CASE STUDY: Sharing 'Heineken moments' at ATP Tennis Masters

Background

Heineken is a prestige sponsor of the ATP Shanghai Masters (which was won on Sunday, 14 October by Novak Djokovic who beat Andy Murray) which took place at the Qizhong Tennis Centre in Shanghai from 6 to 14 October.

Novus Marketing, a boutique integrated marketing communications agency was founded by Singaporean Kelvin Phang in March 2012. Phang is a 4A PR agency veteran, who from 2003 to 2012 held leadership positions at Octagon, Edelman (head of Pegasus Shanghai), Weber Shandwick (head of Slam PR Shanghai), Burson-Marsteller (market leader, sports and youth marketing) 

Phang said RFID-social media integration for brand activation (eg. Cadbury House) was used at the London Olympics and Heineken is probably the first to adopt RFID for brand activation and experiential marketing in China.

The main activation was outside the main stadium in the spectator village where Heineken had an 'experience zone', comprising a two-storey high Green Room, complete with a 'Hall of fame' with photos and memorabilia from 15 years of the Shanghai Masters, and 'Gangnam Style' performances by dancers.

 

There was also a Tennis Blaster interactive game where consumers who delivered a 200km/h serve on Nintendo Wii could win a chance to drink Heineken in sub-zero temperatures in the special ice-bar.  

The Heineken Experience zone also featured a beer garden with daily live music acts and appearances from star players.

Execution

Novus handled PR, media, event, social media integration and RFID technology for the Heineken Experience zone, which gained media coverage by print, radio, TV and online in Eastern China.

Entry to the Heineken Green Room was via a RFID-enabled, social media integrated system managed by Novus Marketing. Prior to entering, visitors registered their particulars and SINA weibo account information on iPads to receive a RFID bracelet.

Inside the Heineken Green Room, a roving photographer took pictures of visitors, which were instantly uploaded onto their weibo accounts using the RFID bracelets and a handheld ultra-high frequency (UHF) reader.

 

Visitors also ‘checked in’ to the ice-bar for free beers by tapping their RFID bracelets on a sensor which provided an instant update to their weibo.

 

Result
During the Shanghai Masters tournament-week, 1,494 Heineken Green Room visitors registered for the RFID bracelets which allowed photos taken onsite and ‘check-ins’ to be instantly uploaded onto their SINA weibo accounts.

The weibo updates were in turn viewed and commented on by hundreds of thousands of online netizens as many 'Heineken moments' were reposted (retweeted) by envious friends and followers.

For example, one attendee with 201 weibo followers had his 'Heineken moment' at the Green Room reposted 11 times with 44 comments