MTN South Africa: FIFA Confederations Cup Hospitality 2009

MTN South Africa, FIFA Confederations Cup Hospitality 2009

The brief

  • Design, manage and operate the hospitality programme for MTN South Africa, with only 4 months lead-in time
    - Manage all guest invitations, registrations, ticket allocations and distribution
    - Deliver hospitality for VIP clients, competition and promotion winners, company suppliers and MTN staff - various levels of hospitality on offer throughout the tournament

  • Support MTN's objective of increased brand awareness via recall as key sponsor of the FIFA Confederations Cup

Our response

  • Sportsworld sourced venues in all the main cities to undertake hospitality programmes in line with MTN’s corporate guidelines

  • We set up and operated a call centre using MTN staff trained on Sportsworld's proprietary web registration platform
    - Relevant details of all VIP and ticket only guests were captured via bespoke MTN branded hospitality microsites
    - The data was efficiently and securely captured in our Event Management System for subsequent operational reporting

  • We deployed a network of 7 MTN Service Centres in 4 cities as distribution points for hospitality packs and tickets for all guests (Skybox VIPs handled separately)

  • We handled all hospitality planning and onsite operations including food and beverage, souvenir gifts and ad hoc requests/upgrades; up to 60 hospitality and guest registration staff were recruited and trained for each match

  • We managed a fleet of luxury coaches to ensure that all guests were transported in comfort to and from the stadiums

The results

  • Overall, Sportsworld successfully managed almost 8,000 guests (2,900 VIPs and 4,900 ticket only clients)

  • Strong asset utilisation for inaugural FIFA sponsorship: 80% attendance rate across all matches

  • Extremely positive feedback: 92% of guests rated their overall MTN experience 4 out of 5 or higher

  • To boost brand awareness, we co-ordinated a major MTN merchandise campaign, distributing:
    - 2,000 information packs for VIPs prior to their departure, as well as welcome packs and gifts on arrival
    - 30,000 branded country caps and scarves (using 25 warehouse staff working 6,000 man hours in 23 days)

  • MTN South Africa has re-appointed Sportsworld to deliver their FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa hospitality programme

Testimonial

"I am not really sure how to thank you all so very much for a job so incredibly well done.  Whether it was the front line venue hospitality, the behind the scenes transport management and ticket distribution or the consistently professional guest communications, Sportsworld's dedication and delivery was exceptional.  The ultimate delivery of the FIFA Confederations Cup was something that all of us at MTN are immensely proud to have been part of.  The overall operation was extremely smooth and professional – thank you all."  

Michael Pouncett, Senior Manager FIFA Operations, MTN