100 days until FIFA World Cup kick off! With everyone gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Sony Ericsson is offering fans exclusive and exciting ways to support their team online and take them to victory in the first World Cup with social networking and media sharing at it's heart.
As excitement builds in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Sony Ericsson, the Official Mobile Handset of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, has introduced a new way for football fans in New Zealand to get behind their team online through a unique social networking initiative.
The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup will see the 32 teams competing in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa battle it out in an online tournament with a difference – it will be the fans that decide who will lift the virtual trophy at the end of the tournament. Fans will be able to participate in this exciting competition either online or via their mobile handset.
Tweet the All Whites to first round victory
The tournament kicked off on 4th December 2009, coinciding with the draw for the group stage of the official tournament. New Zealand is currently in second place in Group F with 1,804 tweets, behind Italy’s 2,713 tweets. With 100 days until the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off, fans need to show their support for the All Whites by Tweeting #TWCNewZealand. The team with the most Tweets in each round will prevail and go on to the next stage, regardless of how the real team fares in South Africa.
“Sony Ericsson is dedicated to providing football fans with the best experience of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, giving them more ways to support their team, share their views and get involved with all aspects of the beautiful game,” said Brendan Johnston, Managing Director, Sony Ericsson Oceania.
“The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup will put Sony Ericsson at the heart of the first World Cup to celebrate the advent of social networking, and will be part of a series of initiatives that will enrich their experience and enable them to communicate via mobile devices like never before.”
How it works
An online stadium features on Sony Ericsson’s dedicated 2010 FIFA World Cup Extra Man website and showcases every stage of the tournament taking place on Twitter. Kiwi fans can follow all the action, from viewing and posting individual Tweets about the All Whites, through to seeing what the loudest Tweeter in each group has to say about all the games on and off the virtual pitch. Fans simply need to go to the Extra Man website http://www.sonyericsson.com/extraman/twittercup, click on the link to Twitter and get Tweeting to help take their team all the way to the final.
Tweets are represented by the each team’s national colours in the virtual stadium – the bigger the black and white section becomes, the more popular the All Whites are becoming and the closer they are to being crowned the winner of the Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup.
The wall chart view will let fans see the progress of their team and who’s playing who in the knockout stages, so it’s easy to compare the results with the real 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup rules are as follows:
The Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup follows the same format as the 2010 FIFA World Cup. There are group and knockout stages, including quarter finals, semi finals and the final itself.
However, unlike the physical tournament, teams’ success in the Sony Ericsson Twitter Cup depends on how many Tweets they get.
The more Tweets a country gets, the more fans they have and the better chance they have of progressing to the subsequent rounds.
Sony Ericsson will monitor all the activity on Twitter until the final on 11th July 2010.
A general Tweet about the All Whites will win the team one point; a Tweet with #TWCNewZealand is worth five points for the team.
Sony Ericsson and the 2010 FIFA World Cup
Sony Ericsson is uniquely placed to be a champion of football fans worldwide. Mobile communications is an integral part of the fan experience – whether watching in the stadium, at home or at a fan park, fans bring their handsets with them. Sony Ericsson will use its football partnership and expertise in mobile phone entertainment to energise and enrich the experience of consumers worldwide.
Tweet your support for the All Whites now and get behind the 100 day countdown!