The world of sports is amazing! Full of passion, full of
emotion, full of excitement, full of cheering! An incredible atmosphere is
created regardless of the sport! However we often forget that a huge amount of
these emotions and atmosphere are brought by one of the most if not the MOST
IMPORTANT actor in this story and that is YOU, THE FAN.
Sports organizations and teams have slowly started to
realize this and now loyalty programs and fan engagement are a top priority for
marketing executives in the sports industry! Why? The reason behind this is simple;
branding is an integral part of the success of any business! Even more for a
sports business, without a brand that stands for a unique identity, culture,
values and guiding principles, which are tangible as well as easy to
communicate, the value of the business is most likely not going to be huge.
Fans and essentially loyal fans are an integral part of such strategy because
they make the brand come ALIVE! They represent the brand! This in turn
generates more success from the business side. So, how does loyalty and fan
engagement come into play to help the brand?
Loyalty programs and fan engagement are essentially a tool
to guarantee three aspects: first, customer retention, because you need to make
sure fans keep coming back, otherwise who else is going to buy tickets,
merchandise and other stuff! Second, brand awareness and value, with fans
present, making a unique atmosphere, living the identity of the team and
continually representing your brand, the overall presence of the organization
will have a broader reach, as well as gaining more value, because others will
notice the great atmosphere and unique experience (a great example of this is European soccer team BorussiaDortmund). Third, and I believe
this is the MOST important aspect, showing appreciation for the fans! Fans make
everything happen, they go to the games, they buy in the concessions, they buy
merchandise, they cheer, they bring emotion, and if a sports team or
organization doesn’t recognize this and actually works proactively to show
their fans they care for them, then something is not working and the unique
experience will just not be there! Now that we understand this, we can talk
about two great examples of loyalty and fan engagement! One incorporating
technology, the other one through interaction/involvement/ownership with the
fans!
The first one and this is something every sports
team/organization needs to be doing is using technology, analytics and data to
understand more about their customers, how to engage with them and how to
reward them. Soccer is growing fast in the United States, and technology has
played a big role! MLS and the teams have incorporated technology to their
stadiums to benefit thefan! Improvements done to engage fans and enhance their experience
include the use of apps where fans can watch replays, know where concessions
stands are, and even reward point for purchasing merchandise. A great example
is Sporting Kansas City, through their app Uphoria they let the fan watch replays, find
special deals for the teams memorabilia and so on! What is best about this is
that all this data is then utilized to understand the profile of the fan, what
he likes, what he buys, what he eats, and so all this information is then used
for loyalty programs. For example if a user bought a jersey, and his birthday
is coming up, a discount for other item will be received! This way of using
data is the way to follow to connect with fans, and data needs to be used to
generate a true relationship with the fan!
The other example, is from the NBA, coming from Miami, the
HEAT have turned a T-Shirt giveaway, into a unique engagement tool with a huge return on investment!
Whenever the team makes it to the playoffs, in order to create a unique
atmosphere, the Heat marketing team creates campaigns where everyone at the
arena has to use a specific t-shirt color. In the beginning they started giving
away, shirts, now the emotional connection, engagement and ownership the fans have
taken is so big, that they don’t give away shirts, fan can either come dressed
from home or purchase a shirt at the official stores. One of the slogans of the
campaign was called “White Hot”, everyone at the stadium was completely dressed
in white, and this created a unique atmosphere, fans now understand and
BELIEVE, that they play a huge part in the success of the team!
This example demonstrates how you can incorporate fans and
make them feel part of the success, because in fact they are! This level of
engagement ensures that fans (customers) return because they not only get great
entertainment, but an experience they get to be part of!
In PASSIONIS SPORTS, we look to innovate using our creative
power and be trendsetters in developing alongside sports organizations of any
kind, unique loyalty and engagement tools as well as campaigns. In soccer a difficult market to engage with,
given that there is little to no pauses, we could do a complete campaign to
engage with fans and convert them into loyal fans before, during and after the
game!
BEFORE: We are going to create a unique zone, called the
SoccerZone, where fans can have fun, including, setting up small courts to play
3 vs. 3, and earn prizes from the team, have unique foods, that are not
normally available at the stadium. Prices for kids who come in the teams
uniform from head to toe, games for kids with the mascot, and a unique campaign
using a photo booth, fans who purchase ANYTHING from the store can go and
participate in the photo booth, replicating a goal from the team, then they
will share the picture using a hashtag and the picture with more likes, will
win a unique experience with the team for their next home game!
DURING: Just like the NBA has “hype-teams” during pauses, in
soccer we will incorporate this idea, with a twist, each section of the stadium
will have a hype team, and they will make sure that fans during crucial moments
in the game cheer for the team, showing them chants, giving small merch and so
on! Also for preparation, we will work with our main goal scorer/star, to come
up with a celebration that involves the crowd, sharing a video with the
explanation through social media; when he scores he will engage with the
audience to celebrate the goal with him!
AFTER: we will enable our SoccerZone, for 30 minutes post-game,
with special offers, discounts, prices, in every store, concessions and more!
Also we will giveaway different prices signed by the team as well as having a
unique autograph session, with a player!
This is just a little bit of the ideas we can help develop,
craft and execute at PASSIONIS SPORTS for any given sports! We are revolution
in sports; we have a unique passion for sports, because it is what moves us! And
our mission is to share that PASSION with others! As our name says PASSION IS
SPORTS!
