Tag: Sports

Singapore – iFly Singapore, the skydiving destination in the country, aims to strengthen its positioning in the sports and lifestyle spaces, and it has recently partnered with integrated communications agency Ruder Finn Asia to handle all of its public relations business. 

Ruder Finn Asia is the Asia Pacific subsidiary of New York-based Ruder Finn. iFly Singapore has tapped the agency for a one-year remit, where it will be responsible for providing strategic counsel and management of media relations with the aim to enhance the brand’s entire spectrum of marketing campaigns. Beyond PR, the agency will also be iFly Singapore’s digital partner for all publicity campaigns. 

iFly Singapore, which is situated in the Beach Station in Sentosa in Singapore, provides a themed indoor skydiving facility with a wind tunnel that allows both first-time flyers and professional skydivers to enjoy the sport. The destination was put up in 2011 and this year, it marks its 10th year in the business. 

The celebration will be one of the agency’s marquee campaigns for the brand which is currently in the works. Furthermore, a component of the whole appointment covers venue publicity for Sky Garden Sentosa – the rooftop event space owned by and located at iFly Singapore. 

Brian Witte, Ruder Finn Asia’s deputy general manager, said that the agency is delighted to have partnered with iFly Singapore, one who has been making a great impact in Singapore’s sports and lifestyle sector. 

“We are focused on helping the brand transform its purpose communications approach and more effectively engage with the people who matter most to the brand,” commented Witte. 

Meanwhile, Lawrence Koh, CEO of iFly Singapore, expressed similar sentiments, “We look forward to our collaboration with Ruder Finn Asia to touch the hearts of everyone through our sport. Since our inception 10 years ago, iFly Singapore has achieved many milestones, from setting new Guinness World Records with special needs students to grooming gold medallists in international indoor skydiving competitions. We want to continue this momentum beyond 2021 and strongly position indoor skydiving as a sport for both beginners and enthusiasts in Singapore and the region even more.” 

iFly Singapore’s wind tunnel has been home to a number of Guinness World Records in Skydiving. In 2019, it broke its own record of 227 flights in indoor tandem skydiving to achieve a new record of 300 flights. This was achieved by a team of 80 people which comprised a mix of volunteers and teachers, and some skydivers from iFly Singapore. Special-needs students were also part of the feat. 

Australia – In line with the celebration of National Reconciliation Week in Australia, Surfing Australia, the governing body for surfing in the country, has launched a short film ‘Welcome to Sea Country’, to showcase the Indigenous meaning behind its national team design and national team name – ‘Irukandji’.

National Reconciliation Week is a time for Australians to learn about their shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and making the most out of the celebration, the body’s film aims to put light on its recently launched name and tagline, ‘The Irukandjis: Deadly in the Water’, which boasts of a unique cultural context.

The new film, which is done in collaboration with BWM dentsu and young Indigenous artist Jasmine Craciun, presents cinematic shots of seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore, combined with the equally soulful footage of Yirrganydji Traditional Owner Gavin Singleton and his community, to visualize the spiritual connection both surfers and First Nations people share with the ocean – known as ‘Sea Country’.

In addition, the film consists of traditional line art and ripple effect concept overlayed with free-flowing tentacles design, which will be a true statement for the Australian team across uniforms, surfboard accessories, and transport, as well as team jet skis, and all of Surfing Australia’s internal assets.

Surfing Australia manages the national surf team of the country. Its new name and tagline were named after the Irukandji jellyfish – an extremely venomous species of jellyfish that inhabit the country’s marine waters.

Surfing Australia’s CEO Chris Mater is all thanks to Singleton and the Yirrganydji people for officially giving them the Irukandji name, looking to it as a valuable feature of the future of surfing in Australia. 

“The designs BWM dentsu and Jasmine have created really bring that deeper connection to Indigenous culture to life. And that embedded respect for First Nations people now gives our athletes something much bigger to compete for on the world stage,” said Mater.

Meanwhile, Marcus Tesoriero, the executive creative director at BWM dentsu, commented that no matter how big or small the role is, they all have a role to play in Reconciliation. 

“In a land surrounded by Sea Country, we hope the attention our newly uniformed Irukandjis team get heading to the Olympic Games plays a role in spreading recognition and respect, driving us all to build deeper relationships with First Nations people,” said Tesoriero.

Australian representatives across all surfing genres, such as Junior, Open, Masters, and Longboard, as well as Big Wave, and Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP), among others, will compete under The Irukandjis national identity and united colors at international events such as the Olympics, International Surfing Association (ISA), and World Surfing Games, as well as WSL World Juniors, and Longboard Championships.

Singapore – As the pandemic has halted major events such as live entertainment and spectator sports, global live entertainment company AEG Sports has marked the use of advanced analytics to measure fan sentiments online and to encourage frequent engagement, through global analytics company SAS.

The analytics utilization uses SAS’ Viya via Microsoft Azure, which uses online models to gauge fan perspectives toward such things as returning to in-person games. By continuously analyzing fan sentiment during the pandemic, AEG Sports has been able to personalize messages based on interest and feelings on personal safety, and identify which fans needed targeted retention efforts. Using these tactics AEG Sports has kept fans happy and boosted the ROI of marketing campaigns.

“Times are unpredictable – but with SAS and Microsoft, we have two key partners that we feel confident can help us adapt and thrive under any circumstances. We might not know what’s going to happen, but we know SAS and Microsoft have our goals in mind and will enable us to respond to any challenge we may face,” said Aaron LeValley, senior vice president of business operations and strategy at AEG Sports.

Meanwhile, Rodrigo Rocha, general manager cloud solutions and ISV alliances at Microsoft, commented that more than ever, digital transformation is critical as organizations learn to adapt to new customer behaviors. He also added that SAS Viya on Azure helps make that transformation easier and faster, providing much-needed, immediate actionable insights.

The company also uses the embedded capabilities in SAS Viya for contingency planning. The ability to quickly ingest and model data from multiple sources – including ticketing, partnerships, marketing, weather reports and health experts – helps AEG Sports reduce pandemic-driven uncertainty.

Jennifer Chase, senior vice president and head of marketing at SAS states that she is a strong proponent for customer-centricity – or in this case fan-centricity, adding that sports teams have a unique relationship with their ‘customers’, and AEG Sports’ passion for their fans has been evident during the pandemic.

“They [sports teams] use analytics to really understand fan reaction to the disruptions and determine how best to support them through it all. A fan experience with heart and humanity will inevitably lead to stronger fan connections, especially when fans recognize that their team understands their needs – in good or bad times,” Chase stated.

AI technology is at the heart of AEG Sports’ drive to continually increase the efficiency of its modeling efforts. The output of these models often become data visualizations, which AEG Sports uses to chart its day-to-day operations.

“Data visualization is critical to our business. Most people are visual learners, so being able to show a visual representation of data has been extremely beneficial in gaining buy-in. Right now, almost every department in our company uses data visualizations to make decisions and operate more efficiently,” John D’Onofrio, business analyst at AEG Sports, said.

He also added that they needed to turn data around quickly for games, so having daily reports with visualizations that sales leadership can look at and immediately understand is essential, especially when there’s a new game every two days.

Australia – Basketball Australia (BA) has recently appointed Jo Juler, former head of marketing of Tennis Australia, to be its new executive general manager for marketing, communications, and digital.

Juler brings with her more than 20 years of experience in the marketing industry. She also has a wealth of executive-level experience at high-profile international and domestic sporting bodies, including Tennis Australia, Melbourne and Olympic Parks, and Melbourne Football Club. In her new role, Juler will be leading the governing body’s marketing, communications, and digital team, working with internal and external stakeholders to drive BA’s growth agenda as identified in the organization’s new four-year strategic plan.

According to Carolyn Campbell, the interim CEO of Basketball Australia, they are delighted to welcome Juler to the organization, as her appointment is truly important for Basketball Australia.

Campbell believes that Juler will bring an enormous amount of industry experience to Basketball Australia, where she has a strong record of delivering outstanding results and joins the organization at an exciting time for the sport.

“As a sport and as an organization, we have a huge amount of untapped potential which is reflected in our new strategic plan, and we are thrilled to have Jo on board to support the implementation and delivery of this strategy,” said Campbell.

Sydney, Australia – Global live streaming platform Bigo Live’s new live stream event aims to engage football fans in Australia, and it has partnered with Australian Football League (AFL) talents Xavier Duursma and Cameron Zurhaar to conduct a Q&A session with fans.

To be streamed live on 27 and 28 of February, the live stream session aims to encourage Aussie football fans to be active and healthy during the global pandemic by unfolding and connecting the communities over the shared love for football.

During the session, the AFL players will answer the top 10 frequently asked questions to them and will share football players’ stories and talk about their daily lives as professional players.

On 27 February, Cam Zurhaar, who plays for North Melbourne Football Club, will go live streaming first from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. AEDT. While on 28 February, Xavier Duursma, the wingman for Port Adelaide Football Club and 2019 rising star nominee, will go live from 8:00 p.m to 9:00 p.m AEDT.’

Bigo Live has been leveraging ANZ talents, such as Stan Walker, M4SONIC, Taylor Henderson, Dami Im, Erin Miranda, and many other artists, and is now looking forward to connecting to the rich sports culture in the region.

Australia – A new acquisition by Aussie entertainment and technology group, PlayUp Ltd., has just marked a digital collision of sports – the company which is behind the online sports betting platform PlayUp, has just bought sports content platforms, The Roar and AthletesVoice, which have the same founder. 

Since developing Australia’s first pay-to-play Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) platform in 2015, PlayUp has gained a foothold in the industry, and now it is launching its own media and content marketing division to create a fully immersive entertainment experience for its users.

The broadened offering comes at a time when the company is defining its go-to-market offering for expansion into the North American online wagering market, where it has secured licensing in multiple states.

PlayUp currently operates in ANZ, India, and the USA, with betting licenses in multiple jurisdictions and plans to list on the Nasdaq in 2021. The company said the new division further differentiates its offering as it explores other media and content partnership and acquisition opportunities in all markets.

The Roar is a media website with a focus on sports opinion, while AthletesVoice offer first-hand narratives from athletes. 

Daniel Simic, global CEO at PlayUp, said that there is a natural fit between PlayUp and the lifestyle and entertainment preferences of the large audiences reached across the two platforms. 

“Our energies are focused on fulfilling the needs of dedicated and passionate users who seek a deeper connection to the games they play and those who play them. The creation of this division sets PlayUp apart in the DFS and betting category globally and underpins our goal to offer the richest user experience to drive loyalty, usage, and lifetime value,” said Simic.  

Simic also shared that with the acquisition, PlayUp looks forward to becoming an advertising partner of The Roar and to working with both current and retired athletes interested in commercial opportunities with PlayUp.

Meanwhile, Kerry McCabe, CEO of The Roar and AthletesVoice, said, “I’m really proud of what we have created for Australian sports lovers, athletes, and brands. We wanted to shake things up a bit in traditional media, negate the keyboard warrior trend and rise above the clickbait phenomenon,” he said. 

“Our strategy was always to expand into other markets and that opportunity is now here for AthletesVoice and The Roar. The crew is energized by the opportunity to innovate and further evolve with Daniel and the international PlayUp team,” added McCabe. 

Staff and contributors from The Roar and AthletesVoice will transition to PlayUp within February.