Firetext to play at Super Bowl stadium
Raoul Bhatt said his Edmonton company, FireText, has scored a supporting role in Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday.
“Everybody wants to be in the Super Bowl. It is definitely one of the biggest things my company has done,” said Bhatt, the 34-year-old director of FireText, a software company specializing in text-to-screen applications. “Financially it’s not the biggest, but exposure-wise it is.”
Bhatt said his company’s FireText and SOTV.me software will create an interactive experience, allowing the estimated 82,000 attendees of the Super Bowl to interact via their mobile devices with 60 TV screens as they walk around MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., before, during and after the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks battle on the field. Fans will be able to post SMS messages, participate in polls and respond to plays on social media platforms, which will be broadcast through the stadium’s internal television network.
“The goal is, attendees that post social media messages to the TV screens will, in turn, share the same messages to their circle of friends and followers, making this Super Bowl the most socially interactive in the history of the NFL,” said Bhatt. “They really want to tap into people, they want people to engage on mobile. They want people at the stadium chattering. Each individual will become a type of reporter for them.”
Bhatt said the software he has licensed to Wizard Studios — a Brooklyn, N.Y.based company hired to manage in-venue production — has a built-in filter that will block any social media communication containing a list of 918 words and phrases. It’s a means of protecting corporations that sponsor the National Football League and the Super Bowl.
“You also want to keep it family-friendly,” he said.
FireText will operate on a single computer with video output connected to MetLife Stadium’s video broadcast system. Information flow will be sourced from the NY/NJ Super Bowl Host Committee and NFL social media channels, and via production booth operators who will engage with fans.
Online users can watch the Super Bowl social media chatter at www.sotv.me/viewer/ viewer/UmFvdWxfXzE=
Bhatt said he negotiated the deal with Jade Gorman, event manager and associate producer at Wizard Studios. Gorman did not return repeated requests for comment this week and no other officials at Wizard Studios were available.
Bhatt started FireText nine years ago and currently employs 12 people in the Edmonton office at 16226 100th Ave.
Bhatt also said his company has licensed its software to an eclectic mix of clients including the Edmonton Oilers and Eskimos, Calgary Flames, WrestleMania, Extreme Makeover, The Reverend Billy Graham, Fallout Boy and The Foo Fighters.