The WARC Media 100 has ranked Mindshare Sydney campaign Monty: The World’s First AI Predictive Commentator #1 in its latest rankings of the world’s best work.
Monty – the greatest cricketing mind ever created, was built in collaboration with Foxtel, Fox Sports and Google.
The win sees Mindshare Sydney catapulted to number three in the global agency rankings, recognition that Katie Rigg-Smith Mindshare CEO, Australia and New Zealand is thrilled to hear: “The pinnacle of any year for me is when I know our teams have been creating great work for our clients. Knowing that our work has been not only recognised as best in class but best in the world is so rewarding. Monty shows the power of provocation and teamwork; two of our core values, in action’.
Monty: The World’s First AI Predictive Commentator for Foxtel in Australia, saw Mindshare Sydney create an AI that was able to predict when a wicket was going to fall in a cricket game and use this as a trigger to show targeted advertising to drive viewership and subscriptions for Foxtel’s cricket offering. Monty correctly predicted over 1,800 wickets and saw double digit growth in weekly sales.
Monty is a custom machine learning model, designed to spot when and how wickets would fall in live games, in real time. Conceived as part of Foxtel’s promise to provide cricket like never before, the cutting-edge innovation has quickly evolved from a marketing platform to a customer experience.
Thanks to the ground-breaking machine learning project, Monty can spot a wicket up to 5 minutes before it falls – and instantly alert fans to watch it live on Fox Cricket. Monty watched every single ball bowled by the Australian National Men’s team the past 18 months and built the resulting patterns into a bespoke ‘Wicket Warning’ system for Foxtel viewers and cricket fans.
The machine learning model recognises patterns in player behaviour based on past form and the live conditions of the pitch. When Monty’s confident a wicket will fall, the model autonomously deploys new creative and adapts bidding across dynamic display, pre-roll and digital outdoor so fans never miss a dramatic moment on the pitch.
As the power of Monty’s predictions became clear, Mindshare designed new experiences for fans to tap into his cricketing insight. Monty’s predictions were integrated into the Fox Cricket app during the Boxing Day Test, with push notifications alerting fans to the next wicket published over the course of the biggest game of the summer.
Fan support saw Monty step into homes across the country, as a Google Home experience allowed fans to “ask Monty for the next wicket” and listen as he described how comfortable the current batsman should be at the crease.
Jack Smyth, Strategy Partner, Mindshare, said: “We always knew we were onto something special with this work as we were at the cutting edge of creativity and data. Monty’s proof that a new era of analytics is here. Working with Foxtel and Fox Sports to see an idea leap from messaging all the way through to a totally new way to watch the game is incredibly exciting – and only possible thanks to the Foxtel team’s appetite for innovation. To top it all off and be named number 1 by WARC globally is definitely a career highlight”.
