What separates true fans from casual spectators? Statistics. Sports fans love numbers, and use statistics to fuel passionate debate about teams, players, matches and rankings. But what if you could measure the passion itself; the gut feeling you have about a game; the surge you feel when your favorite player scores; the sting when he draws a yellow card?

Working with leading sports scientists in a first of its kind study, we set out to measure the physiological effects football has on its fans. Enlisting biometric responses to live in-game action, we created a new mathematical formula that couldn’t lie: The Nissan Excitement Index. Whether settling a debate or starting a new one, the Excitement Index became be the ultimate data-driven definition of thrilling moments, players and matches in UEFA Champions League football.

(See supporting materials for excitement index formula)

Key digital influencers, bloggers and journalists were selected and outfitted with wearable technology at matches, where scientists monitored their physiological reactions to the game, including heart and breathing rate, and electro-dermal activity. The scientists combined the data with official match statistics to develop the mathematical formula behind the Nissan Excitement Index.

We debuted the Excitement Index to all G5 markets during the tournament knock out stage and fed the media provocative stats. Thomas Muller’s stunning equalizer in the second leg of FC Bayern München’s match against Juventus F.C. caused a 44.8% surge in fans heart rates—highest in the tournament. The “Exciting 11” honored players generating the highest Excitement scores in the tournament. And we confirmed that the peak average heart rate of 122 bpm during exciting matches was comparable to the peak heart rates measured in couples having sex. Wherever we saw UEFA football excitement, we branded it for Nissan.

The PR campaign delivered the innovation and excitement central to Nissan’s brand message, and helped forge an unprecedented brand connection with UEFA.

MEDIA OUTPUTS:

Generated 500+ earned media stories around the globe with a reach of over 300 million around Nissan’s UEFA Champions League sponsorship.

Positioned Nissan as the “excitement authority” in key target media, including The Sun, La Gazetta dello Sport, La Repubblica, The Independent, BBC Radio 6 Music, Vice, Goal.com and Bleacher Report.

Generated more than 230,000 organic views of campaign influencer Kieran Brown’s branded vlog post from the UEFA Champions League Final in Milan.

CONSUMER OUTCOMES:

Among the target audience aware of the UEFA Champions League sponsorship, we saw a strong +17.3point increase in those who perceive Nissan as “exciting,” and a +22 point jump in those who perceive Nissan as “innovative,” compared to consumers unaware of the sponsorship.

BUSINESS OUTCOMES:

Nissan moved up six places in Interbrand’s ranking of the World’s Most Valuable Brands in 2016.

Based on the campaign’s success, Nissan plans to continue the campaign next football season, and extend the Excitement Index into other areas of Nissan business beyond the realm of sports.