Fan-entertainment to the maximum: the El Classico of men’s handball

The Telekom Veszprém vs. MOL Pick Szeged clash of titans well-know between handball lovers for the passion, skyhigh nerves and ‘out-of-this-world’ quality handball. The most watched club handball match of Hungary takes place only few times a season. The first leg of this season’s championship final took place on Thursday night in Veszprem where over five thousand fans roared on their favourite players when they lined up for the start. Of course the hyping of the fans started well before the first whistleblow of the match.

Arriving fans were greeted at the gates by the home team’s mascot, ushered in by hostesses towards fan activities from Telekom Hungary and ‘Seyu – Together for victory!’. The Hungarian communication giant takes on-location fan-entertainment very seriously in the Veszprem Arena. Supporters can take a virtual walk in the arena or even try themselves scoring a goal to Roland Mikler thanks to the VR kit set up for their amuse, just to mention one of the awesome things.

‘Seyu – Together for victory!’ also got a spot in the entry hall, offering Telekom Veszprem supporters the opportunity to get their fan photos taken in front of a huge photo wall, designed for the finals. This is a regularly used campaign by the sport startup in Hungary. By introducing Seyu’s service for the fans, staffs manage to educate the not so tech savvy generations in Hungary, showing them how they can cheer on their favourite players, even from hundreds of kilometers away.

Looking around in front of the arena and in the entry hall, happy, smiling families and friends catching up with one another in red jerseys and slowly slaloming their way to their seats while their favourite team is already warming up. Gazing at the arena before the battle of the season, spectators’ eyes meet with six full HD giant screens. In between the sponsor contents on the 16:9 screens, fans from around the globe smiling down and giving extra motivation to the players, thanks to ‘Seyu – Together for victory!’.

Telekom Veszprem was one of the early adopters of the fan-engagement and entertainment service, the record champion’s supporters were the first to try in test phase the standalone IT solution. Since then the sport focused startup always debuts its newest features in Veszprem for the joys of fans and club alike.

At 6:15PM the music volume turned up a notch, the head supporter took his microphone and revved up the crowd behind the goal while the teams left for their jerseys to the changing rooms. The effect of songs sung by the fans took on the whole arena and the organizers deemed the lights. The official speaker of the home club announced the guests, “Please, welcome the team of MOL Pick Szeged!” and a continuous whistling started in the arena. The deafening noise only stopped and changed for a welcoming cheer when Veszprem fans heard their team’s song, ‘Get ready for this’ from 2 Unlimited, on a decibel only experienced in concerts. Smoke, red lights painted the arena’s ether, cheerleaders shook their pom-poms and lined up in the ‘home corner’ of the court, digital flames appeared on the perimeter LED boards and the players entered the court one by one for the happiness of thousands of fans in the arena and in front of the television. The theatre stage was set for the best of men’s handball in Hungary.

During the match remote fans’ selfies were regularly showing up, not only on the screens above the stands, but on the perimeter LED boards too to capture the attention of resting players on the bench. Team Seyu managed to wow fans this time around too with a new feature. Selfie sending fans saw their messages popping out and an animated Telekom Veszprem crest scoring a goal next to their photos.

It was amazing to see how the power of motivation by fans in the arena and in front of the televisions elevated the Telekom Veszprem players to deliver a performance that shattered the opponent team. The victory was achieved, together.

Seyu selfies of fans were shared on the official Facebook page of Veszprem and Seyu after the match for the happiness of supporters making the most of the new way of cheering. Thanks to the emotional connection that the fan-generated content gives to Seyu and it’s partners, 161 selfies managed to prompt 2521 activities from fans and their friends, generating the organic reach of almost 22 000 within 48 hours. One of the key contributions of the startup’s service that they provide for clubs, federations and tournaments. Imagine the exposure that Seyu could deliver on social media with thousands of selfies in a culture a bit more sensitive for new IT solutions.

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