The pin was always an important accessory for the media contingent covering the Olympics Games, but Alibaba Group, a worldwide partner of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has now given it a modern twist.
Alibaba unveiled Cloud Pin, a cloud-based digital pin, to be used by the broadcasting and media professionals at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
The pin can be worn either as a badge or attached to a lanyard. The digital wearable is designed to enable media professionals working at the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) and Main Press Centre (MPC) to engage with each other and exchange social media contact information in a safe and interactive manner during the ongoing Olympic Games.
“The Olympic Games has always been a thrilling event with opportunities for media staff to meet like-minded professionals. With this unprecedented Olympic Games, we want to use our technology to add new exciting elements to the Olympic pin tradition at the IBC and MPC while connecting media professionals and enabling them to maintain social interactions with safe distancing,” said Chris Tung, chief marketing officer of Alibaba Group.
“As a proud Worldwide Olympic Partner, Alibaba is dedicated to the transformation of the Games in the digital era, making the experience more accessible, aspirational and inclusive for broadcasters, sports fans and athletes from across the world.”
Christopher Carroll, Director of Digital Engagement and Marketing at the International Olympic Committee, added: “Today, more than ever, we look to engage people around the world through our digital ecosystem and connect them with the spirit of Tokyo 2020. We are excited to be partnering with Alibaba to support us in our digital transformation journey and to help us build engagement ahead of the Olympic Games.”
Serving as a multifunctional digital name tag, the pin enables users to meet and greet each other, adding people to their ‘friend list’, and exchange daily activity updates, such as step counts and the number of friends made during the day. This can be done easily by tapping their pins together at arm’s length, bearing in mind the social distancing measures.
The digital pins also include specific designs of each of the 33 sports on the Tokyo 2020 Programme, which can be unlocked through a list of playful tasks like making new friends. To activate the pin, users simply need to download a Cloud Pin application, and pair it with the wearable device via its bluetooth function. This Cloud pin was given as a token to the media professionals working at the Olympics.
As the official Cloud Services partner of the IOC, Alibaba offers world-class cloud computing infrastructure and cloud services to enable the Olympic Games to digitalise its operations. Along with Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), it also launched OBS Cloud, an innovative broadcasting solution that operates entirely on the cloud.
