John Brown helps sporting giants reconnect with fans

Andy Roughton, our Digital Group Account Director, took the stand alongside speakers from YouTube and Facebook at the IMG’s recent Engaging With Sport conference.

The conference, themed ‘Engaging with sports fans online’, drew high-profile attendees from our clients Chelsea FC, Manchester United FC, Portsmouth FC, Ajax, the Scottish  Premier  League, the International Tennis Federation, the WTA Tour, World Snooker and Red Bull Air Race.

Andy’s presentation on “joining the conversation” examined the ways in which sports fans use digital media, and what sports teams/bodies can do to engage with an increasingly distracted audience.

While Facebook’s UK head Stephen Haines looked at the future for social media and YouTube’s head of strategic partnerships Jeff Nathenson faced a grilling on copyright issues, Roughton revealed the extent to which sports teams and bodies are having to compete for attention against the rise of individual players as well as each other, and looked at some of the ways of harnessing digital media engage, and to re-engage, with fans.

“With increasing distractions and expectations on the part of supporters, and a steady decline in interest since 2004 in eight out of 10 sports, many of these businesses find themselves under pressure to engage fans,” says Roughton. “But despite this, and the proliferation of sports sites, blogs, podcasts and the like, the team sites remain the most popular destination for browsing so there’s a real opportunity if you’re prepared to allow genuine interaction with supporters through content.”

For more information, or Andy Roughton’s factsheet on how sports businesses can engage fans and grow custom through original approaches to content, just get in touch.

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