The Campaign

Pocari Sweat, a sports drink company, constructed a platform capable of delivering real-time video feeds of all 5,000 competitions in all 30 events from the tournament. This was our response to the wishes of people unable to make it to the venues to cheer on their friends and heroes as they strive to perform their best.

Execution

The feat to live stream all 5,000 competitions in all 30 events was a massive project, involving mobile Wi-Fi base stations, 107 video cameras, and a staff of 1,700 people, and we only pulled it off through the skills and enthusiasm of a huge number of people.

The tournament events were watched widely, with more than four times the sessions and more than seven times the video plays than the roughly 600,000 spectators that attended the tournament in person. Social media was flooded with words of appreciation from the athletes and the supporters of athletes. These people will remember the Pocari Sweat brand forever for supporting their once-in-a-lifetime moments.

The Situation

A sports tournament, often thought of as Japan’s Olympics for high-school students, suffered from spotty TV coverage, in which major events would be covered, but minor events would be ignored. To resolve this problem, we provided live Web feeds for all 5,000 competitions in all 30 events. We won the goodwill of many athletes and their friends and family, creating enormous access for our brand.

The Strategy

We publicized the media channel with posters in high schools across the country. We designed the service so competitions could be watched smoothly on smartphones, the device of choice among students and family members. News of competitions went viral in a flash from athletes and their friends at the venues, pushing up the number of views.