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Brand Affinity Deal with AEG Expands Reach

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With the goal to engage more than 15 million fans this year utilizing its FanPhotos services, Brand Affinity Technologies has been expanding its partnerships at a number of venues.

In April, the Irvine, Calif.-based marketing and technology services company announced an exclusive events partnership with AEG to provide its FanPhotos fan activation services at 10 select AEG-affiliated venues, including the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Best Buy Theater in Times Square in New York, and The Warfield in San Francisco, as well as a number of AEG-produced festivals, including Stagecoach – California’s Country Music Festival.

Held at Indio, Calif.’s Empire Polo Fields in April, Brand Affinity provided roving photographers at Stagecoach who distributed branded photo redemption cards to fans. An onsite photo station also was available for fans to take photos against a western-themed backdrop with props.

Stagecoach attendees had the option to purchase the photos on site, have them mailed to their home or purchase a download to share at the event via social media. 

As part of another recent partnership with Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), Brand Affinity’s FanPhoto photographers were deployed at the Indianapolis 500 last month. Under this six-year agreement, the company will provide the FanPhotos service for fans attending track events, including the Brickyard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in July and August’s Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix MotoGP race.

“We also have an exclusive contract for Major League Baseball venues, including the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels, and the NHL, NBA, NFL and college sports teams also are clients,” said Ryan Steelberg, Brand Affinity’s CEO. “[Under the new AEG partnership,] this is our first year of expansion outside of sports and sports-related events.”

With 20 years of experience in technology, marketing, business development and sales, Steelberg is considered one of the foremost experts in digital and online advertising. Since 1996, he and his brother Chad have raised more than $180 million in equity financing and created in excess of $3 billion in shareholder value through the founding, management and liquidation of three companies. These include dMarc Broadcasting, which was acquired by Google, Inc. in February of 2006 for $1.238 billion in cash and performance incentives; AdForce, formerly the world's largest centralized, independent ad-serving and management solution; and 2CAN Media (AdSmart), which grew to become the third largest Internet advertising sales organization. 

Named by the Orange County Business Journal as two of the Southern California county's "50 Most Influential Business People," the Steelberg brothers were finalists for Ernst & Young's "Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2000. Most recently, Ryan was named a recipient of the 2009 Sports Business Journal's Forty under 40 Awards.

Established in 2007, Brand Affinity’s FanPhotos was created as a vehicle to bring technology and proprietary services to fans. Venues that utilize this service will have between 15 and 20 roving photographers stationed throughout the stadium targeting families and groups. After subjects give permission, two to three photos are taken and a photo pass card with a gallery code is provided. Some venues opt to have an onsite presence where photos can be purchased immediately at the venue.

Otherwise, photos can be viewed on smartphones or computers at any time and purchased or shared on social media, including Facebook and Twitter. FanPhotos can provide up to 23 product skus for purchase, including the rights to marks, depending on the venue’s contract.

“With revenue-share contracts, we front all the costs and come up with a plan and model for each venue we work with, including the number of photographers required and expected number of fans,” Steelberg said. “In order to shoot fans, we need the media rights to access the facility and ability to educate the staff on who we are."

Venues with a corporate sponsor can provide FanPhotos as a value-add with a buy-out of Brand Affinity’s services.

Facilities with inadequate Wi Fi or bandwidth will need to provide Brand Affinity with access to internal networks in order to upload photos on site.

Product pricing ranges from $12 for a print without branding or marks up to $100 for framed goods designed to serve as a centerpiece. Direct shipping to fans’ homes is provided, usually free or at a discounted rate.

“What makes this interesting is our ability to engage with more than 20 percent of the fans at a game,” Steelberg said. “Only the game play will engage the number of fans at a higher degree than we can, so we see ourselves as a natural extension of the game and the venue.”

FanPhotos services are designed to enable brands and sponsors to create connections and build brand loyalty with their target audience. FanPhotos also enables offline and online brand engagement, including active sharing via social media.

“We seek to partner with venues that have a large enough audience and book between 130 and 200 events per year. If there is a decent fan quotient or artist, we can make it work,” Steelberg said. “With the Stagecoach event, we shot almost 30,000 photos in a two-day period and generated tens of thousands of dollars for just this one event.”

The Indianapolis 500 was the company’s biggest fan engagement event to date, with more than 50,000 photos shot.

“The results are threefold,” Steelberg said. “We want to engage in a positive service with fans at scale, generate real revenue to share with venue owners and create a lifetime continuity with fans to provide a database for venues that provides details on who is attending these events.”

Interviewed for this article: Ryan Steelberg, (949) 542-7980
 


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