Meetings become a football arena

• radio.net and Havas revolutionize World Cup match broadcasting

Hamburg, 28 May 2018 – From 14 June, the world’s biggest football tournament will once again take place – the 2018 World Cup is being hosted by Russia. On the occasion of this major sporting event, and in view of the scheduling challenge posed by broadcasts shifted across time zones, the creative team at Havas Düsseldorf has developed a smart solution that unites the two greatest German passions: work ethic and football. In cooperation with the international radio platform radio.net, the “FOOTBALLPEN” is now being released, which makes it possible to discreetly follow the World Cup matches even at typical working hours. Thanks to radio.net’s selection of stations, there is the right radio program for every situation on every match day.

Time zone obstacle in World Cup broadcasting

Russia, the largest country in the world by area, spans a total of eleven time zones, five of which affect the match times for German viewers during the World Cup. Especially in the group stage, when Germany plays South Korea on a Wednesday at 4 pm CET, the private interests of many employees collide with local working hours. To resolve this conflict with a wink, the “FOOTBALLPEN” was developed – a seemingly ordinary ballpoint pen that, by biting on a narrow plate at the end of the pen, lets you become the sole listener of radio streams. The clever part: thanks to the anatomical connection between the jaw and the inner ear, the audio program can only be heard by the user – so the usual chewing on a pen during the Wednesday meeting becomes a hidden fan event.

Bernhard Bahners, Managing Director of radio.net, on the cooperation project: “When we first heard about the idea of the ‘FOOTBALLPEN’, we knew immediately: it’s a match! Our connected device company is always exploring new devices and possibilities to make radio and podcasts audible in all kinds of ways: from the classic PC to mobile apps to the smart speaker. The ‘FOOTBALLPEN’ is the ultimate discreet channel for listening to radio broadcasts such as the World Cup coverage on the move and independently – anytime, anywhere. Even after the World Cup, the ‘FOOTBALLPEN’ will surely become a smart everyday companion.”

Darren Richardson, Chief Creative Officer Havas Düsseldorf and Executive Creative Director Digital Havas Europe: “With the ‘FOOTBALLPEN’, we wanted to respond to the looming conflict between work ethic and football enjoyment, especially during a World Cup. So we asked ourselves: how do we bring together the two most German things of all? The result is the ‘FOOTBALLPEN’, disguised as an everyday object, which makes use of anatomical features and human habits so that the matches can be followed.” He adds: “At Havas, we create work that is meant to be fun.”

During the upcoming World Cup, radio.net will launch a prize draw for the limited-edition “FOOTBALLPEN”. The exclusive campaign will also be promoted widely via social media and banner ads in Germany and Europe.

More information, videos and the prize draw can be found at:
https://apps.radio.de/footballpen/

About radio.net by radio.de GmbH
radio.de GmbH is the operator of the international service radio.net, as well as the national services radio.de, radio.at, radio.fr, radio.es, radio.pt, radio.it, radio.pl, radio.se and radio.dk.

Following the successful launch of radio.de in 2007, the Europe-wide expansion began in 2008 and was continued beyond Europe in 2015 with the launch of the international brand radio.net.

With just one click, the service offers access to more than 30,000 national and international stations, web radios and podcasts. The right station is always at hand on the go, too – the free app is available for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, Apple’s tvOS, as an Alexa Skill and for Sonos speakers.

With the radio player, users find purely internet-based stations as well as the online streams of well-known FM stations. In addition to editorial and personal listening tips, the stations can be sorted by popularity, music genre, topic, city, country or language.

radio.de is the largest radio platform in Germany, with 33 million website and mobile visits in March 2018 according to IVW.

About Havas Germany

Havas was founded in Paris in 1835. The Havas Group is the largest owner-managed network, with over 20,000 employees in 100 countries. In Germany, Havas is represented by the Havas Creative Group and the Havas Media Group, among others. The Havas Creative Group brings together experts from the fields of creative, media and data and offers integrated brand management solutions. Havas Germany has four locations: Havas Düsseldorf, Havas München, as well as Havas PR & Havas Content and Havas beebop, based in Hamburg. The Havas Media Group is based in Frankfurt.

The services of Havas Germany cover the complete marketing mix: from classic communication, digital, CRM, public relations, social media, ambient media and design to healthcare. Havas Germany’s clients include PayPal, BMW Motorsport, n-tv, Savencia (Fol Epi, Géramont), Peugeot, Citroën, Reckitt Benckiser (Scholl, Dobendan), Olympus, Mondelez, Campari, Linde, RaboDirect and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, among others.