Smart has renewed its partnership with FIBA after successful campaigns and promotions for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
With the successful hosting of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, FIBA and Smart have renewed their Global Partnership for the 2027 Basketball World Cup in Qatar.
While the main focus of their partnership has been on the Philippines as co-hosts of the 2023 FIBA World Cup, it is now set to go much further than this. In this next phase of their collaboration, Smart will reach out to Filipinos all over the world with promotional campaigns, and there are many more exciting plans still yet to be revealed in the coming years.
The new partnership agreement secures Smart’s further enhancements, including additional exclusive rights in the areas of digital and live streaming. They will be the presenting partner of ‘Chat Parties’ hosted on respective FIBA competition websites, the FIBA official mobile digital and media application for the competition, and another FIBA digital media channel, which will be accessible to users in the Philippines.
Smart will enjoy the graphic integration on the live stream of official draws of FIBA competitions, as well as youth competitions, in addition to being the presenting partner of the FIBA ‘Power Rankings’.
Indeed, there is a lot to look forward to with Smart and FIBA’s renewed partnership, and it’s all thanks to their successful run at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Smart is the mobile network of choice among FIBA goers
Ahead of the tournament, Smart teamed up with technology partners Huawei and Ericsson to further expand and permanently optimize its LTE and 5G network coverage across all venues in the Philippines. In addition to this, Smart also made it much easier for local and foreign basketball fans to latch onto their network by making available Prepaid SIMs and eSIMs at Smart Stores and accredited retailers near the game venues and airports.
With this, Smart emerged as the mobile network of choice of fans, as up to 59 percent of live attendees relied on their Smart-powered SIMs and eSIMs to share real-time updates and upload online content on the fly, based on an internal report covering Phase 1 games from August 26 to September 3.
“Whether at Araneta or MOA Arena, I enjoyed seamless and hassle-free connection while posting on social media. I was able to share content in real-time, which got several of my friends’ attention,” said Dan Reyes, a long-time Smart subscriber, who watched the Serbia vs. China match at Araneta Coliseum and the Serbia vs. Lithuania match at MOA Arena.
Larger-than-life basketball tributes
Smart pulled out all the stops to bring the entire basketball experience to life at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Less than two weeks before the first tip-off, Smart transformed the iconic Mall of Asia (MOA) Ball into a giant basketball with a hoop for one of the most incredible basketball tributes ever seen. The giant installation — which measures 1.5 meters in diameter inside a ring measuring 111 meters in circumference — officially signaled the country’s all-out efforts to kick off the hosting of the World Cup, as well as the now world-famous Filipino love for basketball.
On top of this, Smart also unveiled an interactive LED billboard with a massive basketball ring and augmented reality integration along EDSA, complete with a QR code that allowed fans to view FIBA stars’ signature moves on their phones. They even took it a step further with an interactive 3D billboard featuring the FIBA official mascot, JIP, at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) to captivate fans and spectators.
Epic basketball fan experiences
The FIBA World Cup Draw is a huge part of the tournament, and Smart made sure to celebrate its importance as well. Their team mounted an epic street festival at BGC for the FIBA Draw where fans were treated to a concert, games, and other exciting activities to drum up excitement for the tournament.
During the event, Smart subscribers were also given a chance to take their own pieces of basketball history as they unveiled limited-edition Gilas Pilipinas Cards, and collectible non-fungible tokens (NFTs) exclusive to subscribers.
Real-time access to all FIBA games
Smart understood just how historic of an event the 2023 FIBA World Cup was, and on top of this, how rare it was for the Philippines to be hosting it. Thus, they left no stone unturned and used their technology to bring the tournament closer to every Filipino. Throughout the tournament, Smart gave all its subscribers free access to all the games by using the Smart LiveStream app using a Smart mobile network. With this, anyone could stream the games live anytime, anywhere, or replay any game they wanted.
On top of this, as FIBA’s global partner, Smart also provided Prepaid eSIMs to all the World Cup players, coaching staff, and delegates who flew to Manila for the tournament in order to help them stay connected during their trip.
With all these successful campaigns and results from the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Smart scored a big win by extending their partnership with FIBA through to Qatar 2027.
Banner image from FIBA Basketball.
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