Barcelona World Race 2014/15

The Barcelona World Race is the first and only nonstop regatta around the world with two crew members per boat. It is held every 4 years and has its departure and arrival in the Port of Barcelona.

Photo © Nico Martínez

A 150-day event

On December 31, 2014 departed from the port of Barcelona the Barcelona World Race 2014/15, a world-class sporting event that tests the limits of the competitors in a long oceanic trip around the globe. Our Online Operations Director, Andreu Ballesteros, designed and directed the operation of the more than 20 online channels used by the Organisation.

Goals

Develop and maintain the Organisation's online channels operation, including the high traffic and availability multilingual website, the social channels Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and SoundCloud, and the newsletters and press releases delivery tools.
Provide real-time information on the course of the competition to a global and multilingual audience. Integration with tracking systems (geo-positioning).
To generate a constant flow of sports information: development of the race, statistics, incidents, etc.
Offer news, chronicles and other multiformat information to the general public and especially to media professionals, who have their own private area on the website.
Increase the ROI and visibility of sponsors by developing a taylor-made statistical tracking system.
Integration with various sources of video streaming (videoconferencing, television production, etc.).
Integration of the different social channels of the Organisation in the website, as well as tools to facilitate the viralization of the content.
Dissemination of the Educational Program and the rest of the training activities of the Barcelona World Race.
Provide technical support and visibility to scientific collaboration projects. Spread the culture of sustainability.
Secure hosting with the maximum guarantees of availability the private area dedicated to Marine Rescue Professionals (MRSCs).
Allow agile and effective access to all content from multiple platforms such as computers, mobile phones, tablets, etc.

Development

In the summer of 2013, a year and a half before the competition, the development of all the online infrastructure that would support the communication needs of the Organisation began. A Social Media Plan was also developed and implemented by half a dozen professionals.

On the website side, we have setup private areas for sponsors, Race Direction and Marine Rescue Sub-Centers (MRSC).

We have designed the real time integration with the Competition's positioning and video streaming platforms. We have created specific training tools in the area of the website dedicated to the Educational Program. We gave real-time visibility to the scientific projects that were conducted during the race. We have developed an online advertising exposure metering system for sponsors.

We have directed as well the development of the Race's official mobile app.