Game on...

ICC Cricket world cup 2015 was a two month feast to all cricket loving fans leaving lots of beautiful memories behind. Brilliant performances by teams and players made the event even more thrilling. Michael Clarke, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayewardene, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Brad Haddin, Kyle Mills and now, Daniel Vettori - The 2015 World Cup saw stalwarts draw curtains on their glowing one day international careers. Cricket will go on but these players will certainly leave behind an indelible impression on the game. Kumar Sangakkara 2015 World Cup edition draws the curtains on the illustrious career of Kumar Sangakkara, run-machine extraordinaire.He is acknowledged as one of the greatest players of the modern game.  He has shared the number one ICC test batting rank with AB de Villiers of South Africa for a long period of time and is the second highest run scorer in ODI’s behind Sachin Tendulkar . He has won many awards and holds many records. His pas

A typical response we get from sports teams is that they do not have any insightful information pertaining to fans.  In digging a little further, we realize  that sports teams are not asking their partners (social media,  merchandizing, ticketing, F&B, Corporate Sales, Sponsorship Sales,  Turnstile, etc) to provide any fan information to them.  All these  partners have the ability to collect fan information and are willing to  share it with the sports teams - if asked . (Partners realize this can only help their own business). All teams don't necessarily know what information they need and what they will do with it. But that is ok. Our advice to teams is to just ask for whatever data the partners can provide and include this ask into the   partnership contacts that you draw up.   This is a solid building block for your fan relationship platform .   As far as collecting fan information is concerned, the old adage "Speak  Now, Or Forever

In all our conversations with team owners of sports teams, we get the question -  "why is it important for me to know more about fans?" To us it is akin to a CPG company asking - why do I need to know who buys my shampoo?  Our answer to this question is simply this. You need to know more about your fans in order to - Better engage  with them during season and during the off-season. Focus here is on build a loyal fan base. Sell more  to them (tickets, merchandize, content, etc). Focus here is on monetizing fans better. Sell sponsorships  more effectively (sponsors want to speak to fans, not to you). Focus here on monetizing fan data differently. There are lots of other reasons why you need to know more about your fans. But these 3 reasons should convince sports team owners and managers to look seriously at  Fan Relationship Management .  Anand Ramachandran CEO, Fantain Sports Fantain is a Sports Fan Relationship Management Company that helps Sports Companies incre