Syndicated Surveys

Fanship Survey

Everyone is talking about Fans these days and for sports properties it has become a euphemistic collective noun for the audience:……THE FANS.

But NEW audience segmentation work shows this to be a dangerous and misleading assumption to make, for sports marketers and sponsors alike. Using English football’s Premier League Clubs as its base, sponsorshipscience’s ‘Fanship Survey’ looks at how individuals populating one Fanship group think, behave and respond very differently from those people in another group and reveals how this effects relationships with both sponsors and clubs.

What is FANSHIP?

Fanship describes the level of interest, commitment and emotional connection that people have with all types of sports, arts and entertainment properties including individual stars, teams, activities and competitions. There are 5 distinct Fanship groups.

Why is understanding Fanship groups important?

Knowing the make-up, size and differences of these groups is vital to communications strategies of both brands and properties involved in any form of Associative Marketing. The better you understand the constituent groups of your property’s audience the more efficient and effective your support marketing work will be.

What do the Fanship Survey results tell you?

The research produced a ground breaking set of insights into Fanship thinking and the marketing and commercial implications for both brands and properties involved, not only in football but in Associative Marketing generally.

Key findings demonstrate the bearing Fanship levels have on an individual’s:

• Frequency of attending events
• Consumption of property/activity related media
• Emotional connection to a property
• Frequency of cognitive engagement with a property
• Amount of attention given to the property’s environment
• Focus of attention and what they actually see/hear when involved with the property
• Recognition of property relationships such as sponsorships
• Cognitive engagement with the property’s partnerships
• Likeability, positivity and/or feelings of gratitude towards a property’s partners
• Willingness to reciprocate via purchase or trial of a partner’s products/services
• Propensity to partner advocacy and pro-active WOM
• Incidence of negativity towards partners of rival clubs / disliked clubs