?#?btsia Post-match Interview: Fast Track
“Brands must build an emotional connection with sports fans”
Brands need to be smarter about how they use Twitter to effectively engage with sports fans, says Fast Track’s Head of Digital Graeme Harrison, who led the team to the Best Use of Social Media title at the BT Sports Industry Awards 2013 for Ricky Hatton’s ‘Redemption’ campaign.
Harrison revealed key social insights from the Hatton campaign in a Fast Track briefing event this morning, attended by digital managers from sports sponsor brands and governing bodies. It follows the broadcast yesterday evening on ITV4 of a hard-hitting documentary Night of the Fight: Hatton’s Last Stand, charting the comeback.
‘The single biggest success of the Hatton campaign was the connection that we helped Ricky to build with his fans,’ continued Harrison.
‘We knew from the sheer volume of fans that had travelled to support him in Las Vegas (35,000) that he had a big fan base, but since his self-confessed issues with drug taking and depression it was vital to do more than just ‘talk’ to them if his comeback was to succeed.’
‘Ricky was already an active tweeter but wasn’t using it to communicate any kind of story or give real narrative to his personality. The comeback fight campaign was called ‘Redemption’ and the social media activity which we delivered stuck to this one narrative. We harnessed that volume of support through different tactics which would not only illustrate Ricky’s personal objectives for the fight, but also hype up the fight itself.’
‘The strategy was anchored by an authentic and compelling narrative of human redemption. We built a “24/7 newsroom”, driving and steering the story, moving the narrative beyond sport journalists into lifestyle press and using Social Media, specifically Twitter, in innovative new ways that allowed Ricky to genuinely connect with his fans and use their support to keep him focused.’
Presented the ‘Best Use of Social Media’ title by Lions legends Richard Hill and Leigh Halfpenny (pictured), the Fast Track campaign helped Hatton double his twitter followers, the fight sell out in just 48 hours (a record for a non-championship fight) and Pay per View figures double Team Hatton’s estimation.
Arguably more important was that the tone and sentiment of social media conversation around Ricky was changed. He was also the UK’s first athlete to compete in a major live televised sports event adorned with his Twitter handle.
‘The actual fight night itself was a key part of the campaign,’ explains Harrison. ‘We used fans’ tweets as posters in his changing room – turning something digital into something physical – and fans watching on TV could see the posters. Rather than just generic “Come on Ricky” messages, the tweets illustrated that fans had engaged with the redemption theme and were supporting Ricky, not just for the fight itself but for what he was trying to do with his life.’
Despite Hatton losing the fight that night, the redemption campaign was deemed a huge success with Ricky himself being able to draw a line under his dark period.
Hatton admitted in the press conference following the fight: ‘I needed one more fight to see if I had still got it – and I haven’t.’
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