FC Barcelona launches chatbot on Viber

FC Barcelona launches chatbot on Viber

New function of the app by Rakuten, the club’s Global Partner and Official Sponsor for Innovation and Entertainment, to include ‘BarçaViber Man of the Match’ section

This Thursday, FC Barcelona has launched a chatbot on Viber, the Rakuten app where Barça already has almost four and a half million followers, just two months after the profile was opened. The chatbot will offer fans a new way of receiving news and information from the club, along with the possibility of taking part in the ‘BarçaViber Man of the Match’ section.

There are several modes of ‘BarçaViber Man of the Match’ and they are a way of making games even more exciting. First of all, Barça fans can make predictions about the result. They also have the chance to vote for the man of the match by choosing from among the six players proposed by Opta, one of the world’s most important sports statistics firms. And finally, users can grade the team’s overall performance each week. The player that has got the most votes at the end of the season will be named ‘BarçaViber Player of the Year’.

Likewise, Barça fans taking part in the activities offered by the club’s new chatbot will be able to enter the ‘BarçaViber Fan of the Year’ competition, with the chance to win a VIP experience at the Camp Nou including a meeting with the first team players. The winner will be the user who has made the most accurate predictions of scores and team or player evaluations on the chatbot.

The FC Barcelona experience on Viber has been developed in partnership with Chat Leap, Inscouts and Opta. “BarçaViber Man of the Match’ will be launched on September 9 on occasion of the derby against RCD Espanyol.

About Rakuten Viber

The essence of Rakuten Viber is connecting people, no matter who they are or where they are from. With more than 800 million users, the platform offers a wide range of possibilities, including chat, video calls, chat groups and direct lines of communication with the most famous brands and people. The network also guarantees a free, secure environment for sharing emotions. Rakuten Viber is the official FC Barcelona communication channel and forms part of Rakuten Inc., one of the world’s leading e-commerce and financial services firms. 

Statement by Russell Stopford, director of the FC Barcelona Digital Area:

“Right now, one of the most important challenges in the world of sport is getting supporters involved in what is happening on the pitch. This Viber bot offers our fans the possibility to take part through voting and the chance to become the ‘BarçaViber Fan of the Year’. It’s an incentive, it motivates and it rewards.”

Statement by Djamel Agaoua, CEO of Rakuten Viber:

“Barça’s official Viber chatbot is the perfect union of the excitement and enthusiasm with which fans live games. Whether they are in the stadium or not. This is exactly what we were looking for when we were thinking of a way to unite our values with those of FC Barcelona: a global connection between fans around the world through technology.”

Força Barça
Força Barça

Related to this article

Close article

Related to this article