Overview:

As a UEFA Champions League sponsor, Heineken wanted to become part of the fabric of the fans’ match night at home, with as much impact as the brand has in the stadium.

Over 70% of UEFA Champions League’s 1.2billion viewers watch the games at home on their sofa. 35% of these (420m) use social media on second screens to interact with other fans during the match.

Strategy:

Create a world first. Let any football fan on the planet feel what it’s like to watch the Champions League, with a champion. To share the sofa with their football heroes.

Execution:

#ShareTheSofa. The first ever real time football conversation designed for the second screen...

Turned fans’ second screens into a football hero during the Champions League - by handing over Heineken’s global social media channels to legends like Gullit, Morientes, Crespo, Di Matteo, and van Nistelrooy.

As the football hero reacted to the on-pitch action, our writers, directors and live performers interpreted his insights in to shareable content e.g. Tweets, Vines and video content – enabling thousands of fans to interact with the icons simultaneously.

With content this compelling, a global community of football media rushed to be part of the #sharethesofa conversation.

Outcome:

Heineken dominated the Champions League conversation more than any sponsor in history.

#ShareTheSofa opened the door for Heineken to play an entertaining part on fans’ match night at home, on their sofas.

#ShareTheSofa turned fans’ second screens into a direct link to some of the world’s most famous footballers – household names such as Gullit, Morientes, Crespo, Di Matteo, and van Nistelrooy

Using the @Heineken Twitter handle, and a team of writers and directors, these footballing titans commented on the on-pitch action, giving expert insight and observation. Thousands of fans and media from over 95 countries fired in their questions and had them answered - often using vine and video content - directly by the football icons.

With so much original content being created and tweeted in real time, #SharetheSofa quickly developed into a must-have experience on match-day for fans and media.

Output/Awareness:

• #ShareTheSofa raised purchase intent by over 7%

• Across Twitter during the matches, Heineken is the most recognized brand associated with the tournament (including all UCL sponsors)

• 65% of Heineken’s consumer base is aware of its UCL sponsorship

Action/Business Impact:

• On average, each UCL match week #ShareTheSofa generates 100 million Twitter impressions – reaching more than 60 million football fans across 95 territories

• Each match week around 35 influencers from global media titles, football blogs and individual journalists participate

Knowledge/Consideration:

• Following each event, an average of eight articles are posted across sports and lifestyle events, highlighting the key vox pops from Heineken’s football ambassador

• In comparison to the principle sponsors, #ShareTheSofa generated an average share of voice of more than 90% across UCL conversations

• Heineken has increased its Twitter following by 30% throughout the campaign, with numbers increasing after each #ShareTheSofa event