With technology and social media being an integral part of our daily routines, it has become a challenge for teams to keep fans engaged at games. To combat this trend the Ottawa Senators announced a partnership with IBM to gain a deeper understanding of their fans in order to build a more engaging experience.
IBM Behavior Based Fan Insight is a customer intelligence solution that will give business professionals in marketing, sales, operations, and finance fast access to actionable insights. IBM uses a cognitive strategy that gives organizations the ability to transform their industry and professions with data. It aims to enable companies to engage with data to answer the business questions, uncover patterns and pursue breakthrough ideas.
“Fans attending games at arenas like Canadian Tire Centre are no longer a ‘captive audience’ to organizations thanks to the advent of smartphones and other technologies,” said the General Manager of Analytics Solutions at IBM, Alistair Rennie. “Teams need to take additional steps in order to engage their fans than ever before, the Ottawa Senators understand that this data can be an incredible resource for engaging their fans where, when and how they want to be reached while increasing their own operational efficiency.”
The Senators Sports and Entertainment organization hopes to begin using IBM analytics for the 2015-2016 session. They want to personalize communications, enhance in-stadium experience and increase ticket sales.
There are five key areas from IBM’s analytic technologies that the Senators plan on using: fan insights and clustering, fan experience effectiveness, lead scoring, KPI dashboard, and data warehouse strategies. These strategies help identify fan preferences, personalize interactions, and offer incentives for the fans. All the data captured goes into a cloud-based warehouse.
Chief marketing officer and vice-president of ticketing with Ottawa Senators, Peter O’Leary, commented, “We have an incredibly dedicated fan base that supports our team and players and every turn. We want to make sure we don’t just thank them for their support, but ensure their experience is second to none. Working with IBM, we’ll not only have the chance to collaborate with a tremendous local partner, but we’ll be able to gather new insights on our fans that will allow us to be more efficient in our operations and provide a more personal enhanced experience for all our guests.”