Winner 2019

Technology & Telecommunications

Brand

Siemens

Entered by:

The Economist Group

Credits:

Signal Noise, TVC Group

Reimagine the Game

The Challenge

Data, analytics, IOT and smart infrastructure are set to change our world dramatically over the coming years. Siemens want to position themselves as innovators at the centre of this change and demonstrate how they are using data to transform and reimagine the world.

Siemens has partnered with German football club FC Bayern Munich since July 2017 and their digital technologies
are at the forefront of the fan experience in the Allianz Arena. Siemens challenged The Economist Group to create
an engaging piece of data-driven storytelling that celebrates this partnership and positions Siemens to football fans,
tech communities and media as pioneers driving digitalisation.

The Strategy

The big data revolution is reshaping the world – and transforming football. Tracking and exploring datasets has changed how we measure player performance: every movement, pass, run is analysed to gain the slightest of advantages.

But action on the pitch is only part of the experience…

Never before has attention been turned to the fans and their performance. Passionate fan energy – the ‘12th man’
effect – can power a team forward and change the entire course of a game.

So, Siemens and The Economist Group created ‘Reimagine the game’, a totally unique interactive platform allowing
football fans to view FC Bayern games by listening to thousands of data points captured within key moments during
the match.

The Implementation

Siemens leveraged the full power of The Economist Group’s capabilities in media and custom content; partnering not just with The Economist’s client solutions team, but also the Group’s data design agency Signal Noise, and PR and content agency TVC Group.

Working with Signal Noise, and using incredibly precise audio detection technology, Siemens created a 3D
soundscape that maps the noise of the entire Allianz Arena. We analysed the fan noise in combination with match
data to identify interesting narratives and surface new perspectives on ‘fan energy’ and its interplay with on-pitch
performance. From the fans calling out the team sheet to the game timeline, match highlights, most supported
players and the social ripple of excitement, it’s through the voices of 75,000 fans that we can now judge and
compare the quality of each game. By responding to every change of possession, questionable decision or missed
chance, the fans give us the perfect lens through which Siemens reimagine the game.

The data visualisation, analysis and commentary is hosted on a custom, interactive website on The Economist
platform. Traffic was driven to site through globally targeted media placement in The Economist app and promoted
via The Economist Group, Siemens and FC Bayern’s social channels.

A content-led communications approach leveraged the platform to generate coverage across global Lifestyle, Trade
and Technology media outlets. Using the world’s favourite sport as the premise, TVC Group crafted media assets
tailored for key markets to showcase the story behind fan energy and highlight Siemens’ role.

The Result

At the time of entry the site has received 61k unique visitors, 67k total visits and 145k page views, with 2 out of 5 games still to be recorded. The audience are highly engaged with the data, viewing an average of 2.1 pages per visit, compared to The Economist Group’s benchmark of 1.3. To date, there has been over 277k interactions with the data tool.

The campaign has also generated 275 items of coverage. These include 570 Siemens brand mentions associated
with ‘innovation’ and ‘digitalisation’ and 270 views of the brand video. This campaign now has a combined daily
audience reach of over 37 million people.