“Fantribe has enabled us to hit our goals of driving fan engagement and growth. Memberships have grown by a phenomenal 250% within a few months of launching the app.”
Alexandra Licata
Associate Director, Digital Experience
Athletes Unlimited (AU) took its exclusive fan community to a new level with Fantribe – “The Unlimited Club”. AU is a Network of next generation professional sports leagues based in New York, US.
The official Athletes Unlimited app delivers fans all the action from each AU league bringing them closer to the game than ever before. Fantribe grows, engages and monetises communities.
AU believes the traditional model of pro sports is not built to bring out the best in athletes, or to deliver the most to its fans. So it developed an all-new model for pro athletes and sports – and fans.
Goals & vision
The goal was to create a unified experience where the fans could engage, interact and be rewarded in a single channel. To boost engagement, Athletes Unlimited was set out to create a mobile first experience that would address fans expectations.
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Increase fan engagement, transforming fans to loyal brand advocates
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Create an exclusive community of loyal fans where they can interact and connect with the athletes, beyond what is possible on social media platforms
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Membership growth – both free and paid
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Ability to reward fans
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Increase brand awareness
The goal
To create a unified experience where the fans could engage, interact and be rewarded in a single channel.
Mobile first experience
Engagement
Rewards
Member growth
Brand awareness
Why did Athletes Unlimited select Fantribe?
SaaS platform with end to end capability – technical capabilities addressed all requirements and more.
Unique, gamified engagement & loyalty solution, including fan codes, points and rewards.
Fantribe team have a deep expertise and understanding of fandom and engagement.
“When we embarked on this journey to find a team to collaborate and build our vision with, Fantribe went beyond what we were expecting. The knowledgeable team and extensive platform capabilities have helped us create a better experience for our fans.”
Alexandra Licata
Associate Director, Digital Experience
AU was impressed by the combination of technical excellence and the expertise of the team
Athletes Unlimited assessed multiple options to create the best possible outcome for the fan experience and realisation of the organisation’s business goals. In particular, the custom development of an app was not a desirable solution due to complexity, costs and speed to market prohibitions in order to deliver a leading digital experience for the 2021 season.
With its end-to-end capabilities and extensive range of features, the Fantribe platform was selected as the preferred solution due to it meeting all of the identified criteria of an ideal fan experience for AU members.
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SaaS platform with end to end capability – technical capabilities addressed all requirements and more.
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Unique, gamified engagement & loyalty solution, including fan codes, points and rewards.
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Fantribe team have a deep expertise and understanding of fandom and engagement.
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Highly configurable and extensible platform enabling speed to market
Results exceeded expectations: 250% membership growth
The iOS and Android apps were launched in 2021 and have been well received from day one. The solution has enabled the business to meet their goals and even exceed company expectations.
With the new app, free membership registrations increased a phenomenal 250% from the previous season. App downloads overall were 50% higher than the targets set.
Fans have direct access to connect with their favourite athletes, engaging with content that goes beyond the game. The engagement features of the app such as Fan Codes for cross channel and in-venue engagement, coupled with the points system, have resonated well with users. One of the most exciting outcomes for Athletes Unlimited has been seeing the athletes themselves highly involved in the app, competing on the leaderboard and connecting with the community. Athletes drove 27% of app downloads, all stemming from some friendly competition. This truly creates a community where users and athletes connect, and has no doubt brought many new fans to the league.
The journey continues: partnership opportunities & new features
The journey will continue in 2022 with new feature iterations already underway. Engagement and feedback from the fans has been positive and their ideas and feedback will keep contributing to the roadmap. Athletes Unlimited is excited to see the membership numbers growing even further in the new year, positively impacting on revenue growth.
The Athletes Unlimited app also provides another touchpoint for fans to interact with partners in an engaging manner through rewards. The organisation has seen success and excitement from fans when they win or unlock a partner product and look to continue creating the association of partners in this way, while exploring new ways to incorporate them into the app, throughout 2022.
“It was so cool to see the competition that we all share on the field make its way into the app”
We’d be sitting on the couch watching the lacrosse games waiting for the Fan Code, just for the chance to squeak above our other teammates trying to win the prize at the end of the week or season. What was really cool about it, though, was that it was all organic. There was no one at Athletes Unlimited asking us to compete on the app leaderboard, it just happened, which made it that much more fun and motivating.”
Gwen Svekis
Catcher from Athletes Unlimited Softball
Download the new Athletes Unlimited app
iOS – download from App Store
Android – download from Google Play Store
Weblink – view website
Contact us to book a demo
Engage & monetise your community in your own media channel.
