Foxtel
Alert Shirt

Inventing a product that lets fans feel what players feel

AFL is a national obsession, but fans already get great coverage on free-to-air TV. Our challenge was to convince them that subscribing to Foxtel would get them closer to their team in a way standard TV couldn’t.

A world first in wearable-technology, Alert Shirt literally connects fans to the game, allowing them to feel what the players feel live as it happens on the ground. Real-time game data is captured by a custom-built mobile app, then sent via Bluetooth to electronics inside the shirt. Here it gets converted into sensations that simulate the live sporting play: impact, adrenalin, pressure, exhaustion and despair.

In all, 4,000 shirts were produced to connect new subscribers and existing customers to their teams. But most significantly, we changed the rules of broadcast TV, turning sport from something you watch to something you’re physically involved in.