Fan Revolution_for printing_CS5.indd

FAN
Revolution
Global fans in the information age.
Who are we? What motivates us?
How do we create value?
Insights by Repucom
2
Evolution
the revOLutiOn iS underWAy.
the WAy We WAtch, enJOy, enGAGe And interAct With SPOrt
And everythinG thAt SurrOundS it iS chAnGinG BeFOre Our eyeS.
July 2014
Germany play Argentina in the final of the FIFA
World Cup at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana, the biggest
game in what for the past century and more has been
the biggest sport in the world. Football has grown exponentially over that time – and from the first FIFA
World Cup in 1930 to Brazil 2014, which sees record
audiences and record digital engagement.
©2015 Repucom
3
Evolution
Global esports audience (in millions)
Frequent viewers /
enthusiasts*
74
113
145
2013
2015
2017
The last decade has seen seismic changes in technology, giving fans the ability to interact directly with players, teams, events
and brands. No longer is sport,
and fandom, just about watching: There has been a move from a
passive to interactive relationship,
changing people’s expectations
and demands. This new dynamic
requires a deeper understanding
of fan behaviours and attitudes.
*A frequent viewer/enthusiast defined as someone who watches esports at least once a month.
Source: Newzoo Global Esports Audience Model; The Global Growth of Esports report – January 2015
oCtoBER 2014
Samsung White of Korea takes on China’s Star Horn
Royal Club in the final of the 2014 League of Legends World Championship. 40,000 esports fans
are in attendance in Seoul, watching the teams battle it out in a stadium built for the 2002 FIFA World
Cup. Professional gaming has grown rapidly over
the past decade, since technology enabled the sport
to exist: 27 million unique viewers watch the 2014
final, while the competition as a whole sees 288 million cumulative daily unique impressions, according
to organiser Riot Games.
Insights by Repucom
Fan Revolution2015
The importance of the fan, to rights-holders, sponsors and the entire world
of sport can never be underestimated. Indeed, the relationship between fans
and teams, and fans and brands, is at the core of Repucom’s work.
This ‘Fan Revolution’ report examines the global fan picture in 2015, detailing the current status of those relationships, shaped as they are by major advances in technology, changing societal and media consumption habits and by
the increasing sophistication of fan groups around the world. These are major
changes, shifts which require a fresh approach in terms of understanding fan
behaviour and attitudes.
In particular, it is clear that the relationships between fans and brands have
become more nuanced and complex; expectations have changed, as fans
become more focused on authentic experiences as participants in a fragmenting media world – and fans are empowered as never before, gaining their own
voice through social media.
Paul Smith
Founder and CEO,
Repucom
Fan DNATM is Repucom’s response. A pioneering behavioural approach, it
helps rights-holders and brands identify the type of fan most likely to react
most positively to sponsorship; vital information as sponsorship is bought, sold
and activated around the world.
contents
05 I E
volution
How did we get to here?
Why are fans fans?
12 I R
EVOLUTION
What are the seven fan groups?
Which activations work best?
22 I w
hat next?
5
Evolution
The Origins of the ‘Fan’
The word ‘fan’ – a devotee, aficionado or supporter of a particular activity
or person – is believed either to be a shortening of ‘fanatic’, a word with religious etymology which came to be associated with baseball, or ‘the fancy’, an
old English expression which referred to followers of boxing. As a professional
global industry has grown up around sport the definition of the ‘fan’ has, inevitably, become more complex and nuanced, as has the desire to understand
precisely what makes fans tick. Rights-holders want more
of them and brands want to be able to tap into them but
to gain a true understanding of the modern-day ‘fan’, in
order to maximise commercial returns, it is necessary to
closely examine their attitudes and behaviour – and how
they have evolved over time.
A short history of how ‘fans’ have evolved
In the beginning
For centuries, people have been attracted to
contests and entertainment, demonstrations
of supreme skill and bravery – from jousting to the gladiatorial spectacles of the Coliseum. Even in the earliest days, these events
fused sport and entertainment. Some went
to relax, some went to be stimulated, some
went because they were interested in the
spectacles or knew the stories behind the
participants. Many of the underlying motives
for attending and watching sports events
have not changed.
Work and play
Across Europe, around the turn of
the 20th Century, sports clubs
were often created for employees
by local businesses, providing a
focal point for the community at
weekends and in the evenings.
That lineage is still visible, particularly in Germany at football clubs
like Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Live
& direct
Amplification
The advent of radio and television, and live sports broadcasts,
connected those unable to make it
to the stadium. As well as helping to
build sport financially, through the
sale of media rights, it widened fan
bases and the popularity of teams
and sports; the pay-TV era followed, with many sports no longer
available in major markets through
free-to-air broadcast channels.
th
20
Century
Interactivity
The digital era has allowed interaction with players,
teams and events in ways previously unimaginable,
while the ability to watch anywhere, any time and
on any device has put the fan firmly in control. It has
heightened expectations and increased demand.
2015
next?
2 1
Insights by Repucom
6
Evolution
Evolution
How did we get to here? Why are fans fans?
And how and why are fans different in different countries?
©2015 Repucom
7
Evolution
A new MAP OF THE FAN WORLD
Technology is changing everything. What being a ‘fan’ means – the longestablished pattern of behaviour we associate with fans – is being disrupted
by a raft of new sport and entertainment formats and new ways of consuming
them. Rights-holders, broadcasters and sponsors need a map for this new
global fan landscape.
Fan DNA™ was conceived in conversations between Repucom and some
of the world’s largest rights-holders and sponsors in 2014. Its purpose is to
help brands acquiring sponsorship packages or rights-holders creating sales
propositions make more targeted and profitable decisions in relation to sponsorship strategy.
Repucom launched a meta-analysis of the many millions of fan interviews
it has conducted across the world over the past decade, using this vast data
mountain to develop a unique new piece of behavioural research across eight
countries around the world. Over the summer of 2014, 8,000 new interviews
were conducted across the UK, Germany, USA, China, Japan, Australia, Malaysia and Mexico – tracing the ‘fan journey’ of each respondent, from childhood through to the development of the combination of attitudes and consumer behaviour which defines them as a fan now.
Despite the incredibly diverse group of markets selected, seven clearly
differentiated groups of fans emerged – each one with their own distinctive
The 7 behavioural segments (global average %)
characteristics, behavioural tendencies and attitudes to
sport and sponsors.
Each of these groups contains both men and women of all ages and incomes. And the most ‘avid’ fans are
also spread between a number of these groups. In fact,
Repucom found that self-identified avidity was a relatively poor predictor of the strength of response to sponsorship.
Repucom has now developed an algorithm which can
predict the Fan DNA™ segment of any fan within minutes,
and all our quantitative research (>500,000 interviews
each year) now carries this technology – so our global
understanding of this fan behaviour gets deeper with
every passing week. Repucom clients are now using this
to not only make better sponsorship investment decisions, but also to design much more effective communication and activation initiatives. Crucially, they can now
also track the performance of their investments in terms
of the behaviour change of each segment, and embed
this deep understanding of fans into their CRM systems
to accelerate real value creation across their whole fan
base.
Sponsor brand recommendation
“Have you ever actually
recommended a sponsor
brand to a friend?”
82%
13%
No
Yes 18%
Game
Expert
9%
Connection
Fan
TREND
Positive
Armchair
Fan
18%
Disengaged
25%
Busy
10
18%
Busy
Cynic
11%
Disengaged
6%
Armchair
Fans
8
Cynic
31
Trend
Positives
18
Of that18%:
Sponsor brand
advocates
8
Game
Experts
in percent
51
Connection Fans
Source: Repucom Fan DNA
TM
Survey, August 2014. Total for eight countries (USA, UK, Germany, Mexico, Malaysia, China, Japan, Australia)
Insights by Repucom
8
Evolution
Where does social media fit in?
foCuS on fan StoRiES
‘How much is a post worth?’ ‘What’s your engagement rate?’ ‘How
many “likes” have I got?’ Rather than trying to approach fan engagement via social media this way, Repucom has developed Fan Stories as
a means of identifying, categorising and ultimately monetising the many
types of social media activities undertaken by sports teams.
% of variation of interest
in different social media fan stories
62
Score updates
45
Event highlights
39
Team announcements
Goal of the month
27
Player statistics
26
Historical/past content
25
Event statistics
24
21
Player/Team of the month
Player/Team interviews
Player birthdays
19
11
May 2015 – respondents asked to rank top three Fan Stories by interest.
©2015 Repucom
Fan Stories are types of content, everything from a simple score
update, to team announcements, event highlights, player statistics, archive content and behind the scenes features – a major football club like
Premier League champions Chelsea have over 60.
By auditing a club’s digital and social media output, across web, mobile, app, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (and whatever social
media platform is next on the horizon), Repucom is able to determine a
club’s digital assets – and identify which are the most effective in terms of
fan engagement. Rather than focusing on the number of Facebook ‘likes’
and trying to examine what that means, sports properties can now compare their ‘score update’ posts against their ‘player Q and As’. That information allows them to approach partners and work out which Fan Stories are best-matched to which sponsor, allowing them to build digital
assets into sponsorships in a more sophisticated way – score updates
‘brought to you by Audi’, for example. Audi, in turn, have a launch-pad
for activating based on their own sponsorship objectives, as opposed to
a ‘tweet this’ and ‘post there’ approach.
It also gives teams the opportunity to optimise their major digital platforms – Chelsea, for example, receive more engagements per follower
via Instagram. Game commentary and score updates play well on Twitter,
while, by contrast, the content which works best on Instagram tends to
be behind-the-scenes content, such as footage from training sessions.
Understanding where to place the right content, at the right times,
allows teams to maximise engagements and, where possible, direct fans
back to official websites, where the advertising revenue is club-owned.
9
Evolution
gloBal MaRkEt PERSPECtivES
The global averages for each of the seven behavioural segments (shown on
page 7) shows that Connection Fans – those whose primary motivation for
engaging with sport is about sharing an experience with friends or family – are
the largest group, followed by Armchair Fans and the Busy fan group.
But the Fan DNATM research revealed significant market differences in the
way sports fans have evolved and the behaviours displayed towards sponsor-
ship – from the high proportion of Connection Fans in the
USA to the abundance of Armchair Fans in Japan, to Germany’s greater proportion of Game Experts; vital information for brands and rights-holders looking to target specific pockets of a fan base. Repucom, drawing on its
global expertise, examined the development of fans and
fandom across several major markets.
“FAn dnAtm iS A PiOneerinG BehAviOurAL APPrOAch,
thAt identiFieS the FAnS AcrOSS the WOrLd WhO
WiLL reSPOnd StrOnGLy tO diFFerent SOrtS OF
SPOnSOrShiP ActivAtiOn – the miSSinG LinK BetWeen
WhAt FAnS SAy, And WhAt they ActuALLy dO”
Mike wragg, Executive Vice President, Global Head of Research, Repucom
JAPAn
%
trend Positive
5
Game expert
13
connection Fan
13
Armchair Fan
30
Busy
22
disengaged
12
cynic
6
a question of age: Baseball, with its male-dominated
demographic, has traditionally been the dominant sport
in Japan, but the announcement that the country would
co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup and the launch of the
J-League in the 1990s altered the landscape significantly.
The J-League saw the emergence of more regional clubs;
whereas baseball has traditionally been a big city sport,
football has been able to reach more outlying areas. The
‘home town’ concept took a leap as Japanese sport decentralised from Tokyo. The 2002 FIFA World Cup attracted a large female demographic, with more casual
fans supporting the national team and ultimately attending J-League matches. Japan’s ageing population (hence
the high proportion of Armchair Fans), however, provides
rights-holders with an ongoing challenge, with the Tokyo
2020 Olympics seen as a significant moment in the country’s continued sporting development – just as the 1964
edition ignited Japanese interest in Olympic sports.
Insights by Repucom
10
Evolution
USA
%
Trend Positive 10
Game Expert 16
Connection Fan 32
Armchair Fan
12
Busy 11
Disengaged
5
Cynic
15
Friends and family first: Technology has been the biggest driver in the evolution of US sports fans over the
past two decades – mobile phones and Wi-Fi access are
as essential as food and water; stadiums and teams are
working out how best to deploy technological solutions
to aid the fan experience in-venue. The notion of community, however, has been woven into the US sports
fan’s mindset for far longer, borne out by the proportion
of Connection Fans: in American football the longstanding general weekend structure of high school games on
Fridays, college games on Saturdays and the National
Football League (NFL) on Sundays, plays into that desire
to come together with friends and family to watch sport.
The attention spans of US sports fans are shrinking: they
are engaged in other activities, like texting and surfing the
internet, and have less patience for breaks in the action.
GermaNy
From factory to football: Fan culture in Germany,
much like the UK, has its roots in the country’s working-classes. In football, local businesses and factories developed their own clubs – Bayer 04 Leverkusen is a prime example – which developed into city or
neighbourhood hubs. The fan culture grew through
attending games, local chants, regular meetings –
‘Stammtisch’ – and dressing in team jerseys, scarves
and caps. New Game Experts are being created all
the time. Being a fan of a club has tended to be
passed on from generation to generation, whilst the
popularity of football has risen among higher social
classes thanks to greater media coverage and the
rise of new technology. That fan culture has now
spread to other major domestic sports like ice hockey, basketball, handball and even winter sports.
UK
%
Trend Positive 6
Game Expert 16
Connection Fan 26
Armchair Fan
17
Busy 15
Disengaged
5
Cynic
15
©2015 Repucom
Looking for that national moment: Britons tend to relish the social occasions delivered by sports events, from
the traditional gathering in front of the television to watch
the FA Cup final, to watching major competitions like the
Premier League or Six Nations at home with family or in the
pub – as borne out by the high proportion of Connection
Fans compared to the other fan groups. In recent times,
this congregation of people around their passion points
has also doubtless been fuelled by the UK’s major event
decade and British success on the international stage, notably during London 2012 – successful major events are
often talked of as having ‘captured the nation’ and as a
‘national moment’, with other examples including Andy
Murray’s 2013 Wimbledon victory, and England FIFA World
Cup or UEFA European Championship matches.
%
Trend Positive 5
Game Expert 18
Connection Fan 17
Armchair Fan
19
Busy 20
Disengaged
6
Cynic
15
11
Evolution
Australia
%
Trend Positive 8
Game Expert 13
Connection Fan 22
Armchair Fan
16
Busy 17
Disengaged
6
Cynic
18
Cynical? Us?: With no single dominant sports entity, the
competitiveness of the Australian sports market means fanship is driven largely by geography – National Rugby League
(NRL) is more popular in Sydney or Brisbane, whereas in
Melbourne or Perth Australian Rules Football (AFL) is
stronger. New sports and competitions like netball’s TransTasman tournament are further complicating the landscape.
As opposed to the transactional model in evidence across
the United States and much of Europe, the concept of
membership has taken hold in Australia – beyond buying a
season-ticket, the major sports and clubs strongly encourage fans to become members, with added benefits and the
creation of a ‘badge of honour’ mentality. As the high Cynics
score shows, Australian fans tend to like their sport to be
authentic: diving and faking injuries is frowned upon; brands
must demonstrate they are credible partners for a team.
Malaysia
Collective spirit: In culturally diverse Malaysia, sport
plays a role as the common interest, and when brands
play to this collective spirit, fans are responsive. Sponsorship is not only accepted, it is welcomed, and fans
are keen to associate their passions for a sport with
brands they interact with on an everyday basis. Malaysians are particularly happy to wear their passions on
their sleeves; a high Trend Positive population who use
sponsor brands to show off their association with their
favourite teams. This high propensity for fans to interact
with sponsors can be found across the majority of the
major sports, but interestingly not as strongly in the most
popular sport, badminton. While more than half the population of Malaysia are interested in badminton, driven
by a high participation rate, it is football and F1 fans that
display the more brand favourable behaviour traits.
%
Trend Positive 9
Game Expert 8
Connection Fan 35
Armchair Fan
16
Busy 19
Disengaged
7
Cynic
6
China
%
Trend Positive 17
Game Expert 4
Connection Fan Armchair Fan
36
9
Busy 25
Disengaged
5
Cynic
3
A market in development: China’s
sports market is developing rapidly. Football is of less interest but basketball has a
higher interest than in many markets,
thanks largely to the National Basketball
Association’s early broadcast moves in
the country and the ‘Yao Ming-effect’. In
China, sports such as badminton and table tennis have large appeal, while the
concept of the superstar, particularly a
home-grown star, plays well, as evidenced
by the country’s huge Olympic programme
– accelerated by the Beijing 2008 Olympics – and the huge recognition for the
likes of now-retired tennis player Li Na.
Insights by Repucom
12
Revolution
Revolution
What are the seven fan groups? Which activations work best for
each one? And how do we make these insights work for us?
©2015 Repucom
13
Revolution
fan DnatM: nfl anD EuRoPEan footBall
The data below offers a comparison of fan groups between National Football League (NFL) fans in the United States and European football fans in Europe. It shows a substantially higher proportion of NFL fans in the United
States than European football fans across Europe.
For NFL fans in America, team affiliation is evidently an important part of
their personal branding – the data breaking down fan segmentation amongst
the top five NFL teams bears this out; NFL team fan bases tend to include
more Trend Positive fans than the top Premier League teams in England.
There is also a larger proportion of Armchair Fans in the
NFL in the United States than of European football in Europe, which is driven largely by the broadcast coverage of
the two sports: NFL games are widely available on free-toair networks across the United States, whilst European toplevel football tends to have moved from free television to pay
services. European football’s higher proportion of Cynics
suggests these fans have been turned off by what they may
perceive as over-commercialisation of the beautiful game.
% Fan dnAtm Segments
nFl
european Football
Trend Positive
Connection Fan
Game Expert
Armchair Fan
Busy
Disengaged
11 30 15 14 4 11 16
6 32 14 7 4 11 26
Cynic
Source: Repucom SDNA May 2015, Europe = average across UK, DE, IT, ES, FR
% Segment Breakdown by Fan Base Size
top 5 pRemieR leAgue teAms
top 5 nFl teAms
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots
Pittsburgh Steelers
Green Bay Packers
Trend Positive
18
17
12
16
13
Connection Fan
17
15
17
13
14
18
29
20
25
24
12
10
13
13
12
Game Expert
Manchester City
Manchester United
Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool
7
11
6
7
9
41
34
39
42
30
19
18
16
17
23
5
7
8
8
6
Armchair Fan
Source: Repucom Sponsorlink surveys in USA and UK
Insights by Repucom
14
Revolution
Trend positives
They love sport –
and what it says
about them
With Trend Positives, their principal underlying reason
for being a fan is that it identifies them as a member of a
group they aspire to belong to – so activations that help
them project that identity will work really well with this
group.
Sport plays a very important part in the life of Trend
Positives – they’re more likely to watch it and play it on a
regular basis. They buy the merchandise of their favourite
team and, where possible, attend live games. Whilst their
favourite team is the priority, they are ‘completists’ and
will watch other teams too.
Trend Positives are the group most likely to be
positive towards sponsorship – they recognise
and understand the link between sport and
sponsors and that one cannot exist without the
other. They also tend to believe sport plays an
important role in society and needs to be
supported by sponsorship. When we control for factors like income and category
interest, Trend Positives are the group
most likely to act as a result of being
exposed to sponsorship.
This group are optimistic, passionate and interested in many areas outside sport. They consider themselves
early-adopters and are image-conscious.
They think of themselves as trendsetters and
are brand-loyal. They consume sport and information about it via any type of media, including social media.
Who are they?
Gender
51%
49%
male
Female
Age Groups
25%
< 30
49%
30 ‒ 49
26%
50+
Income
Group
Lower
Middle
22%
28%
45%
Higher
Interest
in sport
Little
16%
Interested
very
39%
45%
How to communicate with them?
» Ride their passion and
make them visible
» Lifestyle and fashion
» New content to share
Fan StoriesTM
player awards and event highlights
While Score Updates score highly
across all Fan DNATM segments, there are
several Fan Stories – content themes distributed across multiple digital and social
channels – which can be effective in targeting the Trend Positive group. Player and
team awards, plus contests such as ‘goal of
the month’, allow Trend Positives to engage
with their chosen sport or team and feel
part of the event or match. Event highlights
also over-index amongst Trend Positives –
goals, key shots, great plays engage this
group. Examples of Fan Stories which
match this group include the NBA’s Instagram posts showcasing the best shots from
a player GQ shoot, and the All England
Club’s Wimbledon shot of the day and highlight clips during The Championships.
Score updates 75% Team announcements 51% Event highlights 36% Player statistics 36%
©2015 Repucom
15
Revolution
Activations
which this
fan group Love
Trend Positives tend to respond strongly to activations
in­volving a celebrity and a fashionable cause, a celebrity
and something wearable, and activations which are
high­­ly creative and visual – things they can share, be seen
singing or dancing along to, wear or display!
Global average: Trend Positive 9% Game Expert 13% Connection Fan 25% Armchair fan 18% Busy 18% Disengaged 6% Cynic 11%
Activia and Shakira –
World Food Programme
Jose Mourinho – Hublot
In February 2014, Chelsea manager
Jose Mourinho was announced as
watch manufacturer Hublot’s latest
brand ambassador. The company
subsequently produced a range of
‘Special One’ watches.
Hermes Ticket Tuesday –
Bundesliga
Carp Ladies –
Hiroshima Carp
Bundesliga partner Hermes ran a contest
giving away two tickets for every Bundesliga
and 2.Bundesliga game each matchweek.
The Japanese baseball club made a concerted effort to attract a female demographic to the sport, through branded clothing,
accessories and campaigns.
Colombian pop star Shakira announced a
global partnership with Dannon yoghurt
brand Activia for a campaign called ‘Dare to
Feel Good’ in March 2014. Shakira’s La La
La song provided the campaign’s sound­
track, with the brand and superstar combining to highlight the work of the World
Food Programme’s school meals initiative
at the start of the track’s video.
Face the Finals –
AFL Finals Series 2014
Ahead of its showpiece games in 2014, the
Australian Football League created the Face
the Finals campaign, which saw fans’ faces
‘painted’ on Facebook in the colours of the
favourite team and then inserted into photos
with players.
Because Futbol –
Hyundai and the World Cup
Hyundai acquired the rights to be known as
the official automotive partner of the 2014
FIFA World Cup. Ahead of the tournament in
Brazil, the brand launched its passion-based
#BecauseFutbol campaign, highlighting the
parallels between the loyalty of football fans
and research which demonstrated consumer loyalty to Hyundai. Advertising spots included a youngster’s obsession with trying
to avoid the results of World Cup games.
David’s Trikot (Jersey) Shop –
HypoVereinsbank
Bank customers were given the opportunity
to receive a free Bayern Munich jersey
signed by defender David Alaba.
Grooming Lounge – AXE
Joachim Löw –
Nivea Men Deutschland
German coach Joachim Löw is a long-time
promoter of Nivea’s skincare products, starring in a variety of campaigns – he has been
a brand ambassador since 2008 and extended his deal post-World Cup victory in
November 2014.
To launch its new White Label line, AXE created a pop-up salon called the AXE Grooming Lounge at the College Football National
Championship. The lounge provided free
hair styling and neck massages to fans attending the game. While AXE has traditionally appealed to teen boys, the White Label
line was more ‘grown-up’ and targeted ‘sophisticated’ men.
Insights by Repucom
16
Revolution
Game Experts
They want
facts, statistics
and tactics
Game Experts’ principal underlying motivation for
being a fan is a deep interest in and connection to the
intrinsic detail of the game. Activations that enhance
their appreciation of that detail therefore work really well
for them. Conversely, sponsor activity seen to ‘get in the
way’ of the game will receive a pretty negative reaction
from this group.
It’s all about the sport. They want to know every detail, from tactics to additional statistics, and possess a
detailed understanding of the strategy and the nuances
of their favourite sport. They are major consumers of
sports news via newspapers and pay television.
They do not tend to participate in sport, although
they are likely to have played at school.
They want data and facts, and regard
sponsorship as a necessary ingredient for
sport; a sponsorship must be visibly helping their team or enhancing their experience of watching. Top players, in the
view of Game Experts, are overpaid,
while sponsors take up too many
seats at games.
Game Experts have a high interest
in sport, particularly football, but are not
so interested in fashion; they are more
practical buyers.
Who are they?
Gender
65%
male
35%
Female
Age Groups
< 30
30 ‒ 49
50+
Income
Group
Lower
Middle
Higher
Interest
in sport
Little
24%
41%
35%
29%
30%
31%
22%
interested
very
47%
31%
How to communicate with them?
» Stick to the facts
» Statistics, statistics, statistics
» Show benefit to their team
Fan StoriesTM
a thirst for information
Game Experts have a thirst for infor­
mation, statistics and tactical analysis; everything apart from the action is extraneous.
The Fan Stories best deployed to attract
this fan group therefore range from team
announcements – Game Ex­perts, understandably, want to know who is playing,
who has been selected and dropped, as
soon as possible – and behind the scenes
content, including information from training
camps and sessions, plus innovations like
Manchester City’s Tunnel Cam, which films
what happens before and after a game and
offers exclusive half-time clips. Player interviews relating to upcoming games also play
well with a group keen to understand every
nuance of the sport; awards like player of
the month are less effective.
Score updates 74% Team announcements 53% Event highlights 38% Player statistics 26%
©2015 Repucom
17
Revolution
Activations
which this
fan group Love
Global average: Trend Positive 9% Game Expert 13% Connection Fan 25% Armchair fan 18% Busy 18% Disengaged 6% Cynic 11%
US Open – IBM
Volkswagen-Talk – Werder Bremen
Power Player – Yingli
Golf fans can keep up with the US Open
wherever they are with an application that
provides a live leaderboard and hole insights
explaining which clubs a player will select,
the difficulty of a hole and real-time analysis
of stats and shots on the course.
A series of short YouTube interviews with
Werder Bremen players.
As part of its premium partnership with Bayern Munich, solar energy company Yingli
created the Power Player concept. The
company calculated FC Bayern players’
kilowatt-hours during each home game, inviting fans to guess the final total to be in
with a chance of winning match tickets.
StarPlayer – Heineken
Heineken’s StarPlayer app, to complement
its sponsorship of the UEFA Champions
League, works in real-time, with fans encouraged to display their knowledge of the
sport and competing teams by trying to
predict various elements of the game –
when goals will be scored, or the outcome
of corners or free-kicks. Players score
points depending on how early and accurate their predictions are.
Legendary Series –
Yokahama Baystars
This campaign was focused around former
player Carlos Ponce who returned to Japan
to visit the club.
HerthaHelden –
Hertha Berlin and Deutsche Bahn
Fans watching Hertha Berlin are given the
chance to vote – and win prizes as a result
– to nominate the team’s ‘hero’ of the game
via an official club app; the player is then
honoured at full-time. The app also includes
statistics and other features, part of the concerted club and sponsor effort to link the
stadium experience with the possibilities offered by the digital world.
SlamTracker – IBM
Tactics preview – Mercedes-Benz
Ahead of German national team games, Mercedes-Benz, a sponsor of Die Mannschaft,
previews the action from a tactical perspective, with detailed analysis of the opposition
and Germany’s likely approach.
IBM’s SlamTracker product provides a
real-time statistics and data visualisation
platform for fans, detailing points, sets
and matches as they are played at Grand
Slam tournaments around the world.
The product has been developed over
several years and now includes a social
media tracker, charting conversations
about players during matches.
Insights by Repucom
18
Revolution
Connection Fans
Coming together
to enjoy sport
Connection Fans’ principal underlying motivation for
being a fan is the opportunity it creates for doing things
with their friendship group and/or family. Activations that
celebrate, enhance, or amplify these connection opportunities strike a strong chord with this group.
Connection Fans are likely to enjoy watching sport with
friends and family. They tend to rate themselves as less
avid fans compared to Trend Positives or Game Experts,
but don’t be deceived: they are the group that account
for the largest proportion of all sponsorship response
and often have the highest proportion of their lives
engaged with a sports property. Think of the millions of parents taking their child athletes to practice week in, week out throughout the year. Or
the friends who have met in the sports bar
every Saturday since they were teenagers.
They enjoy other social activities –
eating out and healthy dining – and
always like to have the latest products. They like to stand out from the
crowd by buying brands that others
don’t. Their fashion sense is influenced strongly by people they admire.
They are the heaviest users of mobile,
social media and magazines. They spend
the most amount of money on sports-related
goods and are responsible for purchase decision-making.
When Connection Fans see a sports star or celebrity using or wearing a brand, it acts as a personal
recommendation. If sponsors are seen to be enhancing
the sport, Connection Fans are likely to recommend them.
Who are they?
Gender
54%
46%
male
Female
Age Groups
39%
47%
< 30
30 ‒ 49
50+
Income
Group
15%
Lower
Middle
Higher
Interest
in sport
Little
25%
30%
37%
16%
interested
very
41%
43%
How to communicate with them?
» Shareability
» Include their friends and family
» Player endorsements
Fan StoriesTM
team announcements
Aside from score updates, the Fan Stories which resonate best with the Connection
Fan group are team announcements and
event highlights. But lifestyle content –
behind the scenes with the players, or photos
such as Chelsea FC’s Instagram post showing Didier Drogba sitting alongside Thierry
Henry at an NBA game – and Fan Stories
such as the National Football League’s Facebook player birthday messages tend to play
well with this group. Archive content fares
less well when targeting this group.
Score updates 57% Team announcements 44% Event highlights 42% Player statistics 28%
©2015 Repucom
19
Revolution
Activations
which this
fan group Love
Connection Fans tend to respond strongly to activations which promote
or celebrate family, friendship, community and the causes which are
most relevant to their communities. Think about what you can do for
the grassroots, for mass participation, for their children – and celebrate
how powerful these bonds can be in changing lives for the better.
Global average: Trend Positive 9% Game Expert 13% Connection Fan 25% Armchair fan 18% Busy 18% Disengaged 6% Cynic 11%
‘Immortal Fans’ – Sport Clube Recife
Helping solve the family authorisation problem afflicting organ donation rates in Brazil –
51,000 declared themselves donors, more
than the club’s stadium capacity. The waiting
list for heart and corneal transplants reduced
to zero. The tagline: ‘Everything for Sport
Clube Recife. Even after death’.
#SOSLaundry – all and Snuggle
Little League World Series 2013
Sun Product Corporation brands “all” and
“Snuggle” engaged children and their parents
at the 2013 Little League World Series
through a game of tossing socks into a washing machine for the chance to win prizes like
coupons, stickers or a “Snuggle” teddy bear.
Fanbande – DFB
At this year’s DFB-Pokal final, between
Borussia Dortmund and VfL Wolfsburg, German broadcaster Sport1 and Volkswagen
teamed up to allow fans to upload photos of
themselves watching the action. The most
‘gripping and emotional’ photos then appeared inside the Olympiastadion where the
game was being played.
Hyped for Halftime –
Pepsi and the Super Bowl
Celebration of family –
Thank-you Mom – P&G and the Olympics
Pepsi activated its sponsorship of the Super
Bowl XLIX halftime show in February 2015
with a week of events under the ‘Hyped for
Halftime’ banner in Phoenix, where the game
was played, and beyond. The activation including a free, four-day music celebration
took place in the city in the days before the
game, the construction of a two-level Pepsi
‘Hype Zone’ fan experience venue and, on
grameday a series of food and drink sampling
events covering 12 downtown blocks.
Play 60 Challenge –
NFL and the American
Heart Association
In April 2012, 100 days before the London
2012 Games, Proctor & Gamble launched its
global ‘Thank You Mom’ campaign around
its top-level sponsorship of the International
Olympic Committee. “P&G is in the business
of helping moms, not just moms of Olympians, all moms, all around the world,” said
Marc Pritchard, P&G’s Global Marketing and
Brand Building Officer as the plans were
rolled out. “So we’re using our voice at the
Olympic Games to thank moms everywhere.”
The National Football League teamed up with
the American Heart Association in 2007 to
raise awareness of childhood obesity in the
United States and inspire children to undertake the recommended 60 minutes of physical exercise per day. Since then, teacher
training guides and videos have been produced and an online tracker developed to
encourage parents and educators to encourage ongoing physical activity, built around the
six-week Play 60 Challenge.
‘Fanshake’ – NAB
NAB’s #fanshake campaign encouraged
fans to make bets between each other,
pledging to, for example, wear a rival Australian Football League (AFL) team’s shirt to
work should their team lose. After capturing
the pledge in action and uploading it to the
website, NAB customers were given the
chance to win ShopAFL vouchers.
Insights by Repucom
20
Revolution
Armchair fans
Connecting to the
world, from home
Armchair Fans’ principal underlying motivation for being a fan is the ability to connect out to the wider world
from the comfort and safety of their own living space. A
much harder audience for sponsors to activate, the key
will be thinking about what’s useful and relevant for this
more isolated audience.
Armchair fans regard family as the most important aspect of their lives. They prefer to spend a quiet evening at
home to going out and TV is their main form of entertainment.
They are interested in sport, especially the thrill
and social currency of major events, but sport is
but one part of a wide entertainment landscape for them. They are not die-hards.
Sponsorship is regarded generally in a
positive manner, especially for the
big events – the X Factors, the Wimbledons, the FA Cup Finals – which
Armchair Fans watch from the comfort of their own home.
Who are they?
Gender
45%
55%
male
Female
Age Groups
< 30
30 ‒ 49
50+
Income
Group
22%
36%
41%
29%
29%
31%
Lower
Middle
Higher
Interest
in sport
Little
interested
very
36%
44%
20%
How to communicate with them?
Global average: Trend Positive 9% Game Expert 13%
Connection Fan 25% Armchair fan 18% Busy 18%
Disengaged 6% Cynic 11%
» Exploit big event resonance
» Sport and celebrity
Fan StoriesTM
DON’T BOMBARD THEM
Event highlights are an ideal Fan Story
if a club wishes to target Armchair Fans,
along with competitions like ‘goal of the
month’. The key with this group is not to
bombard them with statistics or detailed
tactical information; team announcements,
for example, are not likely to generate
much engagement from this segment. Neither is historical club or player information,
or interviews with players.
Score updates 64% Team announcements 61% Event highlights 33% Player statistics 32%
©2015 Repucom
21
Revolution
Busy
Disengaged
Cynic
Family, work –
and that’s about it
Just leave me alone –
I just don’t care
Sponsorship is
a necessary evil
The key to understanding Busy
Fans is that they are relatively disengaged from sport due to other priorities in their busy lives, not because
they don’t enjoy it. The challenge in
engaging them is to find a way of fitting in with their full lives.
The Disengaged group really just
don’t care about sport – beyond it
being something else to watch on TV,
a big event their friends might be
drawn into. They follow what is happening around them; but sport is just
another TV show for them.
Cynics are sports fans – but their
love of sport is highly coloured by
what they perceive as over-commercialisation. Sport and those who play
it are regarded as spoilt by money
and business.
They tend to have an average approach to anything, including sponsorship. They regard sponsorship as neither good or bad; it’s just the way it is.
They are very pragmatic about
money and sport. It’s not a matter of
boycotting brands; they don’t care
enough to do so.
They show a moderate interest
for social activities and sport, and
have low usage of media and almost
no social network activity.
They are a global, unengaged
generation, who consider life too exciting to bother about big issues.
They think brands matter, but they
don’t want to be judged.
This group are disillusioned towards the money flowing into sport.
They accept that sponsorship is a reality, though they will stay away from it.
This group, which tends to be the
reflective middle class, enjoys spending time with few close friends. They
are very open to different cultures, but
complete strangers to fashion and
glamour.
Who are they?
Who are they?
Who are they?
Gender
Gender
Gender
male
Female
Age Groups
< 30
30 ‒ 49
50+
Income
Group
Lower
Middle
Higher
Interest
in sport
Little
interested
very
42%
58%
Female
30%
39%
31%
Age Groups
32%
28%
30%
Income
Group
50%
38%
12%
42%
58%
male
36%
38%
26%
< 30
30 ‒ 49
50+
Lower
Middle
Higher
Interest
in sport
37%
29%
21%
Little
interested
very
52%
37%
11%
48%
52%
male
Female
Age Groups
16%
< 30
33%
30 ‒ 49
51%
50+
Income
Group
Lower
Middle
Higher
Interest
in sport
33%
29%
27%
51%
36%
Little
interested
very
13%
How to communicate with them?
How to communicate with them?
How to communicate with them?
» Discreetly involve family
» When? At the weekend
» Keep it simple
» Activity outside sport
» Social impact
» Ethics matter
Insights by Repucom
22
What next
Join the
FAn Revolution!
When Repucom and some of our largest global clients started the Fan
Revolution conversation in 2014, we were thinking mainly about the changing
value of sports and entertainment properties for sponsors. It’s obvious that
the fans sharing the experience with us in stadia, in cafes, in living rooms
around the world look and behave differently compared to the crowd we were
cheering with ten years before. And these days we’re much more likely to be
thinking about fan populations that cut across diverse cultures, countries,
time zones, income groups.
The Fan Revolution journey has taken us through billions of data points
and right around the world. What we’ve found is that the key to unlocking
greater value for sponsors – actual behaviour change amongst fans – is simply understanding the few different reasons why fans are fans in the first place
and then engaging them in ways that resonate with that underlying motivation.
And this pattern holds across fans of sports and entertainment worldwide.
Now that the revolution is underway – with growing numbers of rightsholders, sponsor brands and broadcasters around the world using technology like Fan DNATM and digital Fan Stories to select and design sponsorship
activations and measure the performance of those investments. Others have
spotted the opportunity to innovate with this approach to build a much
broader and more consumer-centric approach to managing all aspects of
their global fan CRM model.
What we’re looking at, how we’re looking at it –
and how we can and do interact with it. All this is
changing and diversifying faster and faster. But
what are we looking for? Why are we interested? The simple, global answers to these
questions are the key to activating brilliantly
and building your fan asset.
the next step
Begin YouR FAn
Revolution With
Repucom At
fandna@
repucom.net
©2015 Repucom
23
Evolution
Copyright © 2015 Repucom.
All rights reserved. Repucom and
the Repucom logo are registered
trademarks. Other product and
service names are trademarks or
registered trademarks.
All content herein is copyrighted.
Any reproduction must contain credit
to Repucom.
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11, 12, 14 (at the bottom), 16 (at the
bottom), 17 (only the right picture),
18 (at the bottom), 19 (with the
exception of the two pictures at the
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provided by AFP.
Front cover: fotolia, Csaba Peterdi;
Page 5, at the top: shutterstock,
marnikus; Page 8: shutterstock,
LoloStock
Insights by Repucom
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