After the release of Nelson Mandela, the first democratic elections, and then winning the 1995 Rugby World Cup, South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ stood out as one of the country’s biggest nation building opportunities. In the critical build up to the biggest event Africa had ever staged, First National Bank (FNB) leveraged the power of social media to entrench their sponsorship. Long before the big spending multinationals started to throw marketing budget in the fight for mindshare, FNB took the high ground and created a community around ‘2010’ as a passion point.

Shine 2010.co.za set out to become the home of 2010 World Cup good news, allowing South Africans to congregate, learn and communicate in the months leading up to the tournament. South Africans thus became active stakeholders in the event, helping to shape and manage perceptions around the country’s ability to successfully host the World Cup.

The site became a credible online resource for fans and media alike, often ranking on page 1 for key related 2010 World Cup search terms. Amatomu.com, ranked Shine 2010 within the top ten blogs in the country. Shine 2010 garnered 3,811 712 total impressions/views across all platforms.

Shine 2010 provided news and feature articles through a blog, podcast interviews and the FNB Roving Reporters. The FNB Roving Reporters – a first for a South African corporate at the time – served as citizen reporters, sourcing quality video interviews with key influencers. These videos were regularly the first online source offering key news update, becoming a favourite with fans and search engines alike. The site was launched to both the traditional media and key bloggers, at a dedicated event. A social media press release created and a full online editorial outreach (OEO) campaign followed, ensuring key influencers were aware of the site. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, were all used to spread the good news beyond the site. Due to the frequency and quality of the Shine 2010’s content, Shine's editor was often contacted for story ideas and angles. Shine 2010 was as a trusted news source.

Shine 2010 quickly became a leading online destination for 2010 information. Shine 2010 featured on the 1st page for search results for 2010, World Cup, stadium updates, tickets, construction, accommodation, Zakumi and Zakumi.June 2008 to July 2010, Shine 2010’s total impressions/views across all platforms amounted to 3,811 712.

• Blog aggregator Amatomu rated Shine 2010 as the 10th largest blog in South Africa • 4200 newsletter subscribers• 130,000 downloads of the mobile news application • Shine.co.za traffic: 1 June 2008 to 25 July 2010:o 598 772 unique visitors o 1 069 612 page impressionso 00:01:30 average time on site• Facebook group:o 2668 fanso 41,000 page views o 150 fan photos • YouTube channel:o 87 videos o 1,236,719 views o 227 subscribers • Flickr profile: o 500+ photos o 861 614 views• Twitter profile:o 4054 followers o 1781 tweets