In 2023, our partners gained 2.5 million new fans and collected 85 million data points, meaning that they’re no rookies when it comes to fan engagement strategies.
To celebrate our partners, we created the Fan Marketing Awards, which showcase 18 winners in Fan Engagement, Fan Data, Innovation, and Messaging. Read on for a recap of this year's winners, chosen based on their creativity, organic reach, and new ways of using data!
Watch the winners 🎬
Get the full scoop about our award winners and what made them successful.
Fan Marketing Awards
BEST IN FAN ENGAGEMENT
The winners in this category were chosen based on the number of entries and engagement rate, as well as the strategy and execution that propelled these campaigns to success.
Best Engagement Campaign Sports
Club Tigres launched a Jersey Memory Match campaign to target periphery fans and transition them into diehard devotion. This campaign garnered more than 40K new fans!
Learn how Club Tigres earned 40K new fans with 1 memory matchBest Engagement Campaign Promoters/Festivals
Destroy All Lines combined two Tradable Bits campaigns to launch their “Good Things Like a Rockstar” initiative. This campaign aimed to identify additional ticket holders in exchange for entering various prize draws, which successfully generated 49K+ entries.
How Destroy All Lines uncovered hidden ticket buyersBest Engagement Campaign Artist/Label
As part of a country-wide campaign for street-level engagement around Corey Taylor's #CMF2 release day, BMG launched a digital-physical campaign to give fans the chance to get a free "limited edition" mixtape - but only if they visited a physical retail store.
How BMG drove street-level engagement through a digital campaignBest Engagement Campaign Gaming
As part of promoting BCLC Casinos' new Encore Rewards Program, SMAK Agency created a physical slot machine-style engagement that triggered a Tradable Bits Instant Win when a fan entered.
How Smak Agency used Tradable Bits to bring a travelling activation to lifeBest Partner Branded Activation
The Milwaukee Bucks launched a Memory Match campaign to highlight their jersey patch sponsor, Motorola during a high-intent fan moment - a special edition Jersey release. The campaign itself integrated Motorola's Razr phone and brought the product front and center.
Learn how the Milwaukee Bucks integrated their sponsor MotorolaBest Engagement Campaign Design
As part of the annual “Retro Round”, the Geelong Cats of the AFL captured fans' hearts with a retro-themed memory match, photo frame, and personalized playlist to immerse their audience in the story of the team’s past.
How the Geelong Cats did Retro Round the Right wayMost Successful Short-Term Campaign
OCESA created a video contest with 10 winners for their 10th EDC Mexico festival. In just under 10 days, OCESA grew their fan database by 5%
How OCESA used one Tradable Bits campaign to increase their fanbase by 5%Most Successful Sustained Campaign
Breeder's Cup hosted a "40 Days of Giveaways" campaign for their 40th anniversary. They saw steady engagement for 40 days, more than 61K entries and endless impressions.
How the Breeders' Cup sustained engagement for 40 daysBEST IN LIVE ACTIVATIONS
The winners in this category were chosen based on the number of entries and engagement rate, as well as the strategy and execution that propelled these campaigns to success.
Best in-venue activation for sports: Fremantle FC
Fremantle FC worked with their commercial partners at Bankwest to create a "Best Seats in the House" in-arena campaign. Using a Tradable Bits Scratch and Win, they gave all fans in attendance the change to upgrade their seats to the 'best in the house' - learning more about which fans were actually in their stadium.
👉 How Fremantle FC de-anonymized who was in their stadium
Best In-Venue Activation for Music: OCESA
For the Coca-Cola Flow Festival, OCESA designed a scavenger hunt for all fans on the grounds. Fans were encouraged to stop in at specific checkpoints for the chance to get free festival merch. Beyond engagement, OCESA successfully uncovered "hidden ticket buyers" who participated in the campaign, but were never captured in their ticketing data.
👉 How OCESA uncovered non-ticket buyer fans who were on the ground at Coca-Cola Flow Fest
Best Digital/Physical Combination Activation: St.Kilda
St.Kilda FC successfully blended social engagement with in-arena fan participation using their weekly "The Stat is Right" campaign. This campaign was run across their socials and as part of their game-day presentation, where specific fans were welcomed to answer live, in front of the stadium. This season-long campaign also effectively incorporated St.Kilda commercial sponsor - CMC Markets.
👉 How St.Kilda fulfilled sponsorships while engaging fans in stadium
BEST IN FAN DATA
This award is presented based on the dynamic interplay between data acquisition, analysis, and activation, in addition to fan engagement. These winners have a cohesive long-term data strategy as part of their fan marketing.
Best use of fan data in sports: Canucks Sports and Entertainment
Canucks Sports and Entertainment is setting the foundation for a truly effective data ecosystem. In 2023 they focused on building evergreen audiences of fans with affinities to specific theme nights or rivalry match-ups to more effectively reach these fans in the future. These focused campaigns alone resulted in more than 83K fans participating, 28% of whom were entirely new fans.
👉 How the Canucks used foundational campaigns to uncover audience insights
Best use of fan data in music: Sixthman
Sixthman's event-based segmentation and work in identifying overlap in their cruiser communities is a master class in how to use fan data. They've seen massive success in driving pre-sale signups, averaging over 1000X ROI on their early-booking-time SMS flows. They've also welcomed 43K new fans into their tangible, and reachable fanbase.
👉 How Sixthman builds niche festival communities
BEST IN FAN MESSAGING
Winners in this category were chosen based on their ability to drive high-intent fans and include their audience in their events narrative, through unique and creative methods.
Best use of SMS Messaging : The Florida Gators
The Florida Gators created a campaign and SMS flow focused on uncovering and converting fans interested in ticket deals to drive last-minute ticket sales. This high-intent SMS flow resulted in 50 to 500X ROI for each campaign.
👉 How the Florida Gators drove last-minute ticket sales
Best use of UGC in Storytelling: TTG Canada
TTG Canada created a UGC campaign to highlight the career of Christine Sinclair as part of her last game and retirement party. This UGC campaign allowed fans to submit photos and messages of gratitude to Sinclair, which were then shared on a large jumbotron and mosaic.
👉 How TTG Canada celebrated the career of a soccer legend
Best use of AR: The San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs created an Instagram AR filter to celebrate athlete Tony Parker being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. This filter included a fun quiz of "Which Tony Parker are you" and a 360-degree view of Tony Parker's trophy room.
👉 How the Spurs created an immersive Instagram experience
MOST INNOVATIVE
The winners of Most Innovative have maintained a curious and experimental approach to their fan engagement strategy - continually experimenting with new forms of engagement and data acquisition.
Most Innovative in Sports: The Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers are always ahead when experimenting with Fan Engagement and Gamification. In 2023 they introduced ARCADE to their already robust fan-engagement toolbox, driving high-dwell time in app.
👉 How the Portland Trail Blazers are driving fan engagement with a fan-first mentality
Most Innovative in Music: Life is Beautiful
Life is Beautiful has been steadily acquiring, analyzing and activating fan data for years with Tradable Bits, keeping track of year-over-year festival health and progressively prospecting fans to understand artist affinity. In 2023, Life is Beautiful experimented with several on-the-grounds activations, sponsored campaigns, and even ran a comprehensive "Golden Ticket Sweepstakes" around their 10th anniversary. This campaign resulted in more than 30K high-quality leads
👉 How Life is Beautiful is elevating their fan experience year-over-year
A huge thank you to all of our winners for 2023, and we look forward to what our partners will bring forward in 2024!
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