Posts

InCrowd Welcomes John Beale as CFO

/by

After an incredibly successful 18 months, InCrowd continues to drive forward and expand its digital and data offering in international markets by appointing John Beale as it’s new CFO. John will be stepping into the role with the retirement of current incumbent David Johnson, who has been instrumental in the rapid expansion of InCrowd as a business in its 6 years.

With a proven ability in implementing corporate control and commercial flexibility in high growth technology markets, John has been part of a senior management team that led the development of a multi geographical £200m digital content sales organisation from VC, to AIM and subsequent sale. John specifically oversaw the finance function as well as data compliance and cyber security, GDPR and development of payment fraud IP via the use of deep data technologies.

John’s more recent experience of engaging legacy retail consumers with the world of recurring digital content purchasing in order to drive long term, profitable revenue streams stands him in good stead for the role, bringing a new set of experiences and technological understanding that will be paramount in the next phase of business growth for InCrowd as the company progresses its data capture and monetisation model.

“John brings some great technology sector experience to the business as we lay the foundations for the next phase of growth,” says InCrowd CEO Aidan Cooney. “I am delighted that he has agreed to join us on our journey.”

Outside of work John has always been a keen sportsman, playing a lot of football, cricket and running the odd half marathon over the years and in the post ‘kids era’ running local teams in the community across many sports.

“I am really looking forward to my journey at InCrowd and aligning my true love for sport, both as a participant and a fan, with my experience in helping to build high growth technology and specifically data services enterprises” John says.

“Aligning these two passions makes this a really exciting proposition for me. What is truly exciting is to be part of a technology business that has already proven the value of it’s core proposition with multiple key global clients and partners, combined with the obvious need across all walks of life for successful, collaborative digital transformation to optimise customer experiences. I am really looking forward to joining the InCrowd team and being part of the continued growth story!!”

About John Beale
John has over 10 years of experience in the IT Managed Services and Telecoms sectors, working specifically in growing entrepreneurial businesses undergoing both organic and inorganic change. As an ACMA qualified accountant and graduate in Mathematics with Economics, John has held the position as CFO of Evoxus, Telinet and niu-solutions in VC backed, leveraged environments focusing specifically on understanding and delivering the corporate control and commercial understanding requirements of companies in high growth technology markets. John joined Mi-Pay in February 2011 as CFO and now joins InCrowd in a period of exceptional growth.

For more information, contact enquiries@incrowdsports.com

InCrowd Welcomes Simon Thomas as Chairman

/by

With significant growth in the UK and International markets in the last three years, InCrowd has appointed Simon Thomas, as Chairman of its Board of Directors. A leader in the evolution of commercial sports marketing during his time at TEAM Marketing, FIFA and Fox, Thomas will guide the Board and shareholders, whilst offering strategic advice and support to the senior management team.

“We are absolutely thrilled that Simon has agreed to join InCrowd as Chairman. His appointment adds to a number of new senior executive appointments we have made in the past year. The level of experience that Simon brings both in terms of his standing in the industry and as a specialist in organisational transformation and development, should turbo-charge our next phase of growth across multiple new territories .”

Thomas adds, “I have great respect for Aidan; as the founder of Opta Sports, he has a great track record and enormous experience in this area. At InCrowd he has built a strong team and the progression of the business in just 6 years is impressive. Product innovation to crack the digital challenge is paramount, along with client success and the creation of strong and trusted relationships. It’s an exciting era for the business and I’m very happy to join the team.”

Over the last 18 months, sport has seen a distinct acceleration in its digital transformation, as organisations realise the importance of truly knowing, connecting and engaging with fans on a deeper and personalised level through better use of first party data and premium fan facing platforms.

In response to this, InCrowd chose to focus on product development, ideating, building and delivering new and innovative solutions to respond to the rapidly changing requirements of clients and their commercial partners. Over the last 2 years, InCrowd has almost doubled in size to over one hundred team members, with 65% of the workforce focussed on R&D.

At the heart of InCrowd’s product innovation is their Customer Data and Experience Platform (CDXP), Bridge, a “one stop shop” for querying and using customer data to create personalised fan experiences across digital platforms via a best in class headless CMS and direct to fan content, messaging and engagement tools, all analysed across a range of tailored reporting suites.

“The very foundation of our business lies in our belief that fans are your greatest asset and that creating great digital experiences through high-quality fan facing platforms, data driven content & messaging and innovative activations is the most effective way to drive swift ROI.” says Cooney. “We empower clients to be bold in their digital and data transformations and support them fully at every stage of their journey. These are the organisations that are now reaping the rewards and we’re excited to help others reach their full potential.”

Thomas agrees;

“We are in an era of digital disruption, and clearly the industry is moving towards greater and more effective use of data. InCrowd are market leaders in this space. Everyone’s talking about the need to connect directly with fans and consumers, but at the moment it seems to be more talk than action. InCrowd are actually making things happen, facilitating monumental digital changes for their clients and demonstrating tangible returns, which is one of the things that sets them apart.”

About Simon Thomas
A sports industry veteran, Simon will take on the role of Chairman alongside his role of Partner at Colgan Bauer. An influential boutique firm, Colgan Bauer offers international sports strategy consultancy for many of the world’s top governing bodies, rights holders and investors. Prior to this, Simon was Chief Commercial Officer at FIFA, where he extensively restructured the digital and commercial teams. His further experience includes 15 years at TEAM Marketing, UEFA’s commercial agency for the development of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League competitions in various roles culminating in Chief Executive Officer; and 3 years as EVP Global Sport and Content Sales at Fox where he acted on rights acquisitions for Fox Sports internationally and established a global content sales team selling entertainment, factual and sports content. Simon also established his own advisory agency, Talisman Sport & Media.

For more information, contact enquiries@incrowdsports.com

InCrowd appoints Michael Jones as Chief Operating Officer

/by

Michael joins InCrowd with over 20 years experience working across data, CRM, strategy and marketing with major sports organisations. Highlights include sitting on the ticketing strategy group for Rugby World Cup 2015 and working with other leading major rights holders and governing bodies such as British & Irish Lions, 6 Nations, EFL and Commonwealth Games 2022 on the implementation of data, insight and commercial strategies.

Most recently, Michael has held the role of Managing Director at sports marketing agency Goodform, specialising in data and insights and working with major sports organisations across the world. Prior to Goodform, Michael was Head of Business for Watford Football Club.

At InCrowd, Michael will be responsible for translating the vision and strategy of the business into operational delivery excellence. He will lead on facilitating internal commercial operations and importantly will help ensure our customers are able to drive their own commercial growth and fan engagement through optimum use of our technology solutions.

Aidan Cooney, InCrowd’s co-founder and CEO stated “We are delighted to welcome Michael to the InCrowd team as we continue to help organisations improve top-line growth and business efficiencies using our digital experience technology and solutions. Michael has a very strong track record of working in club operations and in providing CRM solutions to sports governing bodies, leagues and clubs. We are incredibly excited about the level of experience and expertise he is bringing to InCrowd and, most importantly, to our customers.”

“I’m delighted to be joining InCrowd at such a pivotal time in digital transformation within sport”. Michael says. “The business has grown exponentially in the last eighteen months with its clear mission to drive ROI through data-powered digital experiences. I feel privileged to have joined the outstanding InCrowd team and look forward to making a significant contribution to the business operations of InCrowd and its rapidly growing customer base”.

The RFL & InCrowd welcome over 100,000 members to Our League

/by

Our League, the RFL’s website & mobile app for rugby league spectators, viewers & participants has officially surpassed the 100,000 members mark.

Launched in Autumn 2017 in partnership with InCrowd, the membership platform offers exclusive content, participation, ticketing integration, member benefits and prizes, enhancing the fan experience for lovers of Rugby League at all levels of the game.

Surpassing the 100k mark is the latest achievement for the Our League platform, having celebrated a number of landmarks since it’s fruition. Over 76,000 members interact with Our League through the official app with single day usage peaking at over 47,000.

The stats

53 rugby league matches have been streamed live, including Betfred Championship and League 1, Coral Challenge Cup (Men’s & Women’s) and Women’s Super League. 51,000 unique members have watched the live streamed matches, amounting to over 160,000 cumulative live streams views to date, with the current record at 25,000 viewers during England vs France in October 2018.

The popular round-by-round predictor game, which has engaged nearly 40,000 regular players, has awarded supporters with numerous prizes including hospitality tickets at all major Rugby League events, signed shirts/match balls and the opportunity to win the grand prize of £20,000.

Supporters have also been able to have their say by voting for the Man of the Match for every televised Betfred Super League and Betfred Championship fixture. Participation in the poll has generated an average of 3,000 votes per game. The app’s match centre, which covers community leagues right up to the Betfred Super League, was viewed over 1 million times in February alone.

Our League 100K members
Nichola Spencer, Membership Manager at the RFL said, “It’s fantastic that we’ve achieved the 100k members mark and the success of Our League continues to surpass our expectations. Our active membership numbers are constantly increasing and we are smashing record after record in terms of users and participation.”
“We’d like to thank InCrowd for the exceptional service they have provided since the launch of the platforms and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them to further improve the app and website. We are excited about what we will achieve together over the course of 2019, delivering an even better experience for our unique and passionate fans.”

Darren Parsons, Marketing Account Manager at InCrowd said “Our League continues to be a great project to work on, with the platform evolving and usage increasing regularly. It has been great to see members from all corners of the rugby league community come together and find something to engage with on the platform and in collaboration with The Rugby Football League, we will continue to develop Our League into an absolute must-have, for every fan.”

Download the Our League app on Apple iOS and Android or visit rugby-league.com to sign up for FREE!

Maymask choose InCrowd Cast to power in-stadia digital display

/by

InCrowd are proud to announce that our ground-breaking digital LED display software, InCrowd Cast, is now operational at 11 rugby stadiums around the UK thanks to an exciting new relationship with Maymask, suppliers, installers and operators of LED Screens.

Cast allows Maymask to place live content directly in front of rugby fans, providing new methods of communication and unique sponsor activation opportunities. Cast also runs with zero downtime and zero lag time on hot key enabled, in-game interruptions – those moments when the usual display graphics are interrupted in real time to announce a particularly exciting point of play or moment in the game. This function gives the opportunity to build atmosphere and elevate the excitement for every fan. These interruptions also allow users to offer new and attractive opportunities for flexible brand activations as operators can now easily change or update graphics “in the moment” before or during a match.

When implementing Cast software, operators can now confidently trust a solution that offers:

  • Robust & stable functionality; Cast was created through operational testing. Each stage of development was trialled in-stadia to ensure stability and steadiness of every feature and function.
  • A dynamic mix of content; Maymask are able to engage fans with real-time interactions in the moments that really matter including final scores, live match statistics, live social media updates, betting odds and interactive gamification content.
  • Fast programming; Cast allows Maymask to create faster, easier multi-tier playlists for sponsor content, giving them the valuable time needed to deliver unique and unforgettable stadium experiences.
  • An easy-to-use system; Operational simplicity has been the leading requirement throughout the development of Cast. The software can be controlled by a single user without compromising on quality or complexity of output.
  • Seamless integration; Once installed, Cast will easily adapt to the individual parameters of each of the 11 stadiums. Cast allows Maymask to automatically assign, tile, scale and position video content to the user-defined regions of every LED perimeter board in every stadium.

Oliver Peters CEO of Maymask says “We believe InCrowd have a standout product in Cast when it comes to perimeter control and a distinct edge in developing fan interaction in stadiums. With many more ideas coming in the new season, it’s going to be great to see new technology and software combine to achieve new levels of fan engagement and brand activations”.

InCrowd Cast is the front runner when it comes to fast, reliable, single user display management solutions. For more information in InCrowd Cast, or to request a demo free of charge, please contact enquiries@incrowdsports.com.

InCrowd appoint Dan Lipman as Business Director of FanScore

/by

Fan engagement specialists, InCrowd, have appointed fan marketing expert, Dan Lipman, as Business Director of FanScore. Dan is joining from leading mass participation event organisers, Human Race Ltd.

Dan joins InCrowd with over 10 years of fan marketing experience and having specialised in driving and monetising customer acquisition and engagement for major rights holders including British Athletics, the Lawn Tennis Association and Tough Mudder.

Most recently Dan has been Commercial Director of Human Race where he was responsible for managing the marketing, digital and sponsor activation teams, as well as strategically advising the development of a new market-leading ticketing and CRM platform for parent company and organisers of Le Tour de France, Amaury Sport Organisation.

Dan will head-up the FanScore business division, which uses technology and data solutions to help some of the world’s leading sports audience owners, to better know, understand and monetise their audiences.

FanScore sits at the intersection where Brands, Media and Rights Holders meet, creating digital fan engagement tools and platforms that harness the 360 degree spend and attention of the sports fan and provide ROI focused digital sponsorship solutions.

Aidan Cooney, InCrowd’s co-founder and CEO stated “InCrowd have built a fantastic and profitable fan marketing platform and with Dan now coming aboard, we are going to progress our development for our clients in order to produce the most rewarding fan experience no matter where they are.”

Dan Lipman stated “I’ve witnessed first-hand how digital and social media has influenced the way in which brands look to activate to sports audiences, and the subsequent challenges this has created for Rights Holders in their ambitions to commercialise their assets.

I believe with our FanScore proposition we provide a genuine solution that will transform the ability for our partners to compete in a modern digital world. InCrowd have an unrivalled proposition and team to lead the way in revolutionising this space and I am delighted to have come on board to build on the great success the team have already achieved.”

InCrowd work with some of the biggest names in the sports industry including Premiership Rugby, 16 individual clubs, Toyota, Rugby Football League, Heineken and the ICC. To find out more information on InCrowd, please visit their website www.incrowdsports.com or contact us now via enquiries@incrowdsports.com

About InCrowd:

InCrowd provide a fan engagement & sponsorship activation platform. Our understanding of the avid and emotional mindset of a fan is combined with in-depth data analysis and ground-breaking digital technology to offer rights holders and brands a unique opportunity to reach out to sports fans in the moments that really matter. Many of the world‘s top rights holders & brands use InCrowd’s fan marketing platform to collect more fan data, sell more tickets and increase sponsorship revenue. We also help sponsors connect with new customers and convert fan interaction into revenue & advocacy. Find out more – www.incrowdsports.com

Portfolio Items