Hamburg 17.11.2013 - The All-German derby on international turf of the defending VELUX EHF Champions League champions HSV Hamburg vs. SG Flensburg-Handewitt (HSV were the winners with 32-27), was the setting and the starting point for the Qatar2015 fan activation of this season. More than 10.000 spectators attended the duel for the top spot in Champions League group D in the O2 arena – and hundreds of fans of both clubs participated in the new events that took place in order to promote the 2015 Qatar Men’s Handball World Championship to the European handball audience.
The queues at the Qatar 2015 fans booths in the lobby of the arena were long; everybody wanted to upload their personal "best fan picture" via Instagram on the newly created hashtag #Qatar2015.
Additionally the Qatar 2015 promotion team distributed thousands of flyers to raise awareness and attract the handball-passionate German audience to the international handball flagship event.
In the halftime, a winner was drawn among the fans who participated in the activities and was awarded with the top prizes – an iPhone and an official HSV Hamburg team jersey signed by all players of the reigning Champions League title holder- by Mr. Ali Ghanem Al Kuwari, the Secretary General of the Qatar 2015 OrganisingCommittee. Mr. Ali saluted the enthusiastic friends of handball and invited everyone to visit Qatar for the highly expected 24th Men's Handball World Championship.
Sheikha Asma Al Thani, the Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications of the Qatar 2015 Organising Commitee, expressed her satisfaction with the overall organisation of the activation: "The Organising Committee is reaching out to the handball fans around the world and especially in Europe to spread awareness about the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship and Qatar. Through the activation our aim is to engage with the fans and by uploading their pictures on the social media hashtag #Qatar2015, we are conveying to Qatar the great atmosphere of Europe’s handball fans."
Fans were highly pleased with being part of the activation campaign: "It is a great idea of Qatar 2015 to involve the spectators at those matches. It was really fun to take those pictures," said Peter Benriksen from Denmark, who supported Flensburg and uploaded a picture together with his son.
"It will be a great event in Qatar, as usually a World Championship is played in European winter, so we can additionally enjoy the warm weather apart from the great atmosphere in the venues," added Gerda Heizmann, who had been to several major events of handball before and uploaded a picture wearing her HSV fan scarf.
The players and coaches of both teams had also been informed about the fan activation, since they saw the winner's pictures on the big screen during the halftime and didn't hide the fact that they are already looking forward to the 2015 World Championship.
"It is an interesting campaign for Qatar 2015. It is good to get the fans in touch with the event that early. The idea to upload fan’s pictures is quite nice, because then you get them by their hearts"said HSV Hamburg player Hans Lindberg. With his Danish national team he hopes to book the ticket for Qatar 2015 on home ground at the European Championship in January:
"Everybody in our team is highly motivated for the Championship, as we want to clinch our berth for Qatar as early as possible. I was there for the Super Globe, so I could tell a lot to my Danish team mates about Doha."
SG Flensburg-Handewitt coach Ljubomir Vranjes, who intermediately had been Serbia head coach, also applauded the Qatar 2015 promotional campaign in Hamburg:
"Fans need to be involved and informed at an early stage if you want to raise awareness. I heard there were very nice pictures taken and uploaded. So this first step of the campaign was successful."
For more information on Qatar 2015, please visit qatarhandball2015.com.
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