BEST FAN ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME
Evergreen – Plymouth Argyle Football Club
The Evergreen Fans Fund is a new subscription donation model that provides supporters of Plymouth Argyle Football Club with a full range of fantastic club benefits, while directly supporting Football Operations at Home Park.
The Evergreen Story began with a desire to offer our amazing fanbase a new way to support the club, as we take the next steps in the Argyle ambition to become a sustainable Championship football club and one day soon challenging for the Premier League.
The club wanted to create a unique membership scheme that will give supporters the flexibility to pledge their monthly subscription to a chosen football department at Home Park.
Evergreen members can choose from three options to direct their funds: First-Team Operations, Academy and Sports Science. The scheme allows members to direct all of their funds to one department or to split their investment.
Evergreen launched in December 2022 and the initial target was to reach 1,000 members by March. This target was exceeded within five weeks and, as a consequence, Evergreen success has now risen to achieve over 3,500 members by the end of June generating £50,000 per month, every month towards strengthening Argyle’s Football Operations.
Gallagher Premiership Rugby Highlights – 3 Rock Productions
The Gallagher Premiership Rugby Highlights show, by 3 Rock Productions for ITV, has fans at its core as it interacts and connects with the rugby community at all levels every single week.
Presenters David Flatman and Topsy Ojo bring expertise, insight and humour to the show, ensuring its entertaining and accessible to all.
The unique and innovative “Grassroots Beauts” section, where club rugby teams at all levels have their great plays on national TV with commentary from Nick Mullins, is hugely popular and has won plaudits from clubs, players and fans, whilst notably increasing fan engagement.
The programme has featured over 50 local clubs with hundreds more appearing on social media as part of the entry process.
3 Rock Productions along with PRL has outstanding fan engagement on social media with in-game clipping and concise, well thought-out content curated by our producers who are fans and understand what rugby fans want.
This show and digital content gives rugby fans the very best of the action, analysis and news both on and off the pitch, while connecting directly with them and the wider world of rugby. Rugby fans feel part of it, they are part of it!
Lewes Community Football Club – Lewes Football Club
Lewes FC is the only club in the world to have an equal playing budget between its men’s and women’s teams. We are 100% fan-owned with 2700+ owners from 40+ countries. Our progressive approach has attracted a variety of fans – over 5 years our attendances are up 367% for Lewes Women and 82% for Lewes Men. In 22/23 our average attendance differed by just two people across our men’s + women’s teams. We believe that football and the fan experience can be a force for good; in fact, 63% of our fans think about the impact of football on society because of Lewes FC. This year we sold 230 tickets as part of our community ticket scheme, which offers a free home game, meal and drink to locals in need. Our accessibility changes have also been celebrated for allowing disabled fans to be able to attend games regularly again. Our radical nature is not lost on our matchday experiences either. The Dripping Pan has been voted the No1 British Football Ground; we have a breastfeeding room on-site, beach huts as corporate boxes, we serve prosecco on tap and our terraces are shared with a lively brass band on matchdays.
NHL Big City Greens Classic – Beyond Sports
Beyond Sports, an AI-based data analysis and visualization company, partnered with the NHL and ESPN to create the “NHL Big City Greens Classic,” a groundbreaking fan-facing experience. Their objectives were to utilize tracking data to increase fan engagement, and reach new and younger audiences. Beyond Sports transformed the NHL’s tracking data into a first-of-its-kind live alternate broadcast of a hockey game using our 3D virtual recreation technology, incorporating Disney’s Big City Greens characters. This alternate broadcast was streamed simultaneously (in real-time) with the traditional broadcast.
This exercise garnered significant attention, with over 1.27 billion impressions from earned media within 12 hours, and coverage from 85+ press outlets. It successfully captured a younger demographic, with a drop in median age from 22 to 14 on Disney Channel and 28 to 12 on Disney XD. Female viewership also saw a substantial increase, reaching 59% overall compared to the typical 36% and 48% on Disney Channel and Disney XD, respectively.
The “NHL Big City Greens Classic” exemplified the power of innovative technology and creative partnerships in transforming sports entertainment and engaging fans in new and exciting ways.
Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% x Aston Martin Formula 1™ Team – CSM Sport & Entertainment, & Trouble Maker
Formula 1 is a global sporting phenomenon and one that is acclaimed for the experience it delivers for fans at Grands Prix across the globe. However, despite a global audience exceeding 1.5Bn, recent research confirmed that only a small portion of this fanbase actually ever have the chance to attend and experience a race first-hand.
This insight, alongside the Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0% ambition to connect and engage with fans of Aston Martin Formula 1™ team, and enable them to Feel The Passion Inside, informed the successful city-based fan engagement activation – Il Pitstop.
Designed to bring fans in the city closer to the team and the sport, whilst driving trial for Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s new 0.0% product, the multi-sensory experience featured four key elements;
1) A taste of Peroni Nastro Azzurro 0.0%
2) A close up view of the replica Aston Martin F1® Team AMR22 car
3) Unheard sounds of the garage and team radio
4) A wheel change pitstop challenge competition
Visiting 12 cities across Europe in 2022, the activation was well received by Aston Martin Formula 1® Team fans, and the wider Formula 1 fan base, resulting in a further iteration of the Il Pitstop tour in 2023.
The FA Matchday Programmes – The FA X Wonderly
Wonderly, the strategy, content and tech agency within Haymarket, are proud to have worked with the English FA for over 10 years producing the programmes for an enormous range of football teams, from the Mens and Womens Senior sides, to various development levels, as well as the showcase finals such the FA Vase and FA Trophy, and the blue riband Mens and Women’s FA Cup Finals. We have continually redefined the world of the football programme, despite the increased barriers to gathering content. Despite shortening deadlines and decreasing access to players, we have been able to push the boundaries with our content solutions. From high-quality print products, to supplementary content, innovative digital formats, and flipped 2-in-1 programmes, we continue to provide bespoke products that not only celebrate the occasion, but which also reflect the audience of each specific game, and engage them.
Moreover, while many football institutions continue to struggle to monetise their matchday programme, we continue to raise revenue for the FA, which is then put back into the game.
VRTL
VRTL, the virtual venue of fandom, is delivering the next generation of infrastructure functionality to brands with an owned-virtual venue. The organization has partnered with a variety of leagues and teams to create unique fan engagement experiences designed to fill gaps in audience engagement and retention, reaching every single fan worldwide. One of the key differentiator features VRTL offers is its flagship product, Digisign; a live autograph experience between a fan and talent in a dynamic virtual environment. The revolutionary technology gives fans the chance to access athletes in new ways and receive their autographs despite geographical limitations. VRTL has been utilized by organizations worldwide including the XFL, the WNBA team The Connecticut Sun, a prominent F1 team, Athletes Unlimited, Willow TV, and more. VRTL provides innovative tools specifically tailored to the modern fan, leaning into the digital future evolution in sports industry fan engagement. Its exciting technology is broadening the scope of what fan and sports organizations interactions can look like globally.
