praise his skills on the field and shift the conversation away from The document summarizes a week of controversy surrounding English footballer John Terry. It describes how allegations his personal life. His performance of an extramarital affair became a major tabloid story, costing Terry the England captaincy. Social media monitoring helped reinforce that he remains a shows the story generated substantial discussion across platforms like Twitter, forums, blogs and YouTube. While hero to many fans. sentiments were largely negative on Twitter, forums and blogs featured more balanced discussions that were less • However, whether his reputation critical of Terry. The conversation also quickly shifted from Terry's personal life back to focusing on his skills and

1. www.thinkintrepid.com
©
John Terry:
Footballer or Philanderer?
The Social Media Story
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2. A WEEK OF WEEKS FOR JOHN TERRY
Vanessa Perroncel hires Max
Clifford, well known UK publicist
A UK court lifts a media gagging and a tabloid bidding war breaks
order preventing publication of out for Vanessa’s story. She is
allegations about England and rumored to be offered over £1
Chelsea captain John Terry’s million to tell her story.
private life.
John Terry’s wife leaves with her
family for a trip to Dubai and to
A tabloid frenzy breaks out think about her next move. Tabloid
accusing John Terry, married consensus is that she will file for
father of two of having an affair divorce.
with Vanessa Perroncel
Girlfriend of his England and
Chelsea team mate Wayne Bridge.
Vanessa Perroncel is linked with
another Premiership footballer and
the tabloids turn the spotlight on
The Sunday Tabloids go to town.
her.
The News of the World who broke
the story dedicate 10 pages to The
Truth about Terry . Meanwhile John Terry announces Chelsea
Chelsea win 2-1 against Burnley have granted him a leave of
and John Terry scores the winning absence to focus on his family life
goal. and will miss Chelsea's FA cup
match against Cardiff on February
Chelsea Manager Carlo Ancelotti 13th.
come out in support of John Terry
and affirms his commitment to Vanessa Perroncel states that she
Terry as a player and a person. The will NOT be telling her side of the
first of 29 user generated videos story to any newspapers.
mocking John Terry were posted on John Terry is finally stripped of the
YouTube. England Captaincy by Fabio
Capello.
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3. THE BIG QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING
Is it all bad news for Has John Terry alienated
Terry? genuine football fans?
NOT REALLY NO
Forum contributors and bloggers are According to football forums
giving him the benefit of the doubt
Can being a hero on the
football field make up for Did Fabio Capello make
being a villain off the the right decision?
field?
YES MAYBE NOT:
According to twitter If you believe in the wisdom of crowds
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4. IS IT ALL BAD NEWS FOR JOHN TERRY?
LOOKING AT SENTIMENT
ACROSS DIFFERENT SOCIAL
MEDIA
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5. JOHN TERRY IS GETTING COVERAGE IN ALL SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
VOLUME OF POSTS BY CHANNEL SENTIMENT BY CHANNEL
Video/Photo
Forums
sharing Social Network OVERALL SENTIMENT METRICS
Blogs 2% 1% 5% CHANNEL
4% positive neutral negative
Mainstream
12%
TWITTER 15% 17% 69%
Microblog FORUM 34% 22% 44%
76%
BLOGS 19% 53% 28%
It is not ALL bad for Terry – at least from a channel perspective.
YOU TUBE 18% 22% 60%
If you are looking for the upside, blogs and forums are the least negative
channels. These are also the channels where points are argued and
thought out and opinions are made. On balance , they are sharing
balanced opinions and neutral views rather than assassinating Terry’s SENTIMENT BY CHANNEL
character. The real bloggers have left that to the tweeters.
Although Twitter and other microblogs account for over two thirds of posts
and sentiment is negative, twitter posts are of the moment, short lived and
as you will see later, can shift quickly and dramatically.
Video may not a major channel but as anyone who has spent any time on
the football terraces will know, football fan’s chanting can be very cruel
indeed. Their user generated videos are no more merciful. The most
viewed John Terry You Tube video is a parody of Michael Jackson’s Beat It,
to the refrain of He Cheated. To date, it has received over 46,000 views
since its first posting on Jan 30th.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kou5mgu7XM
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6. NOT ONLY IS HE GETTING COVERAGE, BUT IT IS FOCUSED ON FOOTBALL
VOLUME OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
BY TOPIC (28th Jan – 2nd Feb) • The publicity around John
Terry’s private life
undoubtedly started the
1200 social media fire.
1000 • But in only 8 days, his strong
800 performance on the field and
his undeniable sporting skills
600 have meant that the
400
conversation has quickly
moved from Terry the
200 philanderer back to Terry the
0
footballer.
John Terry John Terry John Terry John Terry • Footballer 1 – 0 Philanderer
as and and affair
England Chelsea football
Captain
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7. CAN BEING A HERO ON THE FOOTBALL
FIELD MAKE UP FOR BEING A VILLAIN
OFF THE FIELD?
LOOKING THROUGH THE
TWITTER LENS
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8. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES WHEN YOU ARE JOHN TERRY
Terry scores the
winning goal in Brand Terry • Only time will tell but early
Chelsea’s 2-1 victory stays in the indications are that people want
Terry is not big over Burnley news for the to forgive John Terry because
news on social right reasons: he is a great footballer.
media - 1-5 posts The first of 29 videos a footballer
per day in the lead The news story about John Terry is trying to sort • Terry’s goal against Burnley
up to the story breaks published on You Tube out his life gave fans and social
3800 commentators an opportunity to
change the conversation from
Terry the philanderer to Terry
3300 the footballer
• This switch in content drove a
2800 switch in sentiment :
forgiveness and empathy
2300 emerged.
FROM ……
1800
John Terry has
done a ‘Tiger ……TO
1300 Woods', only its
more serious
I hope Terry will
Focus on coz it involves
800 Focus on philandering be able to cope
football = his ex team
= negative sentiment with his family
improving mate Wayne
problem & idiotic
sentiment Bridge
300 tabloids. To me
he still is the best
football player.
0
-200 25th Jan 26th Jan 27th Jan 28th Jan 29th Jan 30th Jan 31st Jan 1st Feb
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9. FACT: SCORING ON THE FIELD WINS YOU MORE FANS THAN SCORING OFF THE FIELD
Twitter posts to #teamterry and #teambridge • #Teambridge and #teamterry
between Jan 30th and Feb 1st kicked off on the 29th when
the story broke. Both brands
fans ran head to head until
‘The Goal’.
• Between the 30th of January
and the 1st of February,
supportive posts for John
Terry outstripped support for
Wayne Bridge 3 to 1.
• If this was a game of twitter
top trumps: football skill
190
600 tweets trumps philandering intrigue
tweets which in turn definitely
#teambridge trumps Bridge’s cuckold
status.
#teamterry
• Footballer 2 – 0 Philanderer
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10. HAS JOHN TERRY ALIENATED GENUINE
FOOTBALL FANS?
ANALYSIS OF POSTS IN KEY FAN
FORUMS
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11. THE FAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE FOOTBALLER / PHILANDERER DEBATE
SENTIMENT WITHIN KEY FAN FORUMS
OVERALL SENTIMENT METRICS
FAN FORUM SAMPLE THREAD POSTS
positive neutral negative
Manchester City Terry Injunction Lifted 222 8% 51% 41%
Chelsea John Terry in alleged scandal 308 43% 33% 24%
Should John Terry remain
Manchester United England Captain
65 0% 0% 100%
THE THEMES BEHIND THE SENTIMENT
The Chelsea Fan view: The Manchester City Fan view: The Man United Fan view:
MAINLY POSITIVE SENTIMENT: DOMINATING NEGATIVE SENTIMENT: NEGATIVE SENTIMENTS,
• The fans see the footballer first. • Terry accused of sabotaging ARTICULATED THROUGH HUMOUR:
England's World Cup chances. • The campaign to make Wayne
• They empathize and agree that his Rooney England captain begins
private life is his private life. His • How will Bridge and Terry play here.
footballing future should be together?
defined by his footballing skill. • Jokes like ‘ Well he has certainly
• Terry is considered to have burned his bridges with Wayne’
PRAGMATIC NEGATIVE SENTIMENTS: crossed a line in male etiquette – show the Man U fans’ glee at
• Key theme is DISAPPOINTMENT. a team mate’s girlfriend is Terry’s actions.
Terry was a respected father figure definitely off limits.
on and off the field. They feel
conned by Brand Terry.
Footballer 3– 0 Philanderer
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12. SO DID FABIO CAPELLO MAKE THE
RIGHT DECISION?
THE WISDOM OF CROWDS IN
SOCIAL MEDIA
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13. SHOULD JOHN TERRY HAVE BEEN FIRED AS ENGLAND CAPTAIN?
The wisdom of the social media crowd So was Fabio Capello right?
• The social media universe has remained split on the
issue of Terry’s England captaincy.
• Based on the voice of social media, we’d have to say no.
John Terry is clearly loved as a footballer and is being
• People who understand and love football see that his
quickly forgiven for philandering.
leadership of the England team is critical to both • Terry was quickly judged for his off field behaviour, but the
performance and morale in the England camp. value he brings to English football when wearing the
captain’s armband is there for us all to see in blogs, fan
• But, the more rational thinker see that the tabloids forums and most importantly on the football field.
have done too much damage to Terry for him to have • Even on twitter, the initial vitriol on his affair has moved
credibility. from moral posturing to talking about what matters – who
should lead England to victory in this years World Cup.
A SELECTION OF ONLINE POLLS • It is the tabloid press who have forced Fabio’s hand in
YES NO
THAT TOOK PLACE THIS WEEK taking the decision to let John Terry go. Only two weeks
ago the same newspaper that broke the story were
guardian.co.uk 61% 30% heralding Terry as the only man to lead the England team
into their World Cup preparations.
• So what is the message to Fabio Capello?
Uk.toluna.co.uk 54% 46% • No matter how you feel about what has happened, this is
not about morality, it is about something much more
important: Football.
Thefootballnetwork.net 50% 50%
• We all hope that you are right and we are wrong as right
now the final score feels like:
Forums.electronicarts.co.uk 48% 52%
• Tabloids 1 – 0 Football
Sticksports.com 43% 57%
Thisislondon.co.uk 31% 69%
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14. About the people who wrote the deck
INTREPID AND LIFT 9
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15. INTREPID AT A GLANCE
STRUCTURE:
• Established in 1998
• Offices in London and Seattle
• 30 executive employees across the two sites
• Approved government suppliers for HMRC,
COI, DWP, BusinessLink and PADA in the UK
• Approved global research and insight vendors
for Amex, GE and Microsoft
CAPABILITIES:
• Full suite of qualitative and quantitative data
collection techniques including ethnographic
practice
• Analytics
• Social media monitoring and consultancy
• Video production and materials design
• Digital research specialism including
community development and management
• Insight embedding
• Workshops and story telling
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16. TO FIND OUT HOW SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHT AND MEASUREMENT CAN HELP YOUR BRAND CONTACT:
London Office Seattle Office
Westbourne Studios 124 NW Canal Street
Studio 130 Seattle,
242 Acklam Road Washington
London 98107–4933
W10 5JJ USA
Great Britain
T: +44 (0)20 7524 7900 T: +1 206 547 1588
F: +44 (0)20 7524 7901 F: +1 206 547 0773
liz.high@thinkintrepid.com misia.tramp@thinkintrepid.com
PO Box 4025
Seattle,
Washington
98104
USA
+1 206.601.1610
warren.sukernek@lift9.com
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