Teams Find Social Networking Solutions at the Watercooler...
Monday, March 30, 2009 at 05:45PM 
Are you looking for new ways to tap into the social networking space? Is your organization looking for new ways to use social networking platforms to drive ticket sales?
Sports properties are turning to Watercooler Inc. for social networking solutions. Watercooler Inc. provides the most extensive network of online fan communities around sports and TV entertainment, presenting sports organizations an opportunity to target (and offer select promotions to) a niche group of avid fans. Founded in 2006, Watercooler has emerged as a leader in creating fan group applications (e.g. Florida Football Fans app on Facebook).
Sports properties leveraging Facebook groups to promote their brand will find that their options are pretty limited to walls, discussion boards, and building an online user list. With Watercooler’s 800+ online fan group applications, teams can do much more, including:
- Drive ticket sales (through an online ticket promotion targeting a niche group of fans that can span in number from a few hundred to 500,000)
- Note: To run an effective promotional ticket offer, Watercooler normally requests 7-10 business days for proper execution
- Cross-promote through other the fan group applications of other organizations in the local marketplace (e.g. the LA Clippers could cross-promote on the LA Dodgers page/notifications during the off-season)
- Offer select value packages/VIP experiences (receive a free hot dog and beverage with the purchase of a $10 ticket)
- Trivia
- Game Day Forums
- Discussion Forums
- Customized Walls / Photos
- Online Polls
Watercooler has already helped execute ticket promotions for a handful of professional teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, NY Islanders, Phoenix Coyotes, Los Angeles Clippers, and New York Rangers. The company has the infrastructure to help teams host third party social communities on their team pages and can help deliver promotions to a new, untapped online fan base.
Look for new efforts by Watercooler in the sports marketplace! Check out a clip that details their services below:
Reader Comments (2)
This is very interesting. I wonder if you have to pay upfront rates to work with them or can just pay them a % of sales. If its the latter it seems like a no brainer to reach your fans on promotions and contests.
I will look into this. Thanks.
Brian, thanks for writing about Watercooler. We think we have an exciting solution to help pro and college teams reach their fans using social media - something many of those organizations are trying to figure out. Just for clarification though, we're currently only working with the Warriors, Clippers, and Islanders on ticket promotions but are in active conversations with the other teams listed. We've also had good success running fan contests for teams like the Braves and Canadiens, as well as several on our own. So we can do a lot of things to work with teams.
And to the previous commenter, we only take a % of the tickets we sell through our applications. So there is no set up and no upfront payments. So I agree that it should be a no brainer since it's risk free to the teams.
Bryan Bennett
Sr. Director of Marketing
Watercooler