InCrowd were appointed by Crystal Palace FC to create a suite of new fan facing digital channels, underpinned by a sophisticated fan data strategy, to creating the ultimate digital experience for fans to to engage grow and commercialise its global supporter base.
Crystal Palace FC was one of the organisations that didn’t let the uncertainty of 2020 hold back their ambitions; they shared the InCrowd view that immediate digital investment was vital to weather the storm and beyond that maximise fan connections.
Crystal Palace FC selected InCrowd to orchestrate an entire digital and data transformation in order to be on “the front foot” as sport emerged on the other side. Together with website front end partner UNRLVD and technology provider Cortex, InCrowd helped to rebuild the entire tech stack to put fan data at the very heart of powering new front end web and app platforms and to deliver significant Return on investment.
growth in video revenue
Increase in digital users
Increase in fan accounts since launch of app & web
comparable 2020/2021 increase in click through to ticketing or shop
from Jul-Sept
“It has been apparent from day 1 that InCrowd approach our relationship as a true partnership, and are committed to helping us solve business challenges and drive commercial growth”
Crystal Palace FC had a number of objectives they set out to achieve with InCrowd; central to the project was driving more value via product promotions and sponsor activations.
Crystal Palace FC wanted to maximise video content and enable exclusive content to be available behind a paywall, with an integrated data warehouse to track transactional behaviour of anonymous and known users. Crystal Palace FC wanted to enable fan growth, profiling and identification of high value fans through personalised marketing/content experiences.
Finally, they wanted to focus on growing digital rights opportunities for commercial partners alongside paid memberships, pay-per-view, premium hospitality and ticket sales.
Crystal Palace FC had ten core principles and functionality that aimed to be adhered to:
Ultimately, CPFC wanted to create a mobile-first, centralised digital experience – personalised for each fan, underpinned by one single view of customer behaviour.
With a delivery timeline of ten months, the turnover for a project of this magnitude was relatively short. The Project kicked off in August 2020; detailed strategy and discovery workshops with key stakeholders from Crystal Palace FC, InCrowd and UNRVLD, the chosen frontend partner for the website aspect of the project, took place across a two-month period to ensure all objectives were understood and could be met and surpassed. InCrowd then worked in close partnership with UNRVLD throughout the design and delivery period to meet the required deadlines.
The project required building the front end solution and data environments using a selection of leading Cortex products including the Content Management System, Single Sign On and the Fan Data Platform. The project required further integrations with Seatgeek (ticketing), RSS (shop) and various other third party fan data sources as well as implementing integrations with Opta feeds and Stream AMG. These integrations added to the extensive roster of third party suppliers and data sources facilitated by InCrowd.
InCrowd helped design and develop a platform for Crystal Palace FC to launch a new video subscription service, PalaceTV+, becoming the first client for whom InCrowd facilitated in-app payments, which have helped deliver record results. This is an exciting new addition to the product suite, further enhancing the seamless experiences created by InCrowd for sports fans.
First two months post launch (July – Sept ‘21):
Commercial Impact
Since launch:
“Working with InCrowd has ultimately enabled us to transform our data & digital offering to provide what we believe is a market-leading, personalised digital experience for each fan, that is consistent across all digital touchpoints”
Digital & Data Services Manager
