Built 40+ websites for them promoting an event like this, what makes this differ

ent is this ties in with Twitter and Facebook.

Jared Kroff, creative director - Big part of the idea originated, the site has t
his theme throughout of how big, how tall they are, so wanted to give users a wy
a to rep themselve son the site using their real height and wieght, it's to show
ho big they are. not just their largest promotion to date, but largest fighters
to engage in the octagon - so that's the visual, btu the usage of socmed, we wa
nted to facilitatet a conversation that is real.
everyone htiting this site is interested in this fight, know who they are and le
aning one way or the other, so we're visualizing that data on the site. giving f
ans an opp to b a part of the historic event by being physically on the site.

When you go to the different pages of the site, when you puyt the avatar togethe
r, your avatar stands next to the two main fighters, so you're literally sizing
yourself up to them. Shows the enormity of them.
Went live on the day of UFC 115 on June 12. Updated videos etc since.
Jared - escalating a lot, done about 17500 tweets and Facebook posts as of this
morning,
success of the site isn't base don just number of predictions but half a million
goign to the site - but if people are spending five minutes there viewing other
content.
goal of the site is to get people interested in buying the pay-per-view event.
use facebook for pred, say, go back to Facebook wall, one of his friends respond
s, and another and before you know it we have ten comments on folks' facebook pa
ge.
jared: not the first time we've done socmed integration, but in a lot of ways th
is is the purest convesration we've facilitated, very specific, very relevant, n
ot just a shout-out - at 17000 tweets, we've removed less than ten for being ina
ppropriate. people are dead serious about this and wanting to talk about it.
some people on facebook have posted and others say, didn't ealize you were a UFC
fan, now they've found a common tie. A lot of people arguing, and some things w
here eight people comment they organize to watch the fight in a party, that's a
really positive part of the wya Facbeook works - twitter a bit different, not as
much of a two-way convo, but facebook interaction has been really high and posi
tive.
been really happy with it, even though we've done that many, strategy changed ov
er time, used to be sites for every event, now we single out the biggest ones, l
ike UFC 100, so they're picking and choosing special events that get the special
treatment. a lot of people giving positive feedback, lot of compliments, prompt
ed them to push the site - landing page on ufc.com - also a broadcast spot that'
s not promoting the event but the site. That's no so common, maybe they do an ev
ent and hit it at the end of the spot. Here, it's all thirty seconds dedicated t
o the site, the argument being that, if you watch a 30-second spot on tV, you ca
n only get so imersed in that epxerience and then it's over. here, you can get r
eally caught up.
there's a lot leanred here we'll leverage for future sites, we'll be having the
conversation once this is over and figuring out the next big thing we do.
jared: kicking around dieas for different ways to engage socmed.
This came together really fast, usually turning ufc fights around in a month. mo
bile version of the site isn't as graphic due to Flash reasons.
I really lke that evaluation, it's somewhat minimal on content and overdosed on
graphicals, but we feel like it reflects the event, people who come here and spe
nd ten, twenty minute son this are so excited about this moment, it's a differen
t kind of experience. time and a place for different kind of fights, lot of oppo
rtunity out there and people are excied about an event, creating a destination t
o experience that event in anticipation, with the socmed you create a destinatio
n for a soc med conversation and makes it all the more engaging for users.
really is exponential, while we're tracking exposure within the site - her's how
many come, how many predict - if you wee to draw circles and one in the middle
of hits, much bigger circle around it are people who are exposed to UFC 116 beca
use of the site - posting back to facebook walls, twitter feeds, all of the foru
m activity, people are referencing this site, it becomes a PR engine on its own
- not paid media, but people getting intrigued.

kind of like evangelists on your behalf, they spread it to their friends, and th
eir friends, so we can't really teack the exposure of the sit ebecaus eit lives
out side the site itself.
we reached outo them four and a half years ago, UFC 60 was the first we promoted
for them, and now it's 116 - that's quite a long time, a lot of events. just us
reachign out,s atrting a conversation, set up a meeting and gave us an opp to c
reate.
jared: ufc is really an ideal client for us because they have such a great brand
, worked with them for a long time so we're on the same page, lot of great input
, but do allow us the time to think about it, come up with new ideas and bring b
est suggestions to them. when they have feedback it's to make it even better.
definitely not a decisions by committee kind of company, and when they are, they
shield us from it. definitely collaborative, chiming in with thoughts but let u
s do our thing and move quickly with approvals.
jared: otherwise it'd be impossibel to execute this on this timeline.
we don't talk too much about ppv sales, we do talk about fan experience, a level
2 fan, how do we uypgrade them to level 3? the more attached they are to a figh
ter, vested to a fight, the more exciting the fight is. not only trying to incre
ase number of PPVs but magnify the exoerience for those who buy.
Jared: if they're read more bios and seen videos and made predictions, has made
more emotional investment in that fight.
never watched a UFC when I first worked on them, leanring about the fighters, do
ing a video shoot, meeting them, watching that fight was one of the most excitin
g things, wow, in a week you'll punch each other in the head.
Jared got sucked in right away. not exposed to building the site, then foilowed
the sport avidly.
jared: when they land here, they know about the UFC, when they leave they love i
t. people watch it because they respect these athletes, with the socmed, they're
rallying behind their guy, like Team Edward in Twilight.
The ROI is so strong on this because, even though you can't say you sold this ma
ny PPVs, because of the emotional engagement, it's not a big leap to assume that
it's a success, not to mention the fact that there are some celebrities in ther
e - Shawuille O'Neal tweeted. Some fo the fighters. Shane Carwin was fighitng in
 th event, went to Twitter, posted it, and rallied his fans to go in an d suppor
t him. You can see all of that in Twitter.
UFC.com does predictions, you check a little box but it takes two secons, no soc
med, doens't tie to you at all. lot of responses bu no exponential benefit. this
takes that prediction and ties meaning to it.
Obviously the more established clients you get, the easier it is to get more gre
at companies, but a number of new companies came in simultaneously even a few ye
ars ack, lot of fans of the UFC so - who built this, oh Red - not the way we do
business to rely on peopel seeing a site and calling us, but never hurts to gave
a great client like this. never a nagative response from being associated with
them, they've rose in popularity over the last few years, and we've been workign
with them on that ront. can't take repsonsibility for that and can't take repso
nsibility but it's great them
cool project we just launched for Disney, World of Colour, Polar bear exhibit in
the San Diego zoo that has Polar Bear Plunge.