When Is A Smile NOT Free? Sports Marketing Fan Photo Facts

[Gary P.]

One of the most engaging and well received game-day and event offerings teams can provide their fans/attendees is a 'Fan Photo' give-away program. There is a range of systems and services in the marketplace to provide the technology to drive this type of promotion, but some programs apparently put a price on a smile.

What is a Fan Photo program?
Thanks to the advent of digital photography and the Internet, teams can now give fans a photo to take home, without actually giving them a physical picture- long gone are the days of the Polaroid. Essentially what the program provides is a game-day/event give-away that fans take home from the game in the form of a personal digital photograph. Typically the process is executed by team staff taking a digital photograph of a fan or group of fans and issuing them a team-branded card with instructions and a code on it that directs the fan back to the team website to retrieve and view the photo. From the team site, the user is linked into a third-party company's web infrastructure where the photo resides in a database once the team staff have uploaded all the photos from the game/event. The programs vary depending on which service provider the team is using. Rudimentary programs use very simple technology that posts all the photos in an 'open thumbnail album' where fans have to sometimes spend hours scouring through literally hundreds of photos to find their own, while more advanced systems co-relate unique PIN codes to individual photos so that when fans enter in their code, only their photo appears. The latter is preferred where privacy is more important as the public becomes increasingly concerned with the protection of their image on the Internet.


Show me the Value!
The items that teams give-away to the fans as a 'first through the turn-style' type promotion range from very inexpensive 'thundersticks' and towels, to pricier, and more collectible bobbleheads and helmets. While the obvious noise-maker, crowd enthusiasm and visual appeal of the thunderstick gives it value at the game itself, most are discarded once the buzzer goes and people are filing to the exits. Arena garbage cans and parking lots littered with these items are evidence of that. Bobbleheads and other 'collectibles' have more inherent value and proof of that is seeing one on top of a co-workers computer monitor or the hundreds that are up for sale or trade on various Internet auction sites. The Fan Photo should be considered in the same category as these items in so far as that it's a give-away, but in reality it's in a league of it's own. Not only does it have an extremely high 'perceived value' in the eyes of the fans, but it's the first fan give-away premium item that actually gives back to the club, as well as the associated program sponsor. The Fan Photo has value for the fan and for the team!

There are several key features of the Fan Photo program and the photo 'premium' that gives it significant value over the standard generic team and sponsor branded items.
Right out of the gate, a digital photo is a premium that has an extremely high perceived value by the fans. Often the photographers have to work hard to convince the fans that there is no hidden cost or charge associated participating either at that moment or when they get home and try to retrieve it from the team website. Increasingly fans are becoming familiar with services that provide a 'free' digital photo in other arenas and other venues such as amusement parks, where this type of offering has a high price attached when they actually go to collect the souvenir online and the real goal is to sell the participant the photo – in this sense, 'free photo' is a misnomer and is misleading. Teams that provide their fans with the truly free Fan Photo program by using a sponsor driven program are giving the fans the greatest give-away possible.


Which Fan Photo Business Model is Best?
There are two avenues a club can take when adopting a Fan Photo type offering; a 'Revenue from Print Sales' type offering or a 'Revenue from Sponsorship' program. Of course, the comparison is difficult to make because while one system is a true free give-away, the print sales systems do in fact have a cost for the fan to fully participate. Below are some bulleted points and key value propositions for each program:

Print Sales
-revenue is passive & variable; margins may be nominal, there is no guaranteed level of revenue.
-fan resentment /alienation; fans may return home feeling like they've been duped when they are forced to purchase a print, or pay up to $30.00 just to obtain the digital file to share, and relive their experience.
-difficult to sponsor; why would a sponsor pay the club to be associated with a program that the club is trying to make money from? Double dipping is a major no-no.
-little to no value for a sponsor; what benefit would a sponsor gain from their involvement in the program? (unless they get a cut of the print & merchandise action making their 'goodwill' association with the program appear questionable)
-no value beyond print sales; fans are not presented with a free photo, but rather a watermarked image they have to purchase so there's really no 'goodwill' benefit to the fan.
-low start-up cost; the only benefit of this program, and it's to the club only, is that since it typically runs on very rudimentary technology, the team has to incur little cost to get it up and running.

Sponsorship Sales
-revenue is fixed; clubs make the program attractive enough to justify a sponsor involvement and dollar value spend.
-the value you can offer a sponsor justifies the price;
-clubs can offer significant value to a sponsor (ROI can be measured)
-brand association; starting in the arena with branded photographers, PA announcements, program mentions, jumbotron promotion. The association continues online after the game.
-fan engagement with a high-value premium; fans perceive this premium having a value of at least $10-$30. and they are truly getting it for free
-privacy protection; more advanced systems connect the photo with a unique PIN so that participants can securely retrieve their own photo.
-drive to web; 60-85% of fans will pick up their photo. Again, a more advanced system will be able to accurately track these statistics where a basic system can only give you general traffic stats.
-viral component; the mechanism encourages sharing, posting to social networking sites, blogs, etc. Simply allowing a fan to post or embed their photo to their own site has massive appeal.
-database acquisition; the value of the give-away is significant enough that the majority of fans do not mind transferring personal data in order to participate.
-ticket sales lead generation; teams have the ability to distill who is a first-time/one-time visitor and can potentially turn that fan into a ticket package and/or season ticket purchaser
-surveying and fan feedback; the program can easily incorporate a short unobtrusive survey so the club can gain valuable feedback from the fans on their experience.
-allow the fan access to the hi-res file so they can obtain their own print: at home, from an online source, or through a retail outlet.
-set-up costs do exist; clubs will have to spend some money on this program, but the cost for a season-long Fan Photo program can be less than the cost of a single game Bobblehead give-away.

The marketplace has various services and companies to provide the teams with a Fan Photo offering, but the key decision is which model is better. Teams are always looking to enhance the 'game-day' experience by making it more exciting and fun for fans and families alike. With give-aways and promotions designed to bring increased value to the ticket purchase price, as well as leaving fans with a lasting positive memory, it's ultimately up to the club to decide which system is the best offering for the fans and which one fits within their core club values of providing the ultimate sports and entertainment experience, but a smile should always be free!

The Atlanta Spirit has always been on the forefront of looking at ways to bring added value to the experience and ticket purchase for their fans. As an early adopter of a free Fan Photo give-away, they recognized the benefit to the club and the fans. The club has used the ePixome! system since the inception in 2002 to great success.
Have a look at the Atlanta Hawks FanFoto program that they offer to their fans;

[Jim Ed Oberst]

Have you approached any NASCAR tracks with this? Can the photo have a custom border with the sponsors name/logo? Can a coupon be added to the side of the photo once printed it could be redeemed? How do the cards driving them to the site with the PIN # work? Does the PIN actually go to their photo or to a range of thumbnails.

[Gary P.]

Jim
I have not approached NASCAR with our sports photo or video solutions.
Great questions!
-yes the photos are part of a dynamic webpage that allows for active branding with links to sponsor websites, contests, surveys, etc.
-yes a coupon can be printed online, or it can be a perforated portion of the Retrieval card
-with the ePixome! system, the cards have a PIN & barcode that is scanned by the photographer using a handheld scanning device that co-relates the PIN to the individual photo so when the participant enters their PIN online, only their photo appears for viewing (making it very appealing to privacy conscious people). The 'thumbnail' approach is totally bush-league!

Thanks a lot for the inquiry! Feel free to contact me through my website.

Cheers
Gary

[Shripal Shah]

I am curious how this service compares to fanfoto which the Red Sox manage. Have spoken with them before, but have not done anything with them yet. I have yet to hear of a single NFL team using this type of product in the regular season. I would be curious to see if any other NFL teams have used this in an actual game. I know the Eagles have tried to do this during events but not in the middle of a game.