Because of the pandemic, thousands of fans were unable to come and watch the competition live. So ISL asked SLON Media to help them create the content which can simulate the effect of presence for the remote audience. The main task was to increase brand loyalty and maintain the connection with the audience by creating situational content to substitute the real presence on the ISL games in Naples and Eindhoven for the fans.
We came up with an idea to broadcast the course of the event and the life of the athletes “outside of the swimming pool”. Our team decided to make content that would create the effect of presence for the social media audience — diaries about the life of the ISL.
We filmed backstages of the competitions so the viewers could see the training process: how athletes warmed up, what they usually do before the swims. The cameramen also filmed short interviews with the winners and captured the emotions of the real-present audience.
SLON Team filmed all 18 matches and used the footage not only during the season, but also after the competition to prepare content for social media during the off-season. ISL athletes and staff also helped us with producing tons of UGC content for social media. They filmed footage of the athlete’s leisure time and events that were never shown before to ordinary visitors to the ISL events.
1. Unique behind-the-scenes filming of ISL competitions.
2. The situational and user generated content boosted the engagement on social media.
3. Increased brand loyalty among long time fans and the new audiences of the League.