Posts

Fijian Drua partner with InCrowd Sports

/by

The Fijian Drua, the newest franchise in Super Rugby Pacific have appointed InCrowd Sports to lead its fan and digital strategy, starting with the launch of a new website – drua.rugby. 

The Fijian Drua, who will be playing home fixtures across Fiji and Australia in their first season, have been established to deliver a sustainable route for Fijian talent to play professional rugby, whilst also showcasing Fiji’s exciting style of play in the southern hemisphere’s biggest competition.

Key to the Fijian Drua’s growth strategy will be engaging the significant audience with interest in Fijian Rugby, so the club has appointed leading data, technology and sports marketing specialists InCrowd, who are helping build a digital ecosystem from the ground up to deliver personalised experiences and engaging content for fans in Fiji and around the world.

InCrowd has a proven track record of producing industry-leading fan technology, data solutions and professional services for a portfolio of clients that include URC (formerly PRO14 Rugby), Premiership Rugby, Euroleague Basketball, Formula 1, ECB, Rugby Football League and a number of Premier League and Championship football clubs.

In Australia and New Zealand, InCrowd currently delivers technology across 33 venues including the SCG, Stadium Australia and CommBank Stadium, as well as working with organisations such as Golf Australia and Netball Australia.

During the 2022 Super Rugby season, drua.rugby will have real time updates during match days, as well as latest news, statistical graphics, fan voting, competitions, player profiles, video galleries, interviews and other exclusive content.

The website has been built upon InCrowd’s digital experience platform, Bridge, which includes a sports specific headless CMS, digital asset manager, fan engagement tools, audience insights and tools that enable personalised content delivery and communications based on 1st party data.

As part of the partnership, InCrowd will support the Fijian Drua as they generate and collect more fan data, helping the club with its commercial strategy as well as personalising fan communications across multiple new channels as they are launched. Fijian Drua CEO, Brian Thorburn, said:

“We’re committed to offering our fans, supporters and stakeholders an outstanding digital experience when they engage with us online and DRUA.RUGBY is obviously the most critical component of this objective. We may be a brand new team but one with very strong roots. And even before running out for our first game, we have a strong global following and premium brand associations with major global players including Swire Shipping, New Balance, Fiji Airways, ANZ and Vodafone. Our partnership with InCrowd will further strengthen our engagement with our audiences at home and wherever they are overseas, with content and interactivity which will be unique to the Drua.”

InCrowd Head of Partnerships APAC Seb Lear, said:

“This is an incredibly exciting project which we are honoured to be part of. In a broader context, this is a game changer in the global rugby landscape by helping Fiji create a sustainable talent pathway and a commercial strategy that keeps the incredible Fijian talent in the Pacific. It’s been a pleasure to work with the Fijian Drua team over the last few months to begin to deliver great digital experiences for the passionate fans of Fijian Rugby. This fan first approach is a value at InCrowd’s core, with the foundation of the business built on helping sports organisations create direct relationships with their fans to drive commercial value, something that has been even more critical for every sport to focus on over the last 2 years.”

The Fijian Drua will play their first ever Super Rugby Pacific match against the NSW Waratahs at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta, Western Sydney on Friday 18 February.

Interview: Dan Lipman – “Changing the industry…”

/by

Chief Commercial Officer, Dan Lipman, talks to iSportConnect’s Ben Page about how InCrowd is helping sports clients to utilise data to drive change across their digital ecosystem and maximise ROI.

They discuss the impact of data powered personalisation and innovative new technology that is enabling rights holders to transform how they connect and communicate with their fans.

Read the full interview here

New Ulster Rugby website goes live

/by

The new Ulster Rugby website is live!

We are delighted to announce that the new Ulster Rugby website is live!

A great team to work with, this is a club with huge aspirations for their digital platforms and the delivery of incredible experiences for their fans.

The launch of the website is the next big step in their digital transformation journey and we’re very happy to continue to work together to deliver great things in the future!

Read more about the project and take a look around the new site – just follow the link: Ulster.Rugby

RLWC2021 takeover for Our League

/by

The Rugby Football League, Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) and InCrowd and are thrilled to announce that RLWC2021 will stage a takeover of the Our League app this autumn.

The takeover will begin this month with regular Rugby League World Cup news being served to fans within Our League, as the final countdown to the tournament begins.

Then from mid-October, after the Betfred Super League and Women’s Super League Grand Finals, Our League will be devoted to the biggest ever celebration of Rugby League – as the Men’s, Women’s and Wheelchair World Cups take centre stage, bringing World Cup content to Rugby League fans all over the world.

All the Our League features – Match Centre, Player of the Match polls, the Predictor Game and much more – will be given an RLWC2021 makeover which will remain all the way through to Finals weekend in late November. With Our League already serving a membership of more than 190,000 League supporters, RLWC2021 will have a flying start in developing a regular conversation with Rugby League fans. Mark Foster, the RFL’s Chief Commercial Officer, said: “This is one of the most exciting partnerships since we launched Our League nearly four years ago.

RLWC2021 offers the sport of Rugby League its most exciting platform, and their takeover of Our League is the perfect way of bringing the tournament to life – both for existing loyal fans, and also the thousands of sports lovers who will be experiencing Rugby League for the first time.

We’ve spent the last four years working closely with InCrowd to develop Our League, ensuring it provides the features, information and rewards that Rugby League fans want, in an accessible and interactive way. The RLWC2021 takeover will take Our League to a new level – allowing new Rugby League fans on both sides of the globe to immerse themselves in our sport.”

B Hunter, RLWC2021 Digital and Content Director, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with the RFL and InCrowd in developing Our League for RLWC2021.

“The app will be the go-to source of information and entertainment for fans during the tournament. We encourage fans to download early to make sure they receive all the latest news, ticket and spectator information direct to their devices.”

“In this relationship with the RFL and InCrowd we are also proud to be able to make an investment back into the sport that will serve fans as a lasting legacy of the World Cup.”

Darren Parsons, InCrowd Senior Account & Insights Manager, said “We’re delighted to be able to support RLWC2021 by using the existing Our League platform to engage current users and those new to rugby league.

The Our League app has proven to be incredibly valuable in growing first party data for the RFL which has led to the delivery of rich and personalised content experiences direct to fans.

We’re very proud to work with both The RFL and RLWC2021 on this collaborative project and we’re excited to develop existing and new features for the tournament takeover and beyond, which will drive a boost in users and build on the already great legacy of Our League.”

Download the Our League app now!
Android – Google Play Store
iOS – App Store

NEWS: InCrowd introduces Front Row, a live fan video activation for LED perimeter and big screen stadium displays

/by

For the foreseeable future, sport will be played without fans in stands; but that doesn’t mean they can’t be part of the game. InCrowd Cast Front Row allows the user to moderate live video feeds of fans from their homes and display the footage around the venue on any available LED perimeters and big screen equipment.

What is Front Row?

The use of LED perimeters is the key. Whilst numerous closed-door crowd noise and virtual attendance solutions have presented themselves in reaction to the Covid-19 crisis, Front Row is one of the only solutions on the market that allows the user to transmit video to the LED perimeters. Fans will be pitchside, their live video feeds displayed in close view of the players they are supporting. Importantly, Front Row offers real-time fan engagement which avoids difficult situations in which fan reaction doesn’t match on-pitch action, a problem often encountered in pre-recorded fan video feeds.

Front Row is a fan engagement solution with longevity; it does not start and finish with closed-door sport. Front Row allows fans unable to attend matches to be part of the action and to contribute to the stadium atmosphere. Create deeper connections with your international audience and massively improve accessibility for every fan, by putting them in the front row. There are also numerous new sponsorship opportunities for partners’ brands across the perimeter and big-screen displays whilst also driving direct revenue through ticket and merchandise promotions.

Front Row gives rights holders the opportunity to create a brand new digital fan experience and bring stadiums back to life.

How does Front Row work?

Front Row can transmit live fan video to in-stadia display in just a few simple steps:

  1. The Operator dials selected fans -+into a Zoom video call via a PC running InCrowd Cast Instadia Display Software. Zoom grid view will then allocate each fan a square segment.
  2. InCrowd Cast will then capture the zoom screen output of up to 16 fans and apply those individual camera feeds to the Cast software, ready to be transmitted to chosen stadium displays (fan grid format for big screen, single fan segments for perimeters).
  3. With InCrowd Cast connected to the big screen and/or the LED perimeters, these fan videos will be displayed in real-time.

What do I need?

A laptop/PC
Front Row works with 3×3 or a 4×4 grids of fan segments on a single Zoom call, giving 9 or 16 fans the opportunity to be shown live across the stadium displays. (If you would like to show more than 16 fans on the in-stadia displays, that is possible! Get in touch and we can explain the logistics).  

An InCrowd Cast licence
This is the control software that will be plugged in and operating the boards.

An Operator
An individual that can manage the Zoom call, so they can closely watch the call and preempt any misbehaviour or dismiss/add fans from the call.

Full Control

Front Row operators have the ability to fully moderate and control what is displayed in the stadium:

Adapt the grid size and number of grids to ensure a full display on the big screen.

Control the number of segments in perimeters to fit with advertising commitments.

Full moderation; operators can swiftly remove and replace video feeds as necessary.

Set fail-safe imagery; immediate activation if a fan drops off feed or is removed.

Dropped video detection; the system can detect a missing fan, auto-fills with fail-safe.

Sponsorship; the system can dynamically switch between fan & sponsor content

 

For more information on Front Row contact ollie.clements@incrowdsports.com

InCrowd & The RFL celebrate a momentous first year for Our League

/by
  • 84,000 members, 32 live match streams and over 13,000 prizes won to date.
  • Successful integration of ticketing, rewards, live streaming, predictor games and polls.
  • Live broadcast integration with Sky Sports for Man Of The Match voting.
  • Community-wide match centre and player stats dashboards.
  • Big prize winners of signed merchandise, finals tickets and trips to Australia.

Just over a year ago, The Rugby Football League (RFL) launched their membership platform Our League in partnership with InCrowd. The RFL had approached InCrowd to realise their ambitions to build a world leading membership platform for spectators, viewers and participants of rugby league.

Plans for a membership website and mobile app included exclusive content, member benefits, participation features, a ticketing integration, gamification and polls to help improve the fan experience and drive return on investment for The RFL. All parties were full of expectation, but no one could have imagined the success delivered by Our League. In a single year, some of Our League’s achievements include:

  • 32 live match streams.
  • An all-inclusive live match centre covering Betfred Super League to community leagues as well as a community player dashboard, sponsored by Dacia, showing statistics for the majority of rugby league players.
  • The introduction of a seamlessly linked ticketing and rewards scheme, along with in-stadia discounts.
  • Live broadcast integration with Sky Sports for Man of the Match voting via Our League platforms.
  • The launch of a round-by-round predictor game with a £20,000 grand prize.
  • Simultaneous launches of video polls that include the “Try or No Try” poll sponsored by Patient Claim Line and the “Flair Play of The Month”.

The success of these fan experience initiatives by InCrowd and The RFL has been driven by the eager participation of an enviably diverse rugby league fan base, devoted to a sport that delivers competitiveness, entertainment, passion and pride with down to earth, approachable players and coaching staff. In its first year, the Our League membership platform has welcomed 84,000 members, 65,000 of which have downloaded the Our League app which has achieved an 80% active app user rate. The regular Man of The Match vote and other polls boast over 300,000 engagements throughout the Betfred Super League season, with the Betfred Man of the Match polls over a 10 minute period averaging 3,500 votes, and other polls returning an average of 2,200 votes.

Active participation is also driven by the exceptional prizes on offer to Our League members playing the round-by-round predictor. Just this year, we have seen over 13,000 fans win prizes including signed England shirts and rugby balls, hospitality tickets to the 2018 Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Final and Betfred Super League Grand Final and tickets to see the England vs New Zealand internationals. Four predictor players came within four correct predictions of the £20,000 grand prize. Other Our League big prize winners included:

  • 10 winners of “super fan passes” – two tickets to all major rugby league events throughout the season.
  • Two Betfred Super League 2019 season ticket winners for the club of their choice.
  • The 50,000th Our League member and lifelong St Helens fan Derek Hewitt won two VIP tickets to the 2018 Ladbrokes Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.
  • Predictor player Neil Cunliffe won an all-inclusive trip to Brisbane, Australia for two to watch England play in the 2017 Rugby League World Cup Final.

“The success of Our League has more than surpassed our expectations. Our active membership numbers are constantly increasing and we are smashing record after record in terms of users and participation. The team at InCrowd have really taken the time to understand our sport and our fans and continue to provide an exceptional service. We are excited about what we will achieve together in the 2019 season, delivering an even better experience for our unique and passionate fans”, Nichola Spencer, Membership Manager at the RFL

Darren Parsons, Marketing Account Manager at InCrowd stated that “it has been a pleasure working with The RFL in this inaugural Our League season, building the foundations of their membership platform for fans to enjoy for years to come. We have immense pride in what we have achieved with The RFL in just one year and we are looking forward to continuing this successful partnership in 2019.”