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Press Materials
IQ Sport Advisory Group
Lodz, December 2014
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Contents
Foreword................................................................................................................................................3
Information about eFAN24....................................................................................................................4
Interview with Rafal Dylewski – the author of eFAN24..........................................................................7
New type of participants of mass events................................................................................................9
What are Beacons?...............................................................................................................................11
Testing the engagement of participants of mass events......................................................................12
Test on PGE Arena................................................................................................................................15
About IQ Sport AG................................................................................................................................16
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Foreword
Dear Sirs,
We would like to create your interest in the new platform eFAN designed by IQ Sport Advisory Group company in cooperation with the companies kontakt.io and Senfino. The platform was created for the benefits of participants, organizers and sponsors of mass events. Its aim is to improve the quality and effectiveness of communication between the main beneficiaries (participants, organizers, sponsors, business partners) of sports and entertainment events.
eFAN is based on the growing technology of iBeacons which offers multiple possibilities of use in communication with consumers. The main idea behind the creation of the platform was to build one, complete space where the communication around the event takes a new form connecting the on-line world and social media with the off-line reality staying inseparable with a place of an event (arena, stadium, hall, etc.) and experiencing an event in real time. It is in fact the platform that concentrates emotions around the event in one place in real time and enables people to build communication which would give better experience to participants and new techniques of monetization and realization of business aims to organizers and partners of an event.
Detailed information about the platform and its authors is gathered on the following pages of the press material. I recommend a lecture of these articles. Should there be any additional questions, please feel free to contact the press office of IQ Sport Advisory Group.
Best regards
Team of IQ Sport Advisory Group
_ _ _Press office of the project
Rafal Dylewski
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Information about eFAN24
eFAN24, the new platform for participants and organizers of mass events
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Unique messages about special promotions and services at the place of an event,
segregated information in media about an event and its progress, strengthening the
impression from an event by connecting the offline with the online world, informational
services supporting a participant in the place of an event, these are just some of the aims of
the new platform eFAN24.
Based on Beacon technology the eFAN24 platform supports participants in mass events to
even better receive an event both in terms of absorption of social contents as well as
generation of better experience in the place of an event. The platform, straight onto the
interface of mobile devices, directs to unique services, products, key places and information
connected with a given event. On the other hand, it gives organizers of events a tool for a
better communication with participants and more efficient monetization of emotions which
they create.
The author and creator of the idea is Polish company, IQ Sport Advisory Group.
Nowadays the generation of the most active consumers and at the same time participants of
mass events and sports events is placed within the age of 15-34 which is a so called
generation Y. The millennium generation has completely different expectations from an offer
and experience they expect after participating in sports and entertaining events. The new
generation of fans requires generating experience based on new mobile technologies fully
open to intense communication in social media in real time, during an event. In times of
social media and among others such servers as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat as
well as smartphones and other mobile devices the real world connects to the one in the web.
Participants of events want to be constantly ”connected”, updated and continually
searching for contents which create positive impression. That is why they expect not only
experiencing mass events live but also online via their smartphones when they participate in
mass events. Additionally, they want to consume an event and its content as dynamically as
the event itself. Now fans are multitasking, of multiplatform and are able to use many screens
simultaneously consuming contents (a common phenomenon of second screen).
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They want to be closer, know more and get more so as not to lose anything important and
special during a course of an event.
- In our research on the consumption of sports events by fans we noted some problems that
participants of mass events have. The first of them is too time-consuming and distracting from
an event access to social contents and resources of an event (services on location,
products, etc.). What is more, a great number of different contents connected with an event
makes users confused about the real important information concerning the event in which
they participate. Because participants of mass events want the experience full of social
interactions and consumption of resources at events. That is why we created eFAN24
application which is to be the best place for fans to consume contents of an event in real
time – says Rafal Dylewski, the manager of the project eFAN24, IQ Sport Advisory Group.
eFAN24 – connects offline with online
- Development of mobile technology, in which telephones stopped being used solely for
classic conversation and they enable to undertake a lot of actions and interactions, opened
a new field for marketing activities and development of further technological solutions such
as Beacons on which we based our application eFAN24 – explains Rafal Dylewski from IQ
Sport Advisory Group.
eFAN24 is a tool thanks to which organizers of events can easily, even intuitively, manage the
communication directed towards participants of events while they go on. It is not only about
generating unique social contents connected with an event in progress and provided for in a
comfortable and understandable manner. The mobile application eFAN24 facilitates in
providing contents generating better experience of an event (useful, luxurious, personalized,
adding value) depending on a fan's current location at an event and based on his interests
and historical behaviour. Thus its task is not only to communicate commercially but also to
provide information that makes it easier to stay at an event. To complete these tasks it uses
iBeacons technology provided by a strategic partner, a company kontakt.io. Considering a
phenomenon of 'second screen' and greatly overloaded social space in generic web such
as FB or Twitter, eFAN24 thanks to mechanisms of filtration, classification and grouping of
contents gives fans the most selected suitable entries done by other participants of an event
in real time both from the place of an event and outside of it.
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eFAN24 is also a good tool in the hands of partners and sponsors of an event. Sponsors look
for new more efficient methods to activate sponsorship, especially on electronic channels.
- eFAN24 enables to create new values added for sponsors and business partners of an event
by offering carriers and functionality making it easier to get access to fans and successfully
activate sponsorship. What is most important is that the content generated by sponsors
should be useful and relevant from the point of view of an audience at an event. Reacting
directly and fast to a given accident and emotions among the attendees of an event gives
a chance to achieve very big conversion ratio – adds Dylewski.
Forces united
The eFAN24 platform was created and designed by Lodz company IQ Sport Advisory Group
based on iBeacons technology supplied by a beacon producer from Cracow – kontakt.io.
- The platform eFAN24 by making use of the real world context transfers the experience of
participants to a completely new level. On the one hand, it enables participants to fully
engage themselves and interact during an event and, on the other hand, it gives a possibility
of perfect planning and management to organizers and sponsors – comments Karolina Pura
from kontakt.io.
Programing support was provided by Warsaw software house SENFINO.
- The mobile application eFAN24 is a new way of accumulating and strengthening positive
emotions connected with sports and entertaining events. We believe that it will be the best
place to build a community of all the fans. We are proud that as Senfino we can be a
technological partner of eFAN24 and we keep our fingers crossed for its further success –
Marcin Zareba, the member of the management board of Senfino Software House.
Link to a film presenting the eFAN24 platform:
http://vimeo.com/112372027
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Interview with Rafal Dylewski – the author of eFAN24
eFAN24 – benefits for fans and organizers
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1. eFAN24 is a new tool on the market which is dedicated to participants and organizers of
mass events. Where does this idea come from?
Rafal Dylewski, IQ Sport Advisory Group: - The team of IQ Sport Advisory Group, the author
and chief organizer of the project, comes from sports business. We are thus familiar with the
character of big mass events which are very dynamic and full of both positive and negative
emotions. Throughout the years we supported different kinds of entities with organization and
marketing of mass events. We noticed that both participants and organizers and sponsors
themselves expect from such an event something more than just an emotional show. In times
of social media participants experience events on the stadium and in the Internet
simultaneously. That is why we decided to make it easier for them exactly by creating a
better place to consume contents of social media in real time, during events in which they
participate or watch them live. On the other hand, from the perspective of organizers or
partners of an event it is crucial to effectively communicate with participants based on their
current emotions. Taking into consideration a context of place, participants' emotions,
behaviour and preferences enables to create a content which from the perspective of a fan
adds value and at the same time converts well.
2. Are fans confused about the messages of social media concerning a given event?
Rafal Dylewski, IQ Sport Advisory Group: - The research we carried out proves that fans have
problems with consumption of a content in real time in social media. First of all because there
are many contents on social media channels and their relativity is low. Most of the posts
concerning a given event and its course do not add much to a fan's experience of an event.
And, as it turns out, it is really important cause more than 60% of participants of mass events
use different social media channels while they are at an event and 80% watch it from outside.
When asked about the experience connected with contents of social media fans noted that
finding interesting information connected with an event is too time-consuming and,
additionally, these key contents are very often overlooked by them and lost somewhere in
overloaded generic feeds. Another issue is the restricted services around events which
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considerably influence a general reception of an event. This second element is very
important from the perspective of organizers of events. Experience and reception of an
event are immediately calculated in the number of participants. The more happens around a
given event, the more ready fans are to go out and enter an event. Even now we observe a
situation where fans prefer to experience an event sitting on a coach an watching TV at
home. We must than create better experience on location. Technology and the eFAN24
platform can help with it.
3. How can eFAN24 help with it?
Rafal Dylewski, IQ Sport Advisory Group: - So as not to make people discouraged from
participation 'live' on the stadium at events they need platforms and mobile technologies
which support and enhance Fan Experience and make participation in an event more
engaging. If a fan gets more experience during an event itself, except for the main event, he
will participate in it with pleasure since he will not have it sitting at home in front of a TV set.
This way Fan Experience is one of the ways to fulfil the stands and thus to increase the income
from an event. The functions of eFAN within the area of consumption of social contents in
connection with advanced, contextual communication based on iBeacons technology and
functionalities facilitating the stay and movement on location of an event create a certain
unity which help to maximize Fan Experience.
4. How can eFAN24 platform help to increase income from events?
Rafal Dylewski, IQ Sport Advisory Group: - Monetization of emotions is the key task for
organizers of events. Organizers must better' monetize' fans based on what they actually
create that is emotions. eFAN concentrates exactly on emotions, transforming a conversation
generated by participants to a level of specific situations at an event which they observe
and which create in them intense emotions. What is more, iBeacons technology used in eFAN
gives new possibilities of contextual and well fitted communication at the place of an event.
5. Why did you choose iBeacons technology as the base of the application?
Rafal Dylewski, IQ Sport Advisory Group: - iBeacons technology is a novelty which is fast
winning the market. More and more companies and entities are noticing its pluses and
application possibilities. I think it wins thanks to its simplicity. One can say that this technology
is a sort of digital cookies for the physical world which enable to communicate straight with a
chosen group of recipients. What is more, Beacons are a perfect match for special objects
and sports and entertaining events. The concept itself based on beacons is simple and at the
same time it gives a lot of possibilities. Beacons run independently on their own batteries and
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emit radio signal in a band that corresponds with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The signal can
be received by devices having this standard such as smartphones, tablets and other mobile
devices with an appropriate version of operating system (android, iOS and others). Beacons
create de facto a system of micro-positioning working both inside as well as outside of
buildings. If a fan turns up next to such a beacon with bluetooth on and with the installed
application of eFAN24 than he will have generated in his telephone information about a
nearby special service or a spot. So it will additionally attract a fan to a given product.
6. Where is the platform already accessible?
Rafal Dylewski, IQ Sport Advisory Group: - Presently we introduced it to PGE Arena on one of
the matches by Lechia Gdansk. We also found a German partner – a company Steilpass
which became interested in our solution during the international conference Fan Experience
Forum. In September this year we signed a contract of cooperation and we are working on
introducing the platform on German arenas, eg. during the matches of 1 and 2 Bundesliga. In
2015 we are planning further expansion on foreign markets.
New type of participants of mass events
A fan must have fun
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Lack of fans at sports events affects a quality of an event. A reduction in participants is
connected with a reduction of money from sponsors and advertisers. How can than one
attract fans to stadiums? How to make them willing to participate in sports events? It is good
to increase their dedication and 'fun' from an event. Her comes iBeacons technology with
help.
In the course of last months iBeacons technology is growing in popularity. It can have a lot of
applications, especially in retail. It also turns out that it may give very interesting results in the
business of sports events.
Fans prefer to stay at home
In the past years throughout the world, especially on the rich markets, eg. USA, there has
been a dangerous trend of gradual, maybe not sharp yet systematic, decrease in the
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participation in sports events 'live'. Fans, thanks to advanced technology and improving
quality of television broadcast, choose to passively participate in sports events, which is
mostly in their houses.
Low attendance is immediately reflected in the clubs' income from the most profitable
source, that is media rights. Clubs are not desperate yet, saying that despite the decrease in
attendance the income from a match stays at the same level. But is it really out of question?
Television pays for the crowds on the stadium
Each commercial product starts from an event 'sold out'. Television won't pay for empty
stadiums, neither will sponsors. It turns out that media can cannibalize attendance especially
in times of new technologies and quite comfortable, consumption new generation of fans.
They are ready not to attend a match live only because they do not have access to wi-fi. This
way they are not able to use technology, mobile applications, social websites, etc. Shortage
of fans on-site in the mid and long term may lower the attractiveness of an event and, which
goes with it, the price of such key products as media rights and sponsorship.
What can be done? Clubs are slowly becoming more aware of the problem and start
focusing their tactics of the day of the match on such elements as fan experience and fan
engagement to make fans leave their coaches. The aim is to enhance quality of match
experience and thus making an event more engaging. When properly selected and used,
technology can help it and can become a key tactic of an organizer to realize this aim. How
can beacons help?
Beacons and sports events – perfect connection
The concept based on beacons is simple and full of possibilities. Beacons are small devices
working independently on their own batteries, emitting a radio signal in the band
corresponding with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The signal can be received by devices using
this standard such as smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices with a proper version of
an operating system (android, IOS and others). Beacons create de facto a system of micro-
positioning working both inside and outside of buildings.
This gives great benefits. Knowledge of a fan's location and his movement throughout the
stadium during the event creates a possibility of building an effective platform of
communication. The platform that would generate contents fitted to the actual situation and
profile of a recipient, reaching a fan in the right place and at the right time and adding
additional values to participation in an event.
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Thanks to it event experience of a participant may take a completely different dimension.
Here are a few examples:
1. A fan gets a well-fitted, luxurious content at the right moment. Even a simple
'welcome message' when entering a gate makes a difference in the perception of
an event. Good content generated at the right moment and in the right place
influences the quality of communication, its positive reception by a user and a
resulting conversion. In is shown in the Good Push Index (GPI) research. A well-fitted
mobile content gives a conversion of 54% in contrast to non standarized, regular
broadcast of 14%.
2. A fan get support in navigation at a mass event. It can be both precise navigation
and an insight into most crowded places, entrances, selling spots or toilets. The
application may suggest than optimal ways of consumption of event resources so as
not to distract from the sports event.
3. A Fan get dedicated offers and promotions depending on a behavioural profile and
actual location at the stadium. It help in better monetization of a fan during an event.
4. A fan appears faster and easier in given places and thus more actively participates in
loyalty and discount programs.
Beacons are also a new, very interesting area for activating sponsorship on electronic
channels.
As one can observe the potential of using this technology for the purposes of maximizing
match experience is huge. iBeacon technology is likely to become widespread soon cause it
is estimated that within a year 80% of mobile devices on the market will be use BLE.
What are Beacons?
Beacons ”small – big” revolution in sports marketing
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Bacons are likely to become the main tool in marketing, communication and sales during the
following year.
Beacons are small devices which work very simple and at the same time give a lot of
possibilities of application. These devices work on their own batteries and emit a radio signal
in the band corresponding with BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy). The signal can be received by
devices using this standard such as smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices with a
proper version of operating system (android, iOS and others). Beacons create de facto a
system of micro-positioning working both inside and outside of a building. However, Beacons,
in order to fulfil their functions, need two important things: a bluetooth signal and an
application on telephones which receives information sent by the device.
Testing the engagement of participants of mass events
IQ Sport and Fan Experience Forum
tested the engagement of fans
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IQ Sport Advisory Group, the company specializing in the field of sports marketing and new
technologies, together with a British agency Xperiology carried out a research on the
engagement of participants of mass events. Here we present the results.
The subject of building and increasing the engagement of fans at sports events and mass
events is one of the areas of activity of IQ Sport that is why the company willingly cooperates
with Xperiology and carries out a common research in the international sports environment.
IQ Sport Advisory Group and Fan Experience Forum (Xperiology) asked experts working on
clubs, teams and business about building the engagement of participants of sports events.
The ”Fan Experience Survey” was carried out in a group of more than 2000 managers from
sports business from the USA, Great Britain, Germany and Spain. - The aim of the research is to
test ”Fan Experience” both in terms of exchanging experience of the match of the day and
consumption of electronic media in the world of development of new technologies – explains
Rafal Dylewski.
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Almost half of the respondents (42%) admitted that there is no social media platform on the
market dedicated just to sports events and new technologies are important for fans. For this
reason over 94% of tested sports clubs use Twitter to communicate with fans. Up to 23% of
them creates a unique content connected with a club and sports events, additionally also
23% broadcasts events live on social media channels. 19% of them increases the power of the
transmission in social media by unique interviews with players. One third of the tested think
that the information noise and the quality of a content in social media connected with a
given event create a serious problem. What is more, poor access to the Internet via wi-fi
where events take place and which goes with it no access to social media influences the
experience and emotions from an event.
Experts in building the engagement during mass events pointed to four tools which are the
most important and effect on the experience from an event. The first of them is CRM and Big
Data, User-Generated Content, Social Ticketing, Next-Gen Mobile Apps.
Complete results of the research will be presented to a wider public during Fan Experience
Forum which will take place on 9 June 2015 in Barcelona, Spain.
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Test on PGE Arena
eFAN and iBeacons technology tested on PGE Arena
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In December during the match with Lechia Gdansk at the stadium PGE Arena in Gdansk the
iBeacons technology was started for testing using the eFAN
platform. Here a statistical conclusion.
Detailed configuration of starting
16 beacons were put around and on the arena: entrances, stands, VIP zones.
9 different messages were created to fans in the presence of particular beacons.
29 interactions were defined based on iBeacons technology in which fans
participated.
The contents generated in interactions covered among others welcome messages,
goodbye messages, contents encouraging to buy club souvenirs.
9 different messages
Messages were generated with capping = 1, depending on a given moment at the
time of an event and reacted to different distances between a fan and a beacon.
These are the examples of messages fans got during the match:
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Chosen statistics – communication based on beacons
A sample for the day of the match, 8 December 2014
Index CTR for the push notification generated in the presence of beacons: 83%
83% of fans with Bluetooth on who received push notification put on it and saw the
message.
Index Engagement for the message: 82%
8 out of 10 fans engaged themselves in the reaction to the message assessing it or
making access to it for their friends.
Chosen statistics – social communication at the time of an event
On average every second user created a post on the day of the event.
Engagement – 103 posts generated during the match were watched 1163 times (on
average every post was watched 10 times).
Type of posts = 35% text, 57% containing pictures, 8% containing audio.
Average engagement of a post = ~45% (on average almost half of posts engaged
users (assessment or access). Audio contents most engaging ~70%
About IQ Sport AG
About IQ Sport Advisory Group
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IQ Sport Advisory Group is an advisory company specializing in the field of sports marketing
and new technologies. It was created in 2012 from the initiative of three people: Jaroslaw
Bieniuk, the former football player, Rafal Dylewski, Project Manager engaged in projects
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connected with sports business and Marcin Ciacio, the expert in sales management and
business planning.
IQ aims at implementing innovative marketing solutions to the world of sports business using
new technologies. More: www.iqsport.co
IQ Sport Advisory Group founders:
Jaroslaw Bieniuk – a founder of IQ Sport Advisory Group. The
former professional football player. He started his career in 1994
and finished in Lecha Gdansk in 2013. The player of Polish
representation. The former representative of the country. In
Polish Extraclass he appeared over 220 times. He also played for
Turkish Extraclass for three seasons. He was often a captain of
his teams. Having played in many clubs, including foreign ones,
he knows very well the specifics of working of the sports field both in terms of training and
transfer. He is characterized by excellent communicative and managerial skills and great
understanding of the dynamics and rules of good organization of human resources. Now as
one of the authors of IQ Sport Advisory Group he is concerned with sports business. He also
holds a position of an agent of the Sports Management of Lechia Gdansk.
Marcin Ciacio – a founder of IQ Sport Advisory Group.
Formerly connected with the business of FMCG where he got
corporation experience among others in managing of sales
network, business planning and building marketing strategies.
Next he was involved in the branch of BHV SA. where he was
engaged in the project of preparing and implementing an
operating system into the sales and financial services. He was
in charge of personnel management in all 55 divisions of the company in Poland. In 2010 he
became involved in the sports business where he took over a sales department of Extraclass
club. He was responsible for creating and preparing offers of sponsorship, ticketing strategies
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and cooperation with business partners. He was fully responsible for the service of key
customers, sponsors and organization of hospitality zones.
Rafal Dylewski – a founder of IQ Sport Advisory Group. The
experienced Project Manager and Consultant with titles of
PMP, MBA in Sports Management. The certified expert in
managing projects, programs and project offices (PMP,
Prince2, MSP, P3O). For many years involved in the project
connected with sports business, marketing, ticketing and
organization of events. He was a member of a team
concerned with organizing UEFA Euro 2012 in the field of strategy and ticketing operations
and venue management. He coordinated over 50 sports events at the level of Polish football
Extraclass. He participated in creating and implementing marketing strategies, CRM and
sponsorship.
