PROGRAM TITLE

“Colts Arcade: Delivering Partnership Success With Mobile Fan Games”

“Event-centric interactive games are a win for team, fans, and partners!

Sponsored by:

By: Peter Staab


Dear Faithful Readers,

A lot has changed in the past 3 months! We are now seeing stadiums & arenas welcoming fans in full capacity with the Tampa Bay Lightning winning the 2021 Stanley Cup yesterday and the NBA looking to crown a champion in the upcoming days! It’s been such an exciting time for sports and I’ve been enjoying every second of it. Looking forward to keeping this momentum going and seeing all leagues conduct a “normal” season in 2021.

On this edition of the Selling It feature, we take you through how Fannex was able to deliver a mobile arcade with multiple free-to-play games for the Indianapolis Colts during the 2021 NFL Draft. Read more to see just how this virtual experience unfolded for their fans. Enjoy!

Best,

Carlie Dawson
Marketing and Communications Manager
carlie@sports-forum.com


PROGRAM TITLE

“Colts Arcade: Delivering Partnership Success With Mobile Fan Games”


Program Description: 

As the COVID-19 pandemic drew on, sports teams had to look for innovative ways to engage with fans outside of their venues that also provided value to sponsors in a new, digitally-focused era.  For the 2021 NFL Draft, the Indianapolis Colts worked with Fannex, an industry leader in fan engagement, to create an online, mobile arcade with multiple free-to-play games to engage with their fans and create new, digital sponsorship opportunities.

Throughout the week leading up to and during the NFL Draft, fans could log into the Colts app to play these mobile games through the Colts Arcade. Fannex provided a single window of games that made it simple for fans to navigate through the interactive arcade and play multiple event centric games. This free arcade experience could be played anywhere, anytime, with fans only having to complete a simple, one step registration process in order to access the online arcade. Each of the games were themed around the Colts & their NFL Draft Picks, including games such as: “Predict the Pick”, “Guess the Home Opener”, and “Draft Bingo”.

Objectives: 

Without fans in-venue during the COVID-19 pandemic, in-stadium sponsorship was not an option for corporate partners, while digital sponsorship assets became a core offering. With most fans watching the 2021 NFL Draft from home, the Colts wanted to create a gamification element for fans to go along with NFL Draft mania that could also be used to activate corporate partners like K-Launch.  Fannex helped the Colts create a gamification infrastructure within the team’s FanReach mobile app framework with multiple, sponsored free-to-play games for fans to play leading up to and during the NFL Draft. 

Each game that Fannex created for the Colts Arcade had its own contest rules, communication opt-in, and sponsored data requirements, allowing the Colts to activate multiple sponsors throughout their mobile arcade. Fannex’s platform allowed the Colts to create as many games as they wanted, all housed under one “fan zone” within the team’s mobile app. Using Fannex’s platform, the Colts could make any changes to each game’s branding, data requirements, and contest rules on their own, giving the Colts more control to activate different sponsors throughout the Mobile Arcade without having to go through Fannex for configuration.

In order to register for the Colts Arcade, each fan submitted their information and was given their own unique player ID. Each player’s data was only collected once, so they didn’t have to provide their information each time they wanted to use the Colts Arcade, reducing registration friction & redundant profile prompts that typically dissuade fans. 

Partnership: 

This was not the first time the Colts have partnered with Fannex to increase their digital fan engagement and create additional sponsorable assets on their mobile app. Throughout the 2020 NFL season, the Colts utilized Fannex’s industry-leading fan engagement solutions to create a “Pick-6” mobile game, sponsored by Caesars Rewards. This free-to-play game allowed Colts fans to participate in a weekly predictive contest where they could try to accurately predict six (6) active Colts play predictions for the week (i.e. overs/unders, spreads, etc.). With the data from Fannex’s “Pick-6” game, Caesars Rewards was able to identify Colts fans who are interested in prediction style games and initiate follow on marketing for their products and services.

Results:

The Colts Arcade tailored around the 2021 NFL Draft and Pick 6 were a great success with thousands of registered players.

With multiple games housed under one application, the Colts saw fans coming into their app to play a single game like Draft Bingo, and then stick around to play some of the other games offered, increasing participation in their fan engagement partnership contest. 

During and after the NFL Draft, the Colts were able to access all of the fan data collected on the app in realtime. This helped the Colts relay that data quickly to their sponsor so that KLaunch could identify key prospects participating in the Colts Arcade. Fannex’s gamification platform makes it easy to collect all of this fan data both conveniently and securely to be used in marketing campaigns.

More importantly, the Colts Arcade helps drive up monthly active users (MAU) in the team’s mobile application. The Colts plan on using their mobile app to create more sponsorable assets throughout the year. With the help of Fannex, the Colts added a significant digital arm that can be used 365 days a year to learn more about their fans & activate more of their sponsors.

Looking Ahead: 

Fannex’s platform allows the Colts to display fan responses, fan leaderboards, etc. to further increase fan engagement & bring brand awareness to their corporate partners. As venue capacities are lifted, Fannex is excited to see how the Colts utilize Fannex’s in-venue fan engagement technology.

Free Trial Opportunity: 

For a limited time only, trial Fannex’s mobile engagement platform during the upcoming NBA and NHL Draft. Contact Eric MacLise | eric.maclise@fannexlive.com for more details, or to learn more about our 2021/22 promotions.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL SPORTS FORUM

The National Sports Forum is the largest annual cross-gathering of the top team sports marketing, sales, promotions, and event entertainment executives from throughout the broad spectrum of teams and leagues in North America. Visit www.sports-forum.com for more information.

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