Deirdre Doyle on collecting stories at the 2015 Nordic World Ski Championships.
On a clear late-winter morning in 2015, I eased into the driving seat of my car, looking forward to the solace of a three-hour drive. Having worked 12 days straight at the Nordic World Ski Championships (held from February 18 to March 1), I was looking forward to the simple purr of the engine and the low winter sun for company on the empty highway. As I pulled out of the parking lot, leaving behind Lugnet, Falun’s sports arena, the grit-covered piles of melting snow already started to fill me with a sense of nostalgia for the live action.
As part of the Sitrus team tasked by Ericsson to gather content (interviews, films, stories and pictures), it was my job to create the stories about Ericsson, their software and services, and the rapidly changing use of mobile.
Christina Sandell, Head of Marketing Strategy and Operations at BU Global Services, Ericsson, was responsible for the Falun project, on many occasions she said that sponsoring Falun initially was “an offer to refuse”. The first time she said it confused me. But she went on to explain that the local organizer’s vision to use new technology to take the sport to a level never experienced became a great opportunity for the company to showcase its vision of the Networked Society.
Put simply, the technology Ericsson provided, fed the two official championship apps with real-time information mashed from various sources. This included information from TV feeds, GPS athlete-tracking, snow temperature, official timing, and map data. Ericsson’s solution is a clear example of how digital technologies, as it touches more and more industries, changes the way people do things: from how we experience things, to how we communicate, to what we communicate. The solution exemplified how we can use technology to help us, and how technology provides us with innovative — and in this case entertaining — ways of experiencing the world.
Jenny Ericsson (Sitrus Agency) showing a fan how to get the most out of the official event apps
Personally, the Falun project presented me with an opportunity to combine my constant desire to create interesting stories, with my understanding of technology, and mix it with one of my favorite sports: cross-country skiing.
Our first step on the road to Falun was in late summer 2014. During a conference Ericsson brought all the stakeholders involved in the Falun project together. Attending were their own marketing and communications team, the technical team, the app developers, the event organizers, their event agency, and us — Sitrus Agency, the content people.
Through a mixture of presentations and interviews, I spent an intensive day and a half getting to know everyone, their roles, why they were involved, and just what Ericsson had planned for the event. It was complex — not just the service enablement platform, but the project itself that brought together so many people from different industries, all with widely-varying skill sets and each with their own business objectives.
In the 100+ days between that significant first gathering and the first race, we created stories about Ericsson’s Networked Event and the people behind it. We told the amazing story of cross-country skier Dominic McAleenan, an Ericsson employee who represented Ireland in the championships. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he and I connected through a shared passion for skiing, the Nordics, technology, and even a common nationality.
Ericsson’s on-site Digital Experience visitor center
I think my favorite story though was that of Mike Jacquet, CMO for the US Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA). On the day that US teammates Jessica Diggins and Caitlin Gregg made history by taking the silver and bronze medals in the ladies’ 10km (the best ever finish for the US team), Jacquet took the time to come and talk. Shortly after Diggins and Gregg crossed the finish line, he pitched up at Ericsson’s on-site visitor center, ski boots in hand. Giving me a big friendly handshake, he told me about yet another historic event. Thanks to Ericsson’s technology, and that he had the foresight to purchase broadcasting rights for the US, fans back home could enjoy the successes of the US team live and on demand.
The economics of covering a niche sport like cross-country skiing in the US simply don’t add up. But as Ericsson’s solution could mash the TV feed from the host broadcaster together with commentary in English from another provider, Jacquet’s organization was able to deliver premium coverage to the US audience without the need for journalists, equipment, or an on-site organization.
My Falun story is about passion, from the athletes, the Ericsson team, the spectators, the organizers, the sponsors, and the volunteers, to the passion it takes to build the digital solutions that enable more people to share in the excitement. Creating content in such an environment was an amazing experience.
The story comes to a fitting close at the end of 2015 when Ericsson and Sitrus Agency were nominated for a European Excellence Award — which even if we didn’t win, I’m pretty sure we were close.
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