Entertainment Lions For Sport > Innovation in Sports Entertainment
FORTNITE STADIUM
R/GA, New York / VERIZON / 2021
Awards:
Overview
Credits
Overview
Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?
The week leading up to the Super Bowl is usually full of live entertainment experiences, where fans can meet NFL players in-person, and participate in other football-themed events. COVID-19 changed all that. So we used the power of Verizon 5G to reunite millions of Super Bowl fans at home around two weeks of primetime livestream events with NFL pros, turning the least attended Super Bowl in history, into the most attended.
Background
Super Bowl LV had few fans in the stands, few visitors to Tampa, and few parties at home. Our brief was to demonstrate the transformational power of Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband—the fastest 5G in the world—with mobile gaming as our proof point and the Super Bowl as our occasion. We were asked to create something entertaining for football fans, hardcore gamers, and mainstream consumers alike, so we knew we needed to go big, with an entertainment activation as big the Super Bowl itself.
Describe the creative idea
We used Verizon’s 5G network to build Verizon 5G Stadium in Fortnite — a communal space where millions of fans could come together. Verizon 5G Stadium was inspired by the real home of Super Bowl LV, Tampa’s Raymond James stadium, and welcomed 40 million fans to celebrate the Super Bowl, play new NFL-inspired games, and meet their favorite NFL players in the virtual stadium — avatar-to-avatar.
Describe the strategy
The pandemic brought on many limitations to fans and the Super Bowl, leaving many to wonder how the game would hold up to years prior. We needed to show how the power of Verizon 5G could bring the ultimate Super Bowl experience to millions of fans in a year where we were unable to enjoy all the in-person magic of the Big game. We needed to turn the restrictions caused by the pandemic into an opportunity to demonstrate the unifying power of Verizon 5G. Without the in-person magic and community of football games, we found an opportunity in a thriving community that exists almost entirely online: gamers. By going virtual and finding the common ground between NFL and gaming, we could actually create a more connected Super Bowl experience than ever before.
Describe the execution
We worked with a team of the best Fortnite builders in the world to bring Verizon 5G Stadium to life. Then in the week leading up to Super Bowl LV, we partnered with a massive group of entertainment, NFL, and gaming influencers to host 2 huge primetime livestreams on Twitch, with simulcasting across all of Verizon’s social channels. We re-created live fan interactions in-game through “avatar-to-avatar” meet and greets between fans and NFL players. And America’s biggest gamers connected with 40 million fans in the stadium, making this the most attended super bowl stadium in history.
Describe the outcome
40M players witnessed the stadium in-game, 5M+ tuned into the livestreams on Twitch, 1.5M played stadium games, all resulting in Verizon being the most discussed telco during Super Bowl week, and delivering Verizon’s largest activation in their history.
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