The ultimate remote fan toolkit – 10 aspects you need to consider when you need a solution for remote fan entertainment
As life started to get back to normal in Europe, top football matches also returned to our TV-screens and we see many different attempts from clubs and brands to involve fans in the matchdays
DIGITALIZATION IS A HOT TOPIC IN THE SPORTS BUSINESS FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS NOW – BUT THE PANDEMIC CRISIS IS FORCING AN ACCELERATED TRANSFORMATION
The problem is that although the football business model is rapidly changing, the digital developments do not follow its speed, or at least not as fast as it would be needed by the ecosystem.
The crisis accelerated this transformation with the disappearance of the matchday experience as the right holders turn towards digitalization to maintain the revenue levels, or find other creative ways to compensate existing stakeholders.
Those clubs who has already invested in this area have an advantage over others, but even amongst these ‘players’ only a very few of them have sophisticated tools to really engage remote fans in real-time during the matches. So, what seemed like a less important development so far, has become a key toolkit for survival.
We see a lot of attempts and endeavour from clubs in this area. Some of them are really catchy, and generated global media attention. However, because of the rapid preparation period, they are simply not elaborated enough to keep them permanently alive. Many industry experts agree that a much more comprehensive solution is needed in the long run to heal the wounds caused by the crisis and to keep up with the changed business landscape.
AN ALL AROUND, RELIABLE AND WELL THOUGHT-OUT REMOTE FAN SOLUTION TAKES MORE THAN WORKSHOP TO CREATE
Most of the remote fan entertainment solutions that clubs came up with or devised born out of necessity and under time pressure. The development of a complex remote fan engagement tool does not happen overnight. At Seyu we made our full-time focus creating a solution that delivers value for fans, clubs and brands alike and we are doing this for more than 2 years now, improving and enhancing Seyu through 150+ events, including 7 world events.
Fan selfies posted through Seyu’s moderated channel are appearing on the perimeter LED boards, all screens in the stadiums and on the social media channels of supporters in a club/sponsor branded frame. Our solution requires no hardware investment from clubs and easy to run, giving the players and the technical staff real-time support with the well-known chants and encouraging messages. Rewarded fans can also spot themselves during TV broadcasts when they are notified by Seyu of the upcoming showtime, thereby strengthening their sense of belonging to the club and reproducing the fact that they are also active participants in the victory and success of their team.
We have a proven track record on the Hungarian market through not only the over 89k satisfied fans, but the organizers of many, worldwide broadcasted international sport events. Perhaps it is not overconfident to say that with our years of experience, we are experts in the field of remote fan engagement.
BUNDESLIGA: REMARKABLE IDEAS BUT STILL ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES
Since Bundesliga was the first great European football league that restarted, the general attention was extremely high on the matches throughout the world. Many clubs came out with their remote fan concepts, and in this research document we will analyse the most known ones.
1. FC Bayern München
The Bundesliga “Rekordmeister”, since champions again, organized a sweepstake together with their partner Telekom. Fans had to send pictures in through a landing page, and the organizers selected the “best” 50 which could appear on the LED screen during the game. Another important regulation was that people who are under 18 could not win the prize. 2. Bayern Leverkusen
2. Bayern Leverkusen
Bayer 04 sent out a call in the beginning of May to join the ‘Your support for the Werkself’ initiative. Fans could send photos to be displayed on a huge banner of support on the East Stand at the BayArena. Photos were drawn out at random.
3. 1. FC Köln
The 1. FC Köln together with its main partner Rewe, launched a filter campaign through the Livedab application. Fans could upload selfies, choose between filters and then confirm that they wanted to be shown in the stadium. People under 18 are not allowed to participate, and the data security process was also left on the club, since Livedab did not take the responsibility of sent content.
4. Borussia Mönchengladbach
As the very well-known marketing advice says, being first means being the winner. Mönchengladbach came out with the cardboard idea in the right time, earned global media attention and many clubs started to copy their solution. The huge demand from the fans shows that even this simple solution can earn the backing of supporters, with more than 20.000 already sold.
THE RESULTS OF THE COMPARISON
To make this comparison as objective as it deserves to be, we compiled a cross table with 10 different factors which determines the fan experience while successfully supports the business goals.
As we mentioned earlier, the introduced solutions fulfil mainly temporary goals and has limited application potential on the long term. Serving remote fans requires a holistic mindset: digitalization is about building a healthy, reliable and constantly evolving ecosystem around the club that delivers financial and non-financial values.
THE 10 PILLARS where Seyu provides a more rounded remote FAN EXPERIENCE
1. REAL-TIME MODERATION AND DISPLAY GENERATION
All examined solutions require days to process the photos sent by the fans, therefore they cannot capture the matchday happiness of the fans around the world at the time of the match. Except Seyu’s solution, where the verification process and display generation take a maximum of 5 – 12 SECONDS.
2. ADDED SPONSORING PLATFORMS
Sponsors are desperately looking for extra channels to reach the crowd that they would have reached in the stadiums. With Seyu, clubs can expand their marketing portfolio with 8 additional commercial displays directly reaching fans while accompanying supporters through the euphoric experience of being displayed in their beloved team’s stadium.
3. LOYALTY MARKETING CAMPAIGNS AND EXTRA REVENUE
A lot of ticket and season ticket holders applied for refund, which really hurts the clubs financially. With Seyu the clubs are able to reward fans not opting for refund with a VIP photo posting experience, executing this in a smooth, user friendly manner, and offer creative ideas to make some exclusive opportunities payable.
4. SCALABILITY
Seyu makes sure that every fan photo posted will be displayed up to thousands of photos per match, dividing fan photo displays between platforms.
5. VISIBILITY (during match)
We perfected the technology to make sure every photo is clearly visible for the players as well as for the supporters at home. Fans are notified at the time of their selfie display and photos rotate around the pitch numerous times, plus fans receive a capture of their selfie display in the stadiums.
6. UNDER 18 FRIENDLY
Our solution also allows under 18 fans to post photos safely, thanks to our privacy policy and GDPR compatible service involving their parents in the authentication process.
7. CSR CAMPAIGN TOOL
Seyu is not only providing partners with the unlimited graphical background of a CSR campaign but also enables the activity to be widely communicated through the popularity of fan generated content shared on social media by the fans.
8. EASILY SHAREABLE (on social media)
We live in a world where social media activity is a must for all businesses. Seyu’s solution was developed in a way that supporters are one click away to share their club tailored, branded and moderated fan photos on any social media platform.
9. CLUB/SPONSOR BRANDED
We are able to customize our service both for the utmost needs of the clubs and sponsoring brands, reaching fans directly on multiple platforms.
10. LIMITLESS VISUAL DISPLAY
Selfies posted through Seyu are only limited for the imagination of the marketing and graphic design team of our partners.
With our proven and easy to implement technology we are able to provide our service on multiple platforms, so the players can see the supporter photos on matchday in the changing rooms, player’s tunnels, mixed zone, perimeter boards and giant screens, providing a whole matchday service for the club and also to the fans. Our 150+ events proven technology is easily implementable for partners without any burden on them for IT infrastructure redevelopment.
