Celtics 3-Point Play

Fantasy Sports Gaming Application

Brief as received

The Boston Celtics, like all professional sports teams are challenged to harness and draw insight from the enthusiasm of their fans on social platforms.

How can we enable NBA teams to enhance and grow our fan interactions online, keep them engaged throughout the season, in ways that enable the direct generation of revenue from season tickets and merchandising?

Research & Insights

Site-side could see the traffic to celtics.com was the 3rd largest in NBA, but interaction levels and time spent on site was weak.

The Boston Celtics had 2nd largest Facebook following of any sports team in North America with over 100,000 fans spread across about 10 “unofficial” Facebook groups.

Re-framed brief

Bring together Boston Celtics fans on Facebook into a single “Official” group so the club can connect directly and relevantly to drive fan access and season ticket sales in a way that sets the standard for the NBA in social.

Sharpened audience definition

Behavioral.

Digitally active or socially involved, in basketball or Boston sports.

Problem identified

Fans followed each other and the players pages directly.

There was no reason for fans to join the official Celtics page.

Insight that shed new light

Fantasy sports was huge for the NBA and the interaction rates were beyond healthy.

Looking at European on-line sports wagering was somewhat of an epiphany - digital with off-the-charts engagement levels all through the game and the season.

Marketplace & cultural understanding

We were inspired by Online European Sports Wagering but in North America gambling was not something that was socially acceptable or league approved. However fantasy sports with prizes, not money, was growing and the gamification techniques around it were becoming more and more accepted by consumers (and professional sports leagues).

A new way of thinking about the product or brand

Not just a team.

A service for NBA fans, around the world world, to challenging each other and that brings even more excitement to every game of the season.

Work the brief inspired

“Celtics 3-Point Play”

A first-of-its-kind Facebook “fantasy sports” application for NBA fans.

Fans compete against their Facebook friends and Celtics fans from around the world, challenging each other to accurately predict the statistical output of their favorite players each game by Points, Rebounds and Assists

Prizes are awarded throughout the season, with top winners competing for highly-coveted playoff tickets

Results

At launch the platform was converting more than 20% of Facebook Group fans to 3-Point Play players and achieved 50% of their yearly marketing intelligence goals in the first 7 games of the season.

3-Point Play harnessed the enthusiasm of Celtics fans driving the team's Facebook community from less than 40,000 to over 4 and a half mIllion.

Three years later Celtics 3-point Play can see 10,000 game day active users during the regular season and more than triple that during the playoffs.