ims point of view - key motivators of an awesome fan experience

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Topic: Key Motivators of an Awesome Fan Experience

Overview:

What drives the fan experience? What are the psychological and motivational needs fans seek out while

watching a sporting event or supporting a team? Do those needs change based on the venue – whether

at the event, in a social setting outside of the home, or in home?

IMS believes fan motivations are grounded in the core motivations we all share. When teams or venues

deploy strategies and tactics that tap into these core motivators, they have the opportunity to more fully

develop and deepen their relationship with those fans.

The following is the foundation for our thinking, along with IMS implications.

A Theory of Human Motivation

Maslow’s Motivational Needs Still Apply:

The father of Motivational Theory, Abraham Maslow, developed his initial Hierarchy of Needs back in

the 1940’s. He believed that every individual strives to achieve the highest possible level of emotional

fulfillment they can. At any given point in time, individuals achieve some degree of fulfillment against

every level of motivation highlighted above, but the basis of consistently achieving higher levels of

emotional satisfaction is grounded on being satisfied at lower levels. If a person is found wanting at a

lower level of motivation, it is harder to consistently achieve a higher level of fulfillment.


Motivational Theory Applied To Sporting Event Participation:

IMS believes a specific sub-set of motivators are highly exaggerated for the sports fan, revolving around

Belonging Needs: Feeling Connected To Team and To Each Other

This sense of belonging and connectedness goes beyond a fellow kinship and camaraderie; it’s a

“singular oneness” committed to a higher goal or purpose.


Pending the venue, we believe this same need for connection and belonging can be enhanced in the

“sports bar” environment as well


Of course, when taken to the extreme, this “madness of crowds” creates a dysfunctional environment

Esteem Needs: Being Recognized and Acknowledged

The vast majority of fan recognition activities are one-off promotions such as


Fans want more personalized recognition and esteem. In the absence of more formal team driven

acknowledgment, Social Media helps provide a forum

Fans express their knowledge and expertise through various activities


Cognitive Needs: Improving the Fan’s Knowledge about the Team and the Sport


Aesthetic Needs: The Appreciation for the Athlete & Their Natural Abilities

Fans deeply admire and appreciate the acts of natural beauty, balance and form exhibited by top level

athletes.


So What’s This Mean For Your Fan Engagement Strategies?

Observations:

Without formal help, fans will create opportunities to rally together around the common cause.

Fans view of their interactions with their teams as a relationship, not just isolated interactions.

Because deep, lasting relationships are never one sided, fans want individual reciprocation for

their support and loyalty.

Fans continue to strive for reward and recognition on a more personal level.

Fans want to increase their intimacy with the team and more specifically with the players.

Implications:

The in-home live event viewing experience cannot match the in-venue experience for providing

the deeper emotional needs related to belonging and esteem.

Develop more formal and frequent ways of encouraging fans to connect with each other and the

team.

Create more formal and frequent ways of rewarding, surprising and delighting fans based on

their individual needs.

Deploy a Promotions Platform that can connect and unify fans through common promotions on

an event by event, and in-event basis.

Make sure your Data Integration platform provides real-time, fan-centric transaction data to

gather insight on what individual fan purchase habits and preferences are.

Segmenting fans becomes more relevant and actionable when insights are driven by fan-centric

data.

Make sure your Data Integration platform can easily integrate and provide this same data with

other networked venues.

Your Promotions Platform must be able to deliver fan-specific rewards and acknowledgement,

preferably in real-time to surprise and delight fans.

Make sure your Promotions Platform can take advantage of your fans’ social media engagement

with real-time cross-channel promotion.

See our “Key Enablers of an Awesome Fan Experience” to see how fans are using newer

mobile and social media technologies to deepen their emotional connections with teams.

ims point of view - key motivators of an awesome fan experience

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motivational needs fans

cognitive needs

aesthetic needs

fan motivations

fans knowledge

sports fan

fans view

initial hierarchy of