago that a revolution started from a small village in Gujarat, and since then Amul has been a part and parcel of our lives, everyday.

     

    The company, which saw Rs 18,150 crore turnover last year, has become a part of our lives like its products. From just sarcastic hoardings on topical issues, Amul has now ventured into the television screens through its limited advertisements, but what has caught more attention is its association with various sporting events.

     

    The year 2011 saw the Anand-based Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) sponsoring the cricket team of Netherlands in the ICC Cricket World Cup and Switzerland-headquartered Sauber F1 team at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. It took a step further when it decided to sponsor the Indian contingent at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

     

    And now with the football fever gripping the entire world, the ‘Taste of India’ can be seen on our screens every day before the game begins. Amul is the main sponsors of the shows – Cafe Rio and Football Extraa – on Sony Six.

     

    “Our sponsorship of Cafe Rio and Football Extraa was a good option as it gave an opportunity to cover the entire event very comprehensively right from pre-match discussion to post-match wrap up during the breakfast show next day,” says the company’s MD RS Sodhi.

     

    When asked why this sudden interest in sports, he says, “Milk is nature’s original energy drink and plays a pivotal role in building the physical and mental strength of the sportsmen. Nutritious dairy diet comprising milk, cheese, yogurt etc. is an important part in the diets of athletes around the world. India is the largest producer of milk in the world and Amul is not only India’s but Asia’s largest milk brand.  This association with sports and activities around it will help us in engaging with the youth so that they can enjoy a healthy life and strive to become more competitive in their endeavours.”

     

    It also believes that sporting events are now getting increasingly popular amongst all age groups, both men and women and hence, live sporting events provide a good opportunity for the brand. So much so, that it has become an integral part of its media plans. “We do not treat this as an additional spend,” points out Sodhi.

     

    The cherry-picking begins well in advance since the schedule of most of the sporting events is available much in advance. So far, it has associated itself with events like F1, Olympics, IPL, EPL and now the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Many more such associations with other events is on cards.

     

    The brand’s marketing strategy has changed as well. The girl in the polka-dot frock is inseparable from the brand’s identity, but through its recently launched digital campaign ‘Har ghar Amul ghar’, because it wanted a longer format that went beyond 40 seconds followed by a humorous campaign featuring a person with a milk moustache who ‘Eats Milk with Every Meal’, it has (finally) moved on with time.

     

    The audience plays the key role when it comes to media selection. “If a large number of our youth are on social media, we cannot ignore it. We have a very high traction on social media – be it Facebook or Twitter. Our topicals are first released on social media, then on hoardings, TV and print. The topicals are published in 35 newspapers every Wednesday with a print run of over 35 million copies,” informs Sodhi.

     

    At the recently concluded World Dairy Innovation Awards 2014 during the eight Global Dairy Congress, Amul bagged the ‘Best Marketing Campaign’ award for the ‘Eat Milk with Every Meal’ campaign. The full-page format across leading dailies like the Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Telegraph, Deccan Chronicle etc. highlighted the importance of milk and dairy products in every one’s diet. “We are happy that our efforts have got recognised at the global level,” says Sodhi humbly.

     

    FY14 was extremely good for Amul and with its expansion plans the brand is optimistic about 2015 as well. “Amul has been growing at a CAGR of 22 per cent since last five years. Our last year’s growth was 32 per cent. And we plan to grow by 20-25 per cent this year too,” concludes Sodhi.

  • Reliance Media Works helps amplify 2014 FIFA World Cup fever

    Reliance Media Works helps amplify 2014 FIFA World Cup fever

    MUMBAI: As the excitement in the air builds, fans all across the world gear up for the biggest football tournament.  From social networking sites, advertisement commercials to sports bars the 2014 FIFA World Cup fever is everywhere. And this year for the first time Reliance MediaWorks is proud to be associated with Sony SIX for this mega event. The company has partnered with the official broadcasters – Multi Screen Media who are using the state of the art sound stages at Film City to shoot Café Rio, a prime time football wrap around show that is being aired on Sony SIX.

     

    Café Rio is a prime time show where experts from the football field and some football legends come together to offer in-depth analysis of player forms, group standings, strategies and the matches being played. With a combination of sports and entertainment this show promises to captivate both the football purists and enthusiastic viewers. The line-up is promising including Peter Crouch, Robbie Fowler, Peter Shilton, Mikael Silvestre, Ellyse Perry, Sunil Chhetri and John Abraham.

     

    For this one month long program, keeping in mind the stringent requirements that involved several elements including live stadium action and studio programming on a daily basis, the entire consolidation was done at the Reliance MediaWorks studio facilities so that the seamlessly integrated programme is available to delight millions of football fans on a daily basis.

     

    Availability of the best in class infrastructure, onsite technical support, high standards of quality & security; all within the reach at a convenient location like Filmcity was the key reason that made this the preferred choice.

     

    Known for their Hollywood benchmarked infrastructure, Reliance MediaWorks currently offer four sound stages for all production requirements for broadcast, film, TVCs & events. The new set of four stages which also have the same technical specifications, will be operational by September 2014.

     

    MSM executive vice president and business head Prasana Krishnan said, “2014 FIFA World Cup is without a doubt the most anticipated event of the year. In order to deliver the very best to our viewers, we had to ensure that everything that goes into the creation of the content is of the very finest quality. Thereby, our preferred choice of high technology studio facility was Reliance MediaWorks.”

     

    Reliance MediaWorks chief executive officer Venkatesh Roddam, added, “After our repeated successful collaboration for Pepsi IPL Extraaa Innings, we are partnering with Multi-Screen Media yet again for Café Rio this time. They constantly offer path breaking programming concepts to the discerning viewers and we at Reliance MediaWorks are happy and proud to be associated in this first of its kind programming initiatives for football in India.”

  • MSM moves Delhi HC on infringement of FIFA rights

    MSM moves Delhi HC on infringement of FIFA rights

    MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) has moved the Delhi High Court over illegal streaming of the 2014 FIFA World Cup by several websites. The sports arm of MSM, Sony Six is the official broadcaster of the football extravaganza, while its digital platform LIVSports.in has the exclusive rights to live stream the event.

     

    The network has moved the court after it found out that several unauthorised websites were streaming the World Cup matches.

     

    The case which is up for hearing on 23 June, will be heard by a bench comprising Justice Siddharth Mridul and Sunita Gupta.  Advocate Saikrishna Rajagopal will present the case on behalf of MSM.

     

    The counsel sought an early listing of the matter on the ground that these websites were interfering with the network’s rights.

  • SES and EBU Broadcast 2014 FIFA World Cup in Ultra HD

    SES and EBU Broadcast 2014 FIFA World Cup in Ultra HD

    MUMBAI:  SES today announced that Eurovision – the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) distributor of premium sports and news events – is broadcasting the 2014 FIFA World Cup to audiences throughout North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia in Ultra HD and HD via SES satellites.

     

    Eurovision is distributing matches live in Ultra HD to their global network using the NSS-806 satellite and SES’s teleport in Manassas. SES’s NSS-7 and SES-6 spacecraft are being used to enable Eurovision to deliver matches from the 12 World Cup venues throughout Brazil to the International Broadcast Center in Rio de Janeiro.

     

    “Eurovision and the EBU are gearing up for one of the largest broadcast operations requirements in the history of the World Cup, now including Ultra HD content. The live coverage of some matches in Ultra HD will allow consumers to catch a glimpse of the future of TV,” said Paolo Pusterla, Eurovision’s Head of Procurement.

     

    “Consumers today expect higher and better image quality when watching TV. We are proud to be able to continue working with Eurovision to fulfill the ever-changing demands of broadcasters with confidence, by providing hybrid solutions to deliver coverage of this spectacular sporting event to over 3 billion people around the world,” said Samantha McCloskey, Vice President of Global Occasional Use Services at SES.

     

    More on the SES 2014 FIFA World Cup coverage and SES Occasional Use Services under: http://www.ses.com/fifa-world-cup and www.ses.com/occasional-use

     

    SES is participating at CommunicAsia2014 (hall C, level 1) and CommunicAsia2014 Summit at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore, from 17 – 20 June 2014. For more information on the booth, visit: http://www.ses.com/18836830/CommunicAsia2014