2024 Bronze Entertainment and Publishing

Entrant: Sela x Newcastle United

Client: Sela x Newcastle United

Entry Title: Unsilence The Crowd

Executive Summary

Sela, Newcastle United FC (NUFC) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) collaborated to deliver a world-first use of technology in sport to enhance the fan experience and increase accessibility in football.

Strategy

Sela’s partnership with Newcastle United is based on a philosophy that football isn’t a sport to be watched, but an experience to be felt. After research commissioned with charity partner RNID showed 55% of people enjoy watching live sport events less due to their hearing loss, Sela knew that the experience of attending a live match at St. James Park for NUFC fans who are deaf or have hearing loss could be greatly enhanced.

Sela’s strategic aim was to provide a new level of accessibility helping people to ‘feel the noise’, while also amplifying its event and technological capabilities to B2B audiences. The campaign needed to be locally and culturally relevant to NUFC fans, incorporate breakthrough technology that was easily applicable, and achieve global appeal through a strategic multi-layered marketing and PR approach.

Sela designed a case study that was relevant to all sports, with the objective of setting a new benchmark for accessibility in sports and entertainment and encourage wider adoption of the technology worldwide.

Creativity

Sela and technology provider CuteCircuit incorporated haptic technology into replica NUFC match shirts that transform the noise of the stadium into real-time touch sensations, allowing deaf fans and fans with hearing loss to experience the atmosphere of a live football match in an all-new way.

The entire soundscape came to life as a language composed of a series of touch-like sensations across the torso of the person wearing the shirt. Actuators in the shirt receive wirelessly the sound of the stadium which is transformed into a fully immersive feeling for a deaf spectator. The technology debuted at NUFC’s Premier League game against Tottenham in front of 50,000 people, with millions more on TV and a match take over that brought the campaign to life.

Junior Deaf Football Club children were invited to be mascots on game day. They taught the players how to celebrate in sign language, with Dan Burn enacting the celebration during the game on live global broadcast. The footage went viral, showcasing the impact of Sela’s campaign beyond just the technology itself.

Media were briefed in advance on ‘tentpole’ moments including: the logo donation, the name of the charity partner, the haptic shirt technology and the key protagonists who would be wearing them. Broadcasters did live pitchside interviews with key spokespeople and translators. Sela donated its sponsorship for the match to RNID marking the first time a hearing loss charity has been promoted on a Premier League shirt.

Results

Unsilence The Crowd has been described by the global football community, sports industry and global sports media as a ‘game changer’, ‘revolutionary’ and an example of ‘raising the bar’.

The use of breakthrough technology provided a catalyst to empower deaf fans and solve a problem that had never been addressed before. With consistent messaging and tone of voice, complemented by the match day activation, the result was a compelling and credible story to tell the media, fans and the industry at large.

The impact of the campaign is already being seen throughout global football and continues to grow. The UK Government, UEFA and FIFA accepted invites to travel to Newcastle to witness the technology first-hand. With every attendee giving rousing endorsement of the initiative, Sela is now working to ensure mass adoption of the technology across world sport.

The campaign delivered on Sela’s strategic sponsorship activation pillars - to be seen, be known, be loved - building positive sentiment and capability reputation, while driving visibility, understanding, resonance and credibility of the Sela brand within global football.

The Team

Sela - Ibrahim Mohtaseb, Senior Vice President - Ghassan Mroue, Program Strategy and Development VP - Nazih Elhajj, Project Development Director

Newcastle United- James Newbigin, Commerical Partnerships Manager - Georgie Simmons, Head of Partner Marketing

Spectacle - Richard Conway, Managing Partner - Scott Bowers

Cute Circuit - Francesca Rosella, Co-Founder

Prism Sport + Entertainment - Nick Mott, Brand Partnerships Director