Wimbledon, IBM serve up enhanced fan engagement
June 18, 2015
By Colin Mann
Building on a technology partnership that has existed since 1990, IT consultancy and technology expert IBM and the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) have revealed a number of innovations for the Championships to mark the next step in the Club’s digital strategy for the Wimbledon tournament.
Making use of its latest technology advancements in cloud, analytics, mobile, social and security, the pair aim to bring tennis fans closer to the event – no matter where they are located – with unparalleled access to real-time scoring, courtside action and insights, via a radical redesign of wimbledon.com and advancement of the mobile apps experience: “The next best thing to being there,” according to Mick Desmond, Commercial and Media Director at the AELTC.
Sam Seddon, Wimbledon Client and Programme Executive, IBM, said that the ability to serve up uninterrupted access to real-time match records and trends allowed an enrichment of the fan experience, by providing a comprehensive and compelling digital platform featuring instant access to videos, scores, articles and breaking tournament news.
Among the innovations for 2015 – the third year of a digital strategy upgrade by the pair – are redesigned wimbledon.com and mobile apps. The new website is responsive and adaptive to all platforms, while the personalised Wimbledon apps now have an offline mode, enabling offline browsing.
In addition, the Wimbledon Social Command Centre will use Social Media Analytics from IBM and research from IBM Cx Labs to identify the most influential voices around Wimbledon and tennis., understand the content and topics fans are most interested in, and proactively target social communications for maximum effect.
In June 2014, real-time video specialist Grabyo agreed a deal with the AELTC to bring near-live highlights from Wimbledon to a global digital audience of billions, sharing real-time video highlights to tennis fans on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube, in order to engage social media users and drive tune-in for broadcasters around the world.