5 Tips to make the MOST out of your sponsorship activation

5. Understand the fan’s emotional journey

We all know Starbucks – the coffeehouse chain that has won the hearts of millions across the world. One key factor behind the brand’s success has been its ability to engage people throughout the 3 crucial steps in the customer experience journey: Anticipation, Joy, and Nostalgia. This same 3-stage journey occurs in every sporting event as well; fans walk through the stadium doors beaming with anticipation before the game, experience collective joy as they loyally cheer on their home teams, and leave overwhelmed with nostalgia as they return home after.  

Sports teams are doing a great job creating memorable experiences for their fans; but with so many entertainment options available in today’s society, it’s never been more critical to provide an exceptional fan experience. One consistent challenge with this is adding something that fans will actually love, versus a gimmick that is forced upon them. Digging into each stage of the fan’s journey and understanding where value can be added for fans, helps identify areas where their experience could be improved. Once identified, it is also an opportunity for sponsors to get involved with the fans in an authentic way. 

4. Target the most engaged fans

It’s undeniable that fans who make the trek to see their favorite teams in-stadium, tend to be the most engaged fans during the game and season – buying season tickets, premium merchandise, concessions and more. Based on a study conducted by SportsBusiness Journal and ESPN.com, this mindset has pushed the total per person expenditure to $151.92 per game – on food, beverages, and merchandise.  

With such a valuable customer, it is critical for teams to keep these fans engaged and retain them for years into the future. The problem teams are facing with this is that they don’t know almost 70% of the fans in their building, due to ticket sharing and the secondary markets. Without data from these fans it becomes much more difficult to retain them, as there isn’t a direct line of communication and the number of touchpoint dramatically decreases.

This is why it’s vital to keep in-stadium fans engaged throughout the entire emotional journey. By continuously providing fans with more value than they ask for in return, teams create opportunities to acquire new customer data and build new streams of revenue.

3. Build customer profiles for fans in a new way

Currently, many sport stadiums collect fan data through ticketing, surveys, and point-of-sale systems; however, these data collection strategies produce a one-way value  stream – benefiting only the teams and excluding the fans from the equation. While these methods have been effective in the past, teams have seen their survey completion rates drop to tenths of a percentage point in the past few years. This struggle has bred a new generation of technologies that actually engage and entertain fans while collecting data from them unobtrusively.  

For example, when fans take control of a BriziCam to capture their game-day moment, Brizi’s seat entry process and sharing capabilities allow teams to link in-depth user profiles to specific seats in the venue. By providing that fan’s name, email, social ID, seat number, demographics, and social likes to both the sales and marketing departments, it opens up the door for highly personalized touch points long after the game ends. 

2. Create joy and let fans capture the moment

We all remember the complete excitement and anticipation we felt going to our first sports game. These moments are worth capturing, and it’s unfortunate that for so many years there hasn’t been a great way to remember these memories. Brizi was created to help capture these special moments in a remarkable way; allowing fans to go home with an awesome memory and for teams to own that content and the data that comes with it. 

1. Further monetize the fan’s journey

Being one step ahead of fans is critical. Marketers need to be able to predict what a fan wants, when they want it. This mindset makes building long lasting connections with fans easier and is a great way to connect sponsors with fans. This is why the BriziCam was created. It allows teams and brands to engage fans throughout their emotional journey by:

1. Providing an exciting activation that improves the fan’s in-stadium experience

2. Giving the fan an amazing photo so they’ll have something to remember their experience when they leave the building

3. Providing teams and brands with the data that enables long-term personalized marketing after the event, adding value to fans for years to come

What this all comes back to is understanding the fan’s emotional journey and making sure that you add value to their experience every step of the way.