FanPic digital brand experience arrives in South Africa

Local brand integration agency Fluency has been appointed as the exclusive South African partner to the Huggity FanPic application providing brands with an innovative way to let music and sports fans share their experiences.

‘This is a new kind of digital sponsorship inventory local companies have not had access to before. Designed to engage fans, extend brand exposure beyond the event, and delivers measurable results, Fluency is very excited to bring this innovative digital solution to the South African sports and entertainment market,’ said Warren Couchman, managing director of Fluency.

Huggity FanPic is based on giant 360-degree, multibillion pixel crowd images taken at a venue during an event. Once a FanPic is posted online, users can zoom into a crowd photo to find themselves and their friends. They can then share ‘a moment in time’ with friends and family on Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail through the tagging feature. As each image is branded with the story of the sponsor, FanPic creates a powerful emotional association between the brand and the event.

‘FanPic provides companies with a unique way to activate their online sponsorship inventory. This post-event marketing tool extends brand exposure, enhances the fan experience beyond the event, and has been designed to incentivise fans to spend time engaging with the application. In Fluency, we have a partner that shares our vision and have great ideas on using this global tool in the South African market,’ said Mike Sikorski, CEO of Huggity.

British insurance company Aviva used Huggity FanPic to capture one of the Rugby Premiership events at Wembley stadium, attended by more than 83000 fans. Of those, 11052 fans tagged themselves, the sponsor’s branded message then displayed in excess of one million times on Facebook and there were 3465 Twitter shares within the 10 days immediately after the event. The FanPic generated over 68000 interactions in form of clicks, comments, and likes. While FanPic works exceptionally well at sporting events, it also lends itself to music concerts and other big crowd events. It also provides brands with a wealth of data to improve targeting as they will be able to identify the key influencers and thought leaders who attended the event.

Huggity has worked with the Football Association of Ireland, the Irish Rugby Football Union, Manchester United, Liverpool Football Club, SkySports, Bupa Australia, MTV, Vodafone, Aviva, Qatar Foundation, The Football Association, Allianz, and Euro 2012 Fanzones. FanPics have also been produced for major international events such as the Ashes, the English Premier League, large music concerts, and several rugby tests. A FanPic was produced for the historic win by Celtic over Barcelona at Celtic Park. The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible as fans celebrated both the win and the club’s 125 year anniversary. FanPic achieved more than 12500 tags, one of its most successful activations to-date.

‘Huggity was great to deal with. From the very first meeting to getting the analysis back it covered everything as we were walked through every step of the journey,’ said Brett Williams, sponsorship manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland. And it is in the diversity of the FanPic offering that Couchman is especially excited.

‘The market potential for this is huge. FanPic uses people’s love of sharing their experiences at events with family and friends with a strong sponsor value proposition. It is a fun way to take experiential marketing to the next level,’ concluded Couchman.