UFC 116

Objective

UFC needed to build pre-fight excitement and fan engagement for UFC 116: Lesnar vs. Carwin, a heavyweight championship bout scheduled for July 3, 2010 at the MGM Grand. The brand sought to drive organic word-of-mouth marketing by creating an interactive social experience that would encourage fans to share predictions and recruit friends, targeting males 18–34 via SpikeTV and UFC.com.

Solution

RED Interactive Agency launched 116.ufc.com, an interactive prediction platform where users logged in via Facebook or Twitter, created custom avatars, and predicted the heavyweight title fight outcome. User predictions aggregated into a browsable, sortable visual lineup with ratings and vote tallies. Each prediction automatically posted to the user's social feed, creating viral mechanics. The site featured oversized championship imagery for dramatic scale, multiple navigation methods (mouse wheel, keyboard, drag-and-drop), and sections with fighter analysis and fight card videos. The campaign deployed within 2.5 weeks on SpikeTV broadcast spots during UFC programming and UFC.com splash pages.

Results

As of June 25, approximately 8,500 fans created avatars and joined the UFC prediction lineup, with social sharing mechanics proving effective as predictions automatically posted to users' social feeds. RED Interactive received a 2013 WebAward for Best Sports Website for their UFC Social work.