Innovation in Sports Advertising - Exclusive Interview

We have all seen LEDs used in sporting venues around the globe, but now a revolutionary technology is going to change the industry forever.

Guy Hollis - Supponor

In an exclusive interview with Guy Hollis, Head of Production at Supponor, I learned a little bit more about this innovative company.

Let's get the most important stuff out of the way first:

Favourite colour? Green
Favourite Car?  DB9
Favourite Food? Steak
Who's your Football team? Leeds Utd (although I use the word Football loosely)

- When and how did Supponor start out?

The man who founded Supponor was Erkki Rantalainen. He was inspired to produce virtual advertising for sports while watching the Millennium celebrations in New York’s Times Square. He saw adverts projected onto a blue wall and reasoned that it must therefore be possible to project virtual advertising onto any background and it all stemmed from there.

- Can you explain how the technology works? In basic terms.

I’ll try. The technology is based on marking the billboards with surfaces whose radiation differs from the surrounding radiation. This is done through a special film or by special LED light sources that emit a light that is not visible to the human eye. The fans inside the stadium will see billboards that appear to be perfectly natural - only the fans at home will get a different view.

 

We add additional hardware on the broadcaster’s camera that recognise the marking radiation and based on this information the system knows the location, position and size of the billboard. If there are obstructions between the camera and the billboard, such as players, the system recognises this and manages the inclusion of the obstruction in the overall image. This makes the replacement billboards appear real to viewers.

Once the billboard location is identified the insertion of replacement billboards is straight forward.  We load up brands artwork onto the system and let them play throughout the game.  We can manage this across multiple feeds, with each feed showing different brands specific to the region the TV output is being shown.  It allows Brands to tailor their messages accordingly and opens the opportunity to target particular markets while ignoring markets and have no value.  Unlike existing perimeter advertising you're seen where you want and need to be.

- What are the advantages to i) Sponsors? ii) Rights holders?

 i) Global brands with regional variations in their products have traditionally been unable to use in-stadium perimeter billboards to tailor their message to specific markets. Our technology has transformed that position so all brands can match the requirements of their regional marketing teams when planning their marketing campaigns around major sports broadcasts. Brand managers can use local language or variations in their own brand to maximum effect. They can take completely different approaches to suit specific audiences and use any form of digital media including animation and video to get their message across.

Brands eager to be seen by millions at home but unable to afford a global advertising spend can now get a foothold in advertising via sports and leagues previously inaccessible to them.

Advertisers can invest in platforms on a regional basis and deliver back real value in terms of a targeted message.

ii) Billboard rights holders’ potential revenue is multiplied by the technology which offers unprecedented flexibility in terms of market reach.

Sports federations, leagues, competitions and clubs are seeking to maximise the value of their commercial assets when negotiating with broadcasters, sponsors and brands. The value of in-stadium perimeter billboards is integral to this as advertisers and sponsors recognise the increasing importance of in-event advertising over traditional commercial breaks.

Our technologies ability to digitally insert replacement billboard images to the live feed of a match or event revolutionises the revenue model by allowing tailored advertising in different territories.

Sports rights holders can:

• Offer high-value advertising to global brands who wish to regionalise their message by language or brand name.
• Segment the market by region and license the same billboard rights in multiple broadcast territories.

Such is the revenue potential of the technology for the sports rights holder that it is destined to be an essential part of their commercial proposal.

- As Head of Production what day to day challenges do you face?  

Every day is different at Supponor which is equally frustrating and very rewarding.  We are working with a technology that no one has been able to do before so there is a real excitement to be leading the way with something that we believe will revolutionise advertising at live sporting events. We not only create the software to run this system but we have with our partner’s developed new hardware without which none of it would be possible. I guess the single most challenging aspect right now is, dealing with all the people who want to use the system.

- How successful was your recent game at Wembley for Brazil vs Eng?

This was a very good game for Supponor. We produced feeds for Brazilian TV and a separate feed for the international viewers.

- Is it fair to say that your focus is mainly in football? Is it likely that this will expand to other sports?  

Football is the biggest sport in world and has massive global TV audiences. We do focus on opportunities in football and have deployed the system at many games throughout Europe, but we have also used our technology at other events. For example in 2012 we were present at the European Water polo Championships and placed virtual advertising for over 60 hours of live coverage from the event. We have also completed basketball events with the NBA and undergone offline showcases with major motor sports.

- You received 13.7mil investment, how did this change the organisation?

From a day-to-day point of view it didn’t really, it added a few new faces to the board. It hasn’t changed our plan significantly but it has given us the funding to deliver that plan and has added expertise and high-level contacts in the sports industry which is always welcome. All our investors are very supportive and continue to back the strategy set out by the management team.by the management team.

- What does the future hold for Supponor? American market?

We will continue to explore opportunities in the sports and events that command a global audience or massive local audiences. US sports fit both categories. The likes of the NBA has a global reach on par with the Premier League and obviously has vast support within the US, which in itself has regional opportunities.   

No doubt the technology will continue to develop and hopefully you’ll see more of our work on Live sport around the world.
 

Guy, thank you for your time and a very interesting insight - I will be watching Supponor's development with a keen eye, as I am sure much of the sports world will be!

JL