Tiger Beer hits the streets with football [GALLERY]

COMPANY:TIGEREVENT:TIGER STREET FOOTBALLDATE:15 MARCH – 10 NOVEMBER 2013LOCALE:COMPANY:TIGEREVENT:TIGER STREET FOOTBALLDATE:15 MARCH – 10 NOVEMBER 2013LOCALE:ASIA PACIFIC (CAMBODIA, AUSTRALIA, MALAYSIA, MONGOLIA, CHINA, SINGAPORE AND VIETNAM)EVENT OBJECTIVE:To reach Tiger’s young adult male audience through football.EXECUTION:On the back of growing interest in street football in the region, Tiger Beer created this event in partnership with Fox Sports in seven major Asian cities from March to November 2013.“The Tiger Street Football platform was an alternative answer to traditional football which has 11 on a team, to one that is more creative, fast paced and instinctive,” Kenny Tang, digital & events manager for Tiger Beer at Heineken Asia Pacific said.The event had several legs which began in Cambodia (15-16 March), Australia (4-5 May), Malaysia (17-18 August), Mongolia (7-8 September), China (20-21 September), Singapore (17-19 October) and Vietnam which ended on 10 November.The event was made open to the public and the brand conducted pre-publicity efforts via advertising, social media, PR and online.In each city where the event was conducted, the venue set-up was done with eye-catching brand standees, structures and music (pictured below).[gallery link="file" ids="27577,27576,27575,27573,27572"]Efforts to drive pre-event PR were critical to the success of the platform, said Tang. In most markets, communication efforts started as early as six months before the actual event.Each event would last two days, and featured quick and creative football play in two six-minute halves within a unique, oval caged pitch. Event-goers also had the opportunity to interact with tournament ambassador, and former Italian footballer Fabio Cannavaro.Cannavaro also showed off his skills during exhibition matches with the public and members of the media and fans had autograph signing sessions with him and played foosball games (pictured below).[gallery link="file" ids="27563,27566,27564,27562"]The Tiger Street Football 2013 concluded in 23/9 Park, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on 10 November.Local team Dat Vinh Tien (DVT) bagged the title of Tiger Street Football Grand Champions and the top prize of USD$30,000.They emerged the winner out of the National Champions from tournament legs in Cambodia, Australia, Mongolia, Malaysia, China and Singapore, two international teams from Brazil and England, and four teams in Vietnam from the first day of the grand finals.The four Vietnamese teams, Tam Hoan Chau, Thuan Phung Hung, DVT and Quang Dinh, were the top local teams from 1,000 teams which entered qualifiers held across six cities.Off the pitch, the event featured an entertainment line-up of street style acts and performances by popular local singers. Fans were also treated to energetic dance segments and appearances by the Tiger Cage Girls.[gallery link="file" ids="27571,27570,27568"]RESULTS:The event reached out to around 10,500 street footballers/players from Germany, Holland, England, Spain, Sweden, Argentina and Italy, together with over 10,000 players (1,500 teams) from 22 cities across seven host countries this year.There was also PR coverage across goal.com, yahoo.com and local publications like The Straits Times (Singapore), The Sun Daily (Malaysia) etc in the various countries it was held in.LESSONS LEARNED:One of the biggest challenges in organising the event was the location.“Location is a key component to the event and finding a suitable location is always a challenge for most of the markets,” Tang said.The brand was lucky in securing all key preferred locations.Weather was another challenge faced in organising the event.“In some markets we have a very short window of good weather (for example, in Mongolia, summer is only between July - end Aug; rainy season etc) and ensuring all activities are compacted into that short window is critical,” he added.In pulling off a successful event, Tiger also ensured sufficient quantities of ice cold beer available, crowd control, back-up plans related to weather and power.“We are currently planning for a bigger and better Tiger Street Football campaign for 2014,” Tang said.