Since soccer fans are likely to have a mobile device in one hand and a beer in the other this season, Heineken is doing its best to infiltrate both.
Hence the brewer's latest second-screen campaign, #sharethesofa, a months-long campaign that coincides with the European soccer season. The program, starting Wednesday, lets fans interact with soccer stars via that hashtag. The initiative kicks off with Ruud Gullit, a Dutch player who will be participating in a live interview. Fans can also play a video game with Gullit. Heineken has more than a dozen other players queued up for the effort, though it hasn't revealed their identities.
[seealso slug="heineken-departure-roulette"]
Who’s ready for ACMilan/CelticFC? I am. #ShareTheSofa with me @Heineken and I’ll respond to your tweets ... https://t.co/FbnevAqm88— Ruud Gullit (@GullitR) September 18, 2013
The program also includes "random acts of kindness" from Heineken to fans who use that hashtag, including a surprise visit from a soccer star who will actually share a fan's sofa during a game.
Heineken estimates that 70% of viewers of the UEFA Champions League watch with a device at home alone and 77% of tablet owners have their tablets handy during matches. The UCL is one of the top three most-tweeted events of the year, according to the company.
Despite those figures, marketers are still trying to figure out how to fuse Twitter and sports. One notable attempt was #hitthewinner, a Twitter-based game that rewarded fans for guessing the correct square on the court where Andy Murray's shots would land during Wimbledon. Heineken, meanwhile, has run some innovative Twitter campaigns including #emojibandnames, which challenged fans to decode emoji puzzles and #tweetforatable, which handed out free Valentine's Day dinner reservations to hapless male suitors.