• by Tanya Gazdik , January 3, 2012

Visa is launching the You + Ten Facebook Draft application, which tells fans which of their 10 friends they would be most likely to include in a trip to the Super Bowl.

The app builds upon the Visa integrated marketing campaign launched in September, which included a sweepstakes offering one cardholder the chance to win a trip for themselves and 10 friends to Super Bowl XLVI.

Both the application and the sweepstakes are being promoted via national TV and digital advertising, including Facebook advertisements, throughout the NFL 2011-12 season, says Alex Craddock, Visa's head of North America marketing.

"Building off our NFL activation campaign this year, the application was designed to reach the NFL fan with our sweepstakes message and was inspired by the insight that football is inherently a social experience," Craddock tells Marketing Daily. "We know that 88% of fans socialize while watching a game, and we also know that, while watching football, the NFL fan is multitasking online spending up to 24 minutes per game on Facebook. The You + Ten Draft Facebook application enables us to interact with cardholders and NFL fans around a subject they are passionate about – the Super Bowl – and helps them to imagine what it might be like to win Visa’s You and 10 Super Bowl Sweepstakes by identifying the 10 friends they are most likely to take with them if they win."

The NFL is the most followed sport in the US, with 181 million people self-identifying as NFL fans, Craddock adds. "Our partnership with the NFL provides a powerful opportunity to reach and engage our millions of US cardholders through meaningful programs and experiences that benefit our business and enhance their enjoyment of the NFL," he says.

The financial services company launched a supporting ad campaign in early November featuring a fictional story of how one man won 11 tickets to the Big Game and how he and his 10 friends and relatives made it to Indianapolis.

The campaign will culminate in Indianapolis on Feb. 5 at Super Bowl XLVI in Lucas Oil Stadium. Visa cardholders were automatically entered when they used their card, through Dec. 27.

Similar to recent applications analyzing social graphs, the Facebook application scrapes a user’s Facebook page and analyzes all recent interactions, including friends tagged in photos, friends who most frequently or infrequently leave comments, and individuals noted as a significant other. With that information, the app assembles a personalized “Draft Class” for that user -- or the 10 friends the user would take to Indianapolis if he or she won Visa’s “You and 10 Super Bowl Sweepstakes.”

The app also creates a video that presents the draft class to the user, unveiling each pick and the rationalization for the selection, complete with sports announcer-like commentary that the user can then post to their page or share with friends.