Revitalize Fan Engagement for Events and Premium Suite Sales

Leverage proven success strategies from adjacent industries for the sports & entertainment industry.

Analyst perspective

Enhance the fan experience and optimize business operations with proven practices.

With an aging fan base and growing competition from digital entertainment platforms, the sports and entertainment industry faces critical challenges in data management, innovation, and personalized experiences. As younger generations show less interest and existing fan expectations are unmet, the industry’s traditional operating models fall short. The revitalization of fan engagement through proven strategies and business models such as design thinking, unified service recovery, and value-driven automation is essential. The implementation of success strategies has its challenges and barriers to successful execution. Industry leader perspectives and vetted frameworks are necessary to overcome these barriers and sustain the industry in this rapidly changing ecosystem. Examining adjacent industries, such as amusement parks, zoos, and aquariums, and understanding how they address these challenges can provide valuable lessons. Elizabeth Silva Senior Research Analyst, Gaming, Hospitality, Sports & Entertainment Industry Info-Tech Research Group

Executive summary

Info-Tech Insight
The sports and entertainment industry must revolutionize its approach and ignite fan engagement through human-centric and technologically advanced strategies in an era of rapid digital transformation and increasing expectations.

How to read this report

This report is intended to showcase the results of the annual 2024 ALSD survey and share success strategies for achieving opportunities as discovered through the survey.

The objective of this research and the 2024 ALSD survey is to identify the top challenges, opportunities, and goals for the sports and entertainment industry. Through a series of interviews, insights will be identified to highlight success strategies and uncover valuable insights and best practices that can be applied across the sports and entertainment industry to achieve the opportunities and goals as defined within the survey.

Key questions that were asked within the survey include:

1. What are the top 3 pain points for the premium experience (select 3)?

75% Ensuring the premium experience exceeds expectations and values

60% Personalization

42% Seamless digital experiences from street-to-seat

2. What are the top 3 opportunities for the premium experience (select 3)?

79% Personalized experiences

57% Improved ticket holder data and insights

46% Transitioning premium suites to a digital-first experience

3. What goals are you trying to achieve through premium experiences (select all that apply)?

82% Create unique experiences that make fans feel valued

48% Increase demand for premium sales

45% Improve retention rates

Top three responses are listed here. Appendix A: Section 2: Q1-Q3.

Each section follows the same format:

• Case study overview including key highlights of the survey results and solution.
• The challenge, solution, and results of each case study.
• The Info-Tech approach to adopting the solution.

Source: Info-Tech Research Group, Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) Member Survey, 2024; n=65

Global and diverse perspectives are present in the data

Participant profile

Many respondents are based in the USA, but there is representation from Canadian and European organizations as well, offering a broader global perspective in the analysis. Additionally, venue operators, who account for 17% of respondents, significantly contributed to the research, providing valuable insights into the entertainment industry.

Opportunities are difficult to execute due to barriers

The survey analysis highlighted the top opportunities for enhancing the premium experience, alongside the challenges and barriers that hinder the ability to achieve goals.

While these findings have uncovered the layers of goal attainment, overcoming challenges is increasingly difficult due to a variety of factors.

Barriers to overcoming challenges

1. A disconnect with fans due to the absence of tailored content and channels causes a decrease in engagement as innovation in the industry is slow.
2. Difficulties in adapting to generational differences and maintaining excitement come from the industry’s inability to adopt new trends and improve the modern experience.
3. The traditional operating model does not support the business to overcome barriers and enable new business models.

Source: Global Sustainable Sport, 2023.

Appendix A

Section 2 – Q1: What are the top 3 pain points for the premium experience (select 3)?

Q2: What are the top 3 opportunities for the premium experience (select 3)?

Q3: What goals are you trying to achieve through premium experiences (select all that apply)?

Case Study One Overview

Create purposeful and memorable experiences through personas and journey mapping

Adopting a design thinking approach with fan personas and journey mapping will help the business to create more personalized experiences and increase fan engagement. The top challenges associated with this opportunity include exceeding fan expectations and value by effectively executing personalized experiences that resonate with each fan. Barriers such as the absence of tailored content and channels and adapting to generational differences make it hard for industry leaders to overcome challenges and effectively execute these opportunities. The development of personas and journey mapping will assist in overcoming the barriers and achieving top business goals in improving the fan experience and revenue generation.

Source: Info-Tech Research Group, Association of Luxury Suite Directors (ALSD) Member Survey, 2024; n=65

Create purposeful and memorable experiences through personas and journey mapping

Personalized experiences are only as successful as the plan and people behind them

INDUSTRY: Amusement Parks

SOURCE: Info-Tech Research Group Interview, May 2024

Challenge

A large amusement park faced the following challenges, which sparked the organization to improve data and insights to create enhanced personalized experiences that speak to different types of demographics:

• Understanding guest needs and wants
• Competing with other organizations in different industries such as Amazon, which provides highly personalized digital experiences
• Improving the appeal to premium, high-spend guests by creating bespoke, personalized experiences

Create purposeful and memorable experiences through personas and journey mapping

Continued…

Solution

To better serve the guests of today, the amusement park implemented a design thinking approach to discover business needs:

• Developed personas to understand guests and group them into appropriate demographics such as older guests vs. kids coming with families
• Collaborated cross-functionally between data and marketing teams to develop journey maps, manage personas, and gather data to understand the experiences and touchpoints throughout guest experiences

Through the development of journey maps and fan personas, the following opportunities were discovered and implemented:

• Taking a systematic approach to determine supporters vs. detractors and address detractors by understanding their negative experiences and how to improve them
• Creating partnership relationships with third-party vendors to align business goals and enhance the guest experience by increasing guest representative presence
• Emphasizing the importance of creating memorable experiences that drive customer retention and satisfaction

Create purposeful and memorable experiences through personas and journey mapping

Continued…

Results

By leveraging the development of personas and journey mapping, guest experiences and memories were significantly impacted:

• Improved service recovery by addressing and resolving negative experiences promptly
• Developed a cohesive guest experience by aligning business goals with vendors
• Increased ticket value for guests by creating memorable experiences, encouraging loyal and repeat guests and contributing to revenue growth
• Improved overall guest experience by boosting guest representative presence and interactions
• Showcased the importance of continuous improvement and feedback loops to maintain high guest satisfaction and loyalty

Insight
The entertainment industry typically includes multiple vendors under one roof, where misalignment between business goals is common (e.g. per capita sales vs. memorable experiences). This causes friction in the guest experience, where developing a strategy to align and ensure a cohesive guest experience is crucial to creating loyal and returning guests.