The brand-new SA20 cricket league launched in 2023, featuring 33 matches at 6 venues across an intense 4-week period.
With no pre-existing first-party data and a limited marketing budget, SA20 partnered with InCrowd to develop an innovative, insight-driven strategy that not only boosted ticket sales but also laid a strong foundation for the League’s long-term growth.
In addition to core consultancy services across data, content, and commercial strategy, our Digital & Data Services team also leads SA20's communications strategy.
By integrating with email service provider Dot Digital, we plan, create, personalise, and optimise fan communications to help SA20 achieve its key objectives of engaging new audiences and driving ticket sales.
Having just completed a record-breaking third season, SA20 continues to go from strength to strength. From season 1 to season 3, total marketable users rose by 320%, the volume of poll votes increased by 281%, and clicks on ticket links within emails rose by 18 times.
InCrowd led an in-depth data consultancy phase, resulting in a clear and structured data strategy that was continuously optimised throughout the competition, with ongoing advisory to make necessary adjustments and ensure sustained success.
Central to this strategy was the implementation of Cortex Promo Blocks across the SA20 website, enabling fan polls and competitions, all designed with data capture at their core. These activations were powered by key fan data technologies, providing a comprehensive Single Fan View of all available transactional and behavioural data.
Coordinating the CRM strategy across multiple databases held by SA20’s key stakeholders, including SuperSport and Cricket South Africa, was crucial to the commercial success of each SA20 tournament.
Through ticketing-focused campaigns and ongoing analysis of ticket sales across 33 fixtures, InCrowd helped SA20 assess the effectiveness of promotional offers, optimise paid media spend based on sales projections, and identify opportunities to cross-sell to their existing audience.
With a strong heritage in creating immersive digital experiences that resonate with fans, InCrowd helped SA20 run their Player of the Match polls, voted on by fans after every fixture. These polls were activated across broadcast, digital platforms, and in-stadia audiences through LED integrations with Cortex Cast.
Additionally, InCrowd’s Digital & Data Services team manages full-service CRM campaign delivery to the new SA20 database. Through segmented, personalised emails, the team amplifies key messaging, engages fans, and drives significant new revenue. The team also oversees the end-of-season survey process - from build to delivery - and produces a detailed data and insights report to inform planning for future seasons.
