2015 was a year of transformation across the Hamilton Tiger-Cats business to meet increased expectations and to deliver a ubiquitous fan experience. With a strong vision, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats successfully delivered a re-designed website, Ticats TV live streaming, mobile ticketing, in-seat ordering, in-stadium WiFi, and in-game contesting all driven through a brand new fan loyalty program, Ticats All Access. Based on several criteria (breadth, depth, timeline), the 2015 digital transformation was arguably one of the most ambitious digital projects embarked on by a Canadian sports organization.
Philosophy & Objectives
In their first full season at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario, the Tiger-Cats were the only football club in the CFL to sell out every 2015 home game. Since moving into their brand new stadium, the club’s philosophy has been driven by the goal to deliver fans a best in-class experience in Canadian sport.
Increase # of season ticket holders
Increase top line revenue
Increase subscribed fans
Increase fan satisfaction
Using Stadium Digital’s Fan Loyalty & Engagement Platform...
Ticats All Access became the primary destination where fans came to consume everything from fantasy to contests to sponsor offers, in turn, creating one, simple and manageable relationship. Through that single relationship, All Access provided the Ticats the insights needed to better understand their fan base by relating behavioural digital engagement data to incremental spend, purchases, online consumption, and corporate partner activations.
Philosophy & Objectives
In their first full season at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario, the Tiger-Cats were the only football club in the CFL to sell out every 2015 home game. Since moving into their brand new stadium, the club’s philosophy has been driven by the goal to deliver fans a best in-class experience in Canadian sport.
Single Sign-On
Weekly Fantasy
Contest Registration
Targeted Offers
Surveys & Polls
Exclusive Content
Leaderboards
Geo-Location & WiFi
Ticketmaster Integration
Loyalty Card
Social Connect
Points & Redemption
Historically...
the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would make a limited number of complimentary pre-season game tickets available exclusively to season seat holders. The missed opportunity of the past however was understanding who, outside the season ticket holders, were actually using the tickets and establishing a means to contact them in the future with revenue generating ticket offers. For the start of the 2015 season, the Ticats partnered with Nissan as part of the launch of Ticats All Access, with the Friends and Family pre-season ticket giveaway. By signing up for All Access, fans could claim up to 4 pre-season tickets, which was tracked by a custom URL sent to all season ticketholders who forwarded it on to their network.
62%
of incremental ticket revenue was attributed to All Access was generated by Nissan Friends & Family Giveaway
5%
Purchased tickets
after sign-up
after sign-up
*Average basket size represents average transactional purchase at the Ticats Shop and Tim Hortons Field.
By rewarding fans...
for their interactions on the platform, All Access successfully
drove participation levels to an all time high; generating the
data to support ticket and concession sales, merchandise
offers, and partner initiatives. Whether it was making a retail
purchase, ordering food, entering a contest, consuming content on
Ticats.ca, playing daily fantasy, redeeming an offer, logging on to
WiFi at Tim Hortons Field, attending a game, scanning a ticket early
or participating in sponsor activations, All Access gave fans a
reason to engage with the team beyond the game itself. For this
reason alone, fans provided more information about
themselves and made Ticats All Access the number one digital
destination for all fan-related activities.
drove participation levels to an all time high; generating the
data to support ticket and concession sales, merchandise
offers, and partner initiatives. Whether it was making a retail
purchase, ordering food, entering a contest, consuming content on
Ticats.ca, playing daily fantasy, redeeming an offer, logging on to
WiFi at Tim Hortons Field, attending a game, scanning a ticket early
or participating in sponsor activations, All Access gave fans a
reason to engage with the team beyond the game itself. For this
reason alone, fans provided more information about
themselves and made Ticats All Access the number one digital
destination for all fan-related activities.
2X
All Access Members had spent twice as much on retail and merchandise than the average fan*
74%
of total yards were collected by members retained from last season
63%
of yards earned were from ticket and retail purchases
Gameday Fantasy Challenge
Built around a 48hr gameday window, the Ticats rewarded members for their interactions on All Access with a focus on Fantasy. The fantasy game awarded fans points for their first prediction, correct predictions, and bonus points for making picks early. Prizes were then awarded to the top three Gameday Challenge leaders each week, which included trips to away games and private meet and greets with players. The Leaderboard was also displayed on the video board in-stadium.
56%
of weekly active members participated in the Gameday Challenge
55%
Gameday Challenge participants played more than once
Throughout the season, All Access became an increasingly larger driver of weekly traffic to all of the Ticats’ digital properties. Embracing their new digital platform, the Ticats filled it with exciting content, offers, contests, fantasy questions, surveys, and sponsor activations, driving significant increases in digital engagement from 2015:
55%
of visits refer traffic to Ticats.ca
326%
increase in Twitter referral traffic from 2015
#1
Ticats All Access is the #1 site for referral traffic
In addition to creating new digital assets for sponsors...
partners are now able to track who clicked, viewed, and engaged with their activations right down to the user themselves. Partnerships with sponsors like RedTag.ca, WeatherTech, Buffalo Wild Wings, Via Rail, Barry’s Jewelers, and Lou’s Barbeque, became significantly more valuable now that the Ticats-Cats are able to target, track, and expand the reach of the partner’s on-site and online activations in a highly engaged environment completely controlled by the team.
Stadium Digital's web-based platform supports critical aspects of a property’s digital business, including fan engagement, loyalty, gaming, e-commerce and sponsorship. Whether you are a team, league, sport federation, venue, or event, integrating Stadium Digital’s platform into your property’s existing digital initiatives will support revenue growth and brand loyalty.