Wednesday 15 November 2017

Laduma scoops top VR award at Fanalyse Summit

Leading Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality company Laduma was quite rightly recognised for its sterling work with Everton F.C. and Sure in creating a  truly vibrant and stunning 360° video campaign.

 Laduma picked up the award for 2017’s Best Commercial Activation at the Fanalyse European Summit in Liverpool on Thursday night.

The cutting-edge VR & AR content company beat off strong competition from BT Sport, AEG/The O2, Southampton/Under Armour and Mitre to win the award for a stunning 360° video campaign featuring Everton and England midfielder Ross Barkley.

Laduma had created the content for Sure and Everton FC.

The award-winning film focused on how Barkley prepares for and protects himself from the pressure of taking a free kick at a crucial moment in a big game.

Laduma’s production team spent an entire day with the rising star at Everton’s Finch Farm training ground before putting their VR movie magic to work to bring the film to vivid life.

 Speaking at the Fanalyse Summit, which was attended by the likes of Pepsi, Chelsea, Liverpool, Uefa, Southampton FC and Ajax, Laduma CEO Ben Smith admitted that he was "delighted" to receive the award on behalf of the team.

 He said: “We wanted to do something that hadn’t been done before when this project came our way. And to have the work of everyone in our team recognised shows we achieved what we set out to do.

 “The likes of Southampton and AEG are formidable rivals but thanks to Sure for trusting us, Everton and Ross Barkley for making it so easy and of course everyone at Fanalyse for the recognition. We’re thrilled.”

The Fanalyse awards were established to recognise innovative market leaders and creative pioneers in the sports marketing industry.

Previous winners include concerns such as the NBA, the Seattle Sounders, Everton and Fifa.

 Hundreds of sport’s top decision makers attended the summit at Anfield earlier in the day with keynote speeches delivered by top figures from the BBC, AS Roma, Southampton and The FA.

 Smith also delivered a stirring state of the industry address to close the summit, during which  he told delegates that clubs and sponsors must work more closely together to create content that stood out.

“Content that makes fans feel closer to their sporting idols has particular power,” said Smith.

 “The younger generations want content they can share, that grabs their attention. Having grown up on social media, they want real, unadulterated interaction with athletes without barriers and PR spin."

He went on to say: “The challenge for brands is being able to give people genuine experiential content, that they simply cannot ignore and that the brands feel maximise their association with the clubs they sponsor.

 “And it is in that space, where Laduma thrives. We are all about helping brands create content the audience will never, ever forget.”

 Fanalyse CMO Barrie McAuliffe pointed out: “Despite the high calibre shortlist, Laduma were voted our commercial winner based on their ability to think up and creatively activate an otherwise standard partnership, using technological innovation to draw the audience in. The Laduma team continue to push forward with exciting, immersive content, and it was no surprise to see this great example with Sure and Everton. We can’t wait to see what’s next.”

For learn about Laduma, which has created numerous 'best in class' and ground breaking AR, VR and MR content for leading global sports brands and other non-sporting clients, visit www.laduma.co.uk.

You can also follow Laduma at
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/laduma
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LadumaHQ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Laduma
You Tube: https://youtube.com/Laduma
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/LadumaHQ/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110618015330960627780

(PICTURED: The Laduma Marketing Team accepting the award)