In 2009 and 2010, the USA Bid Committee retained Blue State Digital to build and mobilize a community of American soccer fans in support of their efforts to bring the FIFA World Cup back to the United States in 2018 or 2022.
The result was a fully loaded digital campaign encompassing email marketing, social media, rich web and video content, and peer-to-peer organizing. The program was built upon the foundation of GoUSABid.com, which allowed users to get updates, schedule watch parties, recruit friends, spread the word on Facebook and Twitter, and more.
The honor of hosting the World Cup went to Qatar, but our work generated one heck of a consolation prize: the largest supporter list in American soccer, 1.25 million strong.[1]
The Challenge
A year and a half before FIFA would announce the hosts of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the USA Bid Committee approached BSD to build support for the the U.S. bid and for soccer domestically. Our mission was to unlock latent support — and inspire new passion — in a country not exactly known for its love of the game.
The objective: Get a million people to sign our petition and join the movement to bring the FIFA World Cup back to the United States.
The Program
Building a community of more than a million people from scratch takes time, hard work, some luck, and a great strategy.
Here was ours:
- We built a multimedia website at GoUSABid.com, optimized to maximize search engine traffic and fine-tuned to convert that traffic into petition signatures.
- We brought users up the ladder of engagement by providing community-based content and incentivizing action at multiple touch points. We segmented communications according to behavioral data, which allowed us to contact supporters with precisely the frequency and tone they were most likely to want.
- We developed a messaging approach that focused not just on soccer stars and celebrity sponsors, but also on the supporters themselves, treating petition signers like stakeholders and organizers. We then executed a robust rapid-response communications program that capitalized on key moments — for example, the 2010 FIFA World Cup — when national awareness of soccer was at its highest. We also offered localized content to supporters in crucial geographic regions like the 18 bid cities.
- We deployed the BSD Tools, our proprietary software system, to empower users to interact with each other and take the movement into their own hands.
- We created multimedia toolkits for cities, die-hard fans, and community and business leaders so they could show their support for our cause and help drive engagement. We built the community of fans both on the ground and off, one supporter at a time.
The Results
Just as in soccer itself, sometimes the best team loses — and sadly, hosting duties for the FIFA World Cup tournament were awarded to other countries. We weren’t any happier about it than you were, trust us. But let’s not talk about that right now, OK?
Let’s talk about what went right:
- 970,028 email addresses captured in less than 16 months. These came from 2.8 million absolute unique visitors, for a conversion rate of 33.7%.
- More than 80,000 people using the BSD Tools to email more than 580,000 friends about the bid from our site.
- 71.4% of all fans took at least 2 actions on behalf of the bid, and more than 2,000 people took more than 10 actions.
- More than 73,000 Facebook fans.
- More than 227,000 video views.
And most important: new passion and new pride for more than a million people who proved that the Game Is in US.