Alex

Research Strategy

Questions:

1. How is atmosphere a factor for fan attendance?

2. Does the news attract fans?

3. What are ways we can increase crowd engagement?

Based off the questions that I have chosen to research I hope to be able to learn how certain conditions affect fans attendance. Are the reasons for fan attendance based more on a bigger scale like the FC Cincinnati team appearing on the news and word of their performance being out there, or is it something on a smaller scale such as atmosphere and being engaged with the game rather than being on their phone?

To answer these questions I will be conducting interviews to avid FC Cincinnati Fans; I currently am getting in contact with one through the networking I have done. This immersive research in the form of an interview can answer questions one and three. To answer question two I will attempt to do observational research, specifically zoning in on how the Cincinnati Bengals gained so much popularity over the news attention due to an increase in performance.

Interview: Tina Freson

FC Cincinnati Season Ticket Holder and Avid Soccer Fan

Lesson from Conversation:

Having been a soccer fan from early on in life leads to involvement in all areas, such as going to Columbus Crew games before FC Cincinnati was established
Avid fans wouldn’t change their attendance rates whether FC Cincinnati were to be on the news or not
Love the energy and atmosphere that comes from the Bailey and the stadium as a whole

Tina's Empathy Map

Interview: Vincent Arris

FC Cincinnati Fan and Soccer Player in Free Time

Lesson from Conversation

FC Cincinnati being a local professional sports team is what led him to being just a normal fan
Even normal fans wouldn’t change their attendance rates if FC Cincinnati were to be on the news, they’d neither decrease nor increase
The best part of the games “was the Bailey, the energy and cheering was super super cool to see”

Vincent's Empathy Map

Problems Identified/Room for Innovation:

Some fans wouldn’t attend more if FC Cincinnati got more popular. Good and bad things since their loyalty doesn’t change but if fans don’t show up more what are the chances that new fans will / won’t?
The Bailey section is a big portion of the atmosphere and crowd engagement, could emphasize on this somehow
Being just a local team contributes to reasons to attend, is there a way to increase the odds of people traveling to attend games?

Insight Statement & Reflection:

I found that after conducting interviews with avid fans and casual fans that they wouldn’t care if FC Cincinnati was popular or not to show up to games which emphasizes how loyal they are. Being a local team is also a reason as to why some may attend, as mentioned by Lina.

I found it interesting how big of a factor the Bailey section is towards the energy at the game, would it be the same if the opposing teams had their own version of a bailey section rather than just a visitor side? If attendance isn’t going to be affected by news popularity, what are ways to make a breakthrough nationwide? I believe that a solution to increasing attending may need references to the increase in Bengals fans last year.

Personas:

Factors that may cause them to attend FCC games:

1. Having a way to connect to other fans easier

2. FCC having ties with their interest and hobbies

3. Engaging environment

4. Convenient schedules

5. Little errors

6. Ways to feel the game atmosphere without being there

7. Streaming connection

8. Video game connections

9. Lower ticket prices

10. Weekend Games

Potential Idea: Stadium Food Delivery

Food will be delivered to your seat in the stadium
Helps avoid waiting in line and missing a chunk of the game
Could also order food to your friend’s seat
Has been proven to be used, 30% of attendees at a 49ers game used it on the day it was launched

Audience:

The audience that could benefit from this implementation is the general attendees since at some point most fans will get hungry or thirsty. Fans would be able to use this feature through the FC Cincinnati app as another option when looking at the concessions tab. With fans not wanting to miss some of the game and also having food on their minds they can keep the best of both worlds.

Audience Motivations:

Fans would be more inclined to attend since they know that they wouldn’t have to make a decision of waiting in line and missing out on the atmosphere the stadium provides or staying in their seats enjoying the game.

Factors to attend games:

Experiential and Fan - Fans can enjoy the electric atmosphere of the stadium, especially if they are part of the Bailey section. Being able to just have a more comfortable and more match oriented experience can improve usage rates as well as increase revenue for FC Cincinnati.

Supporting Research:

After reading through the Deloitte report regarding using technology and media to increase stadium experience seeing that casual fans are 57% satisfied with unique experiences, implementing this feature which is currently seen in few stadiums providing this new experience could drive those numbers higher. After also reading the review regarding the 49ers implementing this 60% of fans would download their app to use this feature again and increased revenue by $2 million dollars.

Impact:

This idea could impact fan attendance rates, revenue, and increase fan satisfaction rates regarding unique experiences. Being able to target such a large audience that would all benefit from this would mean that a good percentage of them would be satisfied with this implementation.

Reflection:

While coming up with potential ideas to implement for our Client Challenge I figured that using our ideation unit would be helpful so I went back and referring to the diverging and converging method of coming up with realistic solutions was helpful. However when doing this I did come across many deadends as FC Cincinnati has or will plan on implementing many ideas that I believed would be realistic. Being able to choose an audience was huge because it allows you to focus on what would satisfy this audience. Having the mindset of being in their shoes provided insight as to what I would want and how I would like for them to implement it in an easy, and accessible method.

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