Défi Wind Launches Sociabble4Fans and Gathers 1 400 Windsurfers

How do you create the ultimate digital fan experience? Défi-Wind knows…

Bringing together over 1 000 windsurfers in Gruissan France, Défi Wind is the world’s largest windsurfing event. Yet rather than rely just on traditional methods of communication throughout their event Défi Wind went one step further by engaging legions of superfans across one single platform – with Sociabble4Fans.

Engaging a Community of Superfans

The challenge: engaging 1400 windsurfers and their thousands of followers across the globe during a threeday event. The solution needed to be simple to use, as well as easily accessible for fans on location and around the world. Enter Sociabble4Fans, and online platform designed to engage and build a community of superfans.

On Sociabble4Fans members of the Défi Wind community were able to submit their own photos, videos, and insights throughout the event – most notably via the mobile application. Once validated, the user-generated content (UGC) was then made available to share with all other users. This UGC drove interaction among the community and allowed event organizers to tap into a wealth of posts to relay on official channels both during and after the event.

Members of the Défi Wind community on Sociabble4Fans were each given a profile page that contained their bio, latest activity, badge collection, points total, leaderboard position, and direct links to their social media accounts. Platform administrators had access to a designated back office where they could configure platform features, moderate user-generated content, and view in-depth analytics. This included user activity, trending posts, and the engagement generated by external content.

Building Engagement through Gamification

Customized multiple-choice quizzes and polls were created throughout the event, in order to test and develop fans’ knowledge of windsurfing and the event itself as well as obtain users’ feedback before, during and after the event. All this helped to drive affinity with Défi Wind by allowing fans to play a central role in idea generation.

Additionally, campaigns, challenges, and calls-to-action (CTAs) were used to highlight specific content. Points and Badges, which are attributed to specific actions and consisted of multiple levels, were used to drive user engagement among the Défi Wind community and reward top fans for their activity on the platform. Users could log on to post, share, read news, and check their standing on the platform leaderboard.

Driving Visibility

Sociabble4Fans was also used to help centralize content published by event organizers, sponsors, partners, and affiliated retailers. Creating one centralized hub made it easy for fans to find and share all official event communication and updates, which ultimately helped to drive visibility through their sharing activity. To create an increased sense of community and highlight the incredible engagement of fans around the world a Social Wall, powered by Sociabble, was displayed on large screens throughout the Défi Wind event, using the hashtag #defiwind to aggregate and display content.

A True Sharing Adventure

In engaging Défi Wind superfans with an exclusive, dynamic and collaborative environment, Sociabble4Fans helped to strengthen the event’s core fan base, increase brand loyalty, and build on the community spirit of this globally renowned event. It provided new ways for fans to engage directly with the event, through content creation and idea generation, serving as a springboard for driving visibility and notoriety on social media.