Falcons Digital Media
From the 2007 thru to the 2011 NFL seasons, one of my major responsibilities was to conceptualize, design and build various digital media properties that sales and sponsorship could sell to team partners. This was a crucial part of the team's revenue, and the opportunity was to execute this program was largely my own. The Atlanta Falcons had no other developers. Below are a few of our most profitable projects.
Approach
- Capitalize on any new and emerging technology.
- Satisfy fans desire for content and information to pull them in.
- When it makes sense, share with other teams in the league (revenue sharing).
Content for digital media was also my responsibility
Measures of Success
- Revenue from sponsored projects.
Solutions
01
Fantasy sports tracker where fans would check-in each week during the season.
Fans become eligible for prizes if they check-in each week for 17 weeks.
02
Falcons Gameday was an integration with the Twitter API. Fans could compose a specially designed tweet that both promoted the program while tallying up key plays and fan reactions to those key plays.
03
Fan noise has an impact on the team performance. I set out to prove it with this program that tracked noise during a game and tracked peaks and averages. This ultimately led to a significantly bigger noise project called Project113 around a playoff game that became a national trend on Twitter.
04
FalconsLIFE was the team social network. It included message boards, live chat, a special fan photo gallery, blogs and various other tooling for fans to engage around the team.
05
During the offseason, I often produced content that could also be used in sponsorships programs. My favorite was when my peer Matt Moore and I took Matt Ryan around Atlanta shortly after he was drafted. We visited all the major tourist attractions around the city, including the Atlanta Zoo, Georgia Aquarium, World of Coke, Fox Theater, and even hung out the Atlanta Braves.
Caution: turn down your speakers before playing!
06
Internal tools to display the team's performance on TV ratings.
07
A special video player I designed and built for season ticket renewals. This featured Matt Ryan, other marquee stars of the organization telling personal stories about their experiences being a player and engaging the fans. It helped drive season ticket sales.
Outcomes
I enjoyed quite a bit of help because we drafted Matt Ryan and became a playoff caliber team. But sponsorship revenue from digital properties did grow significantly during my tenure.
