Blockchain

Blockchain is undoubtedly a notable revolution in systems of record. With its ability to create more transparency and fairness while also saving businesses time and money, the technology impacts a variety of sectors. 

In an interview with Analytics Insight, Simon Woollard and Steve Madincea, Co-Founders of Fantastec share their valuable insights on how the company utilizes blockchain technology to help connect sports teams and stars with their fans in the digital era. 

 

How did you initially come together as a partnership team? 

Simon Woollard: Steve previously started a massively successful sports marketing and activation company where I joined as a senior member of the team. We were fortunate to have some of the biggest clients within the sports sponsorship industry, as our partners were active in the UEFA Champions League, Formula 1, The Premier League, the NBA, the NFL, international tennis and golf and of course, The Olympics. Throughout this amazing growth period, Steve and I kept searching for what's next within the industry to keep our clients at the forefront. We looked at the latest tech along with the most recent data from sports fans, teams, and leagues across the globe. This continual search cemented our bond and started the journey to find better engagement solutions for sports fans. 

A problem started cropping up in 2014 with global fans. Data scientists labelled it as 'social media fatigue.' Social media was becoming less interesting and engaging. Merely liking a post or following their favourite team or athlete was not satisfying for an increasingly large number of sports fans. Fans said that they wanted more engagement and more interaction with the teams and players they supported. 

Steve Madincea: Do you remember the sports team's phenomenal job of building their social media ecosystem to gain tens of millions of followers around the globe? They were essentially in a ten-year race to have the most social media followers. However, this also brought in the problem of how they can connect better with these new, digital-first fans, who would likely never attend a match at the stadium. 

Simon and I were both sports fans and shared this pain of connecting with our favourite sport in a time-shifted or geographically challenged manner. 

We were obsessed with this problem to better connect sports fans using the latest technologies. We knew sports consumed a large part of the fan's daily routines. Being passionate about this issue drove us both to leave our existing positions at the company. We headed towards the start-up world! 

 

That was quite a leap of faith; what did you do next? 

Simon: Steve is well connected in the global sports industry because of his prior business activities. So, we went forward meeting many people within the sports sector to validate our initial hypothesis. What we uncovered provided the adrenalin to embrace our initial ideas. Essentially sports teams were rightly focused on winning and not on the latest technologies enabling a better engagement with their customers. 

Steve: We took this problem of international fans wanting to be more engaged with their favourite sports and stars, and met with tech companies and tech leaders in America, Canada, Europe and the UK. The consensus was that tech companies had little interest in sports in general and solving this fan engagement issue specifically. Therefore, we knew we had to use our experience and knowledge to solve this dilemma for the billions of sports fans around the globe. 

 

So how did you end-up as blockchain pioneers? 

Simon: First off, we really didn't care if our solution involved blockchain or AR or VR or OTT or haptics or any new emerging technology when we started. We were in love with the problem, not the solution. 

Steve: The more we investigated blockchain, the more we started to understand how powerful it could be within the sports world.  Sport is a universe with a complex mix of rights across many territories, plus you have to deal with players' rights versus teams' rights, fake merchandise and sports fans growing desire not to have their data abused by third parties. Blockchain has the ability to cut through this quagmire, given its decentralised nature and its ability to provide authentication and verifiable team assets. 

 

Were you guys blockchain experts? 

Steve: Not initially. But one of the traits I have always appreciated about Simon is his drive to dig into issues he does not fully understand. Simon ultimately crafts a unique and winning perspective. Once we knew blockchain could resolve many of the challenges within the sports fan ecosystem, we went on a mission to gather as much insight and information as we could. Now, we both speak at blockchain conferences and help out others as industry educators and ambassadors.  

Simon: The blockchain community has always been very open and welcoming to any new queries. Maybe the best part about the blockchain community is its openness. At one point, Steve overheard a man at a London-bound train speaking about blockchain on his mobile phone. Once the call ended, Steve approached the guy who turned out to be a bit of a sage in this area. But importantly, he also connected us with a wide variety of blockchain experts. We learned quite a bit from these coffee-shop discussions and product demonstrations. The more we uncovered about blockchain, the more we appreciated its power to help sports fans and teams.  

 

Tell us about launching the first-ever blockchain-based digital collectibles Fantastec Swap? 

Simon: It wasn't easy, and that's for sure! We knew that blockchain, the important element was merely one component. So concurrently, we worked on design and gameplay, and many other aspects required to be successful. We tested numerous early versions with different age groups and backgrounds throughout the United Kingdom before we launched. That exercise yielded positive results. Then we approached Manchester City to test our newest features with their global fan base. The Manchester City test proved ten times more successful than we had hoped. So, we increased our development speed to get to the market as quickly as we could.  

Steve: First, we met with some of the leading European football clubs and showed them Fantastec SWAP. Blockchain, being a relatively new technology, a big education piece needed for all the teams. Many confused it with crypto, so we had to explain how blockchain can live without crypto, but crypto cannot live without blockchain technology. 

Once we educated the teams, they quickly saw how this SWAP retention structure was much better for them, and their fan engagement needs. Football is very tribal, and the further you get from any stadium, the less tribal it becomes. When you venture into North America or China, you quickly find fans liking multiple teams. So it is in the team's best interest to engage with these distanced fans and ultimately bring them closer to their team. That is where they feel the true benefit of a lifetime fan value. 

 

Where do you guys go with your blockchain technology from here? 

Steve: The question should actually be where we can't go. By the time this article is published we will have 1 million SWAP digital collectibkes in circulatioin the first to reach that lofty plateau in sports. Now that we are operating in a pandemic world, our daily data from our global fans becomes even more valued.   

Simon: Technically, improvements are being made within the blockchain ecosystem all the time. We are constantly evaluating how these can better enhance our user’s experiences. For example, just look at the advent of ERC 1155 and all the possibilities it brings. Maybe the most intriguing aspect going forward will be the increased retention activities sports teams and stars can do with fans once they have digital collectibles locked into their phones. They won't let them go ever!