Gambling firm TAB wants to find out if Twitter can predict the winner of the Melbourne Cup by tracking the chatter on the social media platform.
Each real-life horse contesting the Melbourne Cup will have a virtual avatar which noses in front each time its name is mentioned on Twitter. Live odds for each horse will be alongside the avatar.
So, if you'll excuse the pun, the race is on for whether odds or Twitter will be better at predicting the Cup winner.
TAB general manager marketing communications Glenn Lee said: “At TAB we are constantly looking at ways to improve engagement with our customers and our connection with one of the world's biggest races – and the Melbourne Twitter Cup does just that.”
The Twitter execution was developed by Digital Arts Network (part of Whybin TBWA Group) using the MeteorJS development platform.
DAN general manager Liz Harper said: “Melbourne Cup may very well be the most talked-about event in Australian sports. We wanted to see if we could translate that chatter into a fun, data-driven experiment that tracks and displays the facts behind social buzz around this totally Australian event.”
