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OZ


Industry: Technology


Location: Global


Involvement: PR, Strategy, Content, Digital Media


Visit: home.oz.com


OZ: Transforming live sport, virtually

Augmented reality, the metaverse, virtual experiences: history will review the global COVID-19 pandemic as an accelerant for innovation in the online world. As the world was going into lockdown in 2020, we formed a partnership with tech visionaries OZ to tell their story: revolutionising the home viewing experience for sports fans.

In conjunction with RVX, the company developed OZ ARENA: a cutting-edge augmented reality solution that would take fans right back into the heart of the action. We helped amplify their voice at a time when the global grandstands were silent.

Our objectives

  1. Achieve positive coverage of OZ ARENA in at least 30 different media outlets, with a specific focus on key publications such as Sport Business, Sportcal and Forbes
  2. Raise OZ’s profile internationally by generating coverage in at least five different countries
  3. Generate ten new inbound opportunities with sports clubs, federations, and broadcasters as a direct result of the PR campaign
  4. Shift perception away from OZ being a football-only company and deliver inbound leads with representatives from at least three different sports
  5. Achieve at least 30 unique external social posts referencing OZ ARENA and/or OZ as a brand

 

Our solution

With the pandemic generating so much bad news and communities around the world struggling with strict lockdowns, the strategy was to tell a rare good-news story related to COVID-19. How OZ ARENA would enhance the fan experience and enable supporters to fully engage, even if only from their own homes.

A highly focused outreach plan was crafted, targeting specific publications, editors and journalists that had written about CGI football fans, cardboard fans, and virtual fans in the preceding weeks. We developed a suite of assets to tell the OZ story in a way that resonated with individual journalists, and captured maximum attention.

What we achieved

Each one of the campaign’s original targets were significantly exceeded.

In the weeks following the initial announcement, OZ ARENA was covered in 168 different publications.  These included Sport Business, Sportcal and Forbes, all of which reached out for additional information, quotes, and interviews with CEO Gudjon Gudjonsson. 

The story was also picked up by a host of other top-tier publications and newswires including Reuters, Yahoo, MSN, BBC, Daily Telegraph, i Newspaper, The Times of India, 90min, European Sponsorship Association, Eurosport, The Straits Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and WIRED.

OZ’s international profile was materially elevated with coverage in 13 languages and 34 countries across five continents. The announcement also triggered a social media response running to hundreds of unique posts and thousands of associated likes. The story caught the imagination of the professional sports industry with positive comments from rightsholders, federations, broadcasters, sporting venues and clubs all over the world.

The campaign generated 25 new inbound conversations from a wide range of broadcasters and sports federations including football, basketball, cricket, American football, and baseball.

Results in numbers

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Power of the partnership

By working with us, OZ was able to capitalise on several the team’s core skillsets:

  • Rapid planning and execution of the campaign was enabled by a close, collaborative, and trusted working partnership
  • Significant experience in the areas of technology, sports, and broadcasting, enabling OZ to best position OZ ARENA to all three
  • Clarification and development of OZ’s message architecture and core propositions, positioning them as the future of sports broadcasting – “transforming live sport”
  • A deep understanding of how technology can enable sport – whether from a fan entertainment, technical delivery or business opportunity perspective
  • The ability to translate and convey complex technical messages and benefits to a wide variety of audiences
“With the hugely disruptive impact of Covid-19 on live sport, we knew this was the perfect time to launch OZ ARENA. What we were not prepared for though was just how successfully SQN would do it. From a standing start, SQN has been instrumental in propelling us into the mainstream of professional sports broadcast solutions.”
Gudjon Gudjonsson
CEO, OZ Sports

We are excited to announce that Sine Qua Non (SQN) has joined rEvolution, bringing SQN’s technology and communications prowess to rEvolution, the global, integrated sports marketing agency. Together, we will continue to grow as one team to deliver best-in-class integrated marketing services for our clients.

We put people first, challenge personal effectiveness, and act as change agents on a unified team. We share these values now and moving forward. In this next chapter we will scale our skillsets and expertise together to make an increasingly significant impact in the industry.

Please visit http://www.revolutionworld.com to learn more about rEvolution’s capabilities and culture.

This is an exciting time for everyone on our collective team, and we look forward to continuing our work with you.

John Rowady
CEO & Founder, rEvolution

Claire Ritchie
CEO & Founder, SQN

Chris Ritchie
Director & COO, SQN