IN A bid to make the most of its sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League, Heineken is stepping up the campaign for its Star Player game app, which some 1,500 people in Ireland have already played via its Facebook page or through an iPhone download during its soft launch season.

In the game, players are awarded points for correctly guessing the outcome of set-pieces such as penalties, corners and free-kicks as well as predicting the timing of the next goal.

“Anticipation is a key part of football consumption, so it’s very, very relevant,” says Heineken Ireland marketing manager Sharon Walsh.

Relevance in online campaigns isn’t always guaranteed: there

is “ultimate panic” among companies “to do digital for digital’s sake, or an app for app’s sake”, Walsh recently told an IAB Ireland conference.

For the quarter-final stages, the end frame to its “Legendary Football” television ad will reference the app, while next season Heineken will launch both a dedicated campaign and an Android version.