The NBA has partnered with facial recognition app 15 Seconds of Fame.
The following interview is part of our ongoing Expert Series that asks C-level professionals, team presidents, league executives, athletic directors and other sports influencers about their latest thoughts and insights on new technologies impacting the sports industry.
Name: Brett Joshpe
Company: 15 Seconds Of Fame
Position: Chief Executive Officer
Brett Joshpe is the Chief Executive Officer of 15 Seconds of Fame, which is a technology and social sharing platform founded in late 2015 that gives sports fans and consumers the ultimate selfie.
Joshpe is a graduate of Cornell University (2002) and Harvard Law School (2005). After law school, he worked at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP corporate transactions and then at the law firm of Wrobel & Schatz LLP, where he handled litigation and corporate matters for various types of businesses.
1) What utilization of technology in professional or college sports has recently blown you away and why?
The quality of live steaming apps has gotten really good and the experience of watching is quite enjoyable as well. I was pretty impressed with Thursday Night Football on Twitter. The Masters App has actually been doing this for years, giving users the opportunity to experience that same Augusta beauty as watching on TV. Major League Baseball Advanced Media has also set a high industry bar with its live streaming of games. One thing mobile live streaming loses is the collective experience of watching sports with other fans and sharing that camaraderie, but it allows us to experience sports on-the-go like never before.
2) With its team and league partnerships, how is 15 Seconds of Fame leveraging technology to enhance the fan experience at arenas?
We are delivering to fans the one thing that they care about above everything else: content of themselves. By using our proprietary technology, we can seamlessly deliver to fans their personalized content — video and images — of themselves on camera. It’s a win-win-win for teams, fans and sponsors. For teams, they get dozens of calls from fans after games asking for this content, which they’ve never been able to previously deliver. This is also a great way for teams to enhance the in-venue experience for fans and to provide something personal and everlasting to them. For sponsors, this is the most personal way to connect with consumers. And for fans, this is the ultimate selfie, which is why over 95 percent of the content we deliver is shared.
3) If money were no object, what technology would you build or buy to help you do your job better?
I wouldn’t so much build or buy different technology but focus on expanding our platform into every sports and live event venue and ensure that every user has the same thrill and experience as the fans who are on the Jumbotron. The everyday user experience is something we are working on intently and should be able to share more information about in the near future.
4) As a sports fan, what sports-related service, app, product, etc., could you not live without and why?
Wi-Fi. I know it sounds basic but with everyone using mobile devices and more real-time interaction and multi-platform experiences, having good connectivity is absolutely critical.
5) If you had to project 20 years into the future, how will most sports fans engage with professional and college sports teams online and in-arena?
Venues will become smaller with fewer seats and more communal areas. Sports will need to become more interactive to keep fans’ attention, meaning the fans will increasingly have to be part of the show. That’s what our company is about: making the fans the stars. In addition, sports sponsorship will be dramatically different. Sponsors are increasingly questioning the ROI of traditional sponsorship assets like signage because people aren’t paying attention to ads, at best, and find them irritating, at worst. Sponsors are going to seek unique ways to connect with fans, which means quality over quantity. Again, that’s where 15 Seconds of Fame comes in. The reason why people like intimate events, such as small concerts, is because they feel like they are part of the show, and we will be offering more features that do just that.
6) Give us your bold prediction about a form of technology that will be integral to sports in general over the next 12 months and why?
Besides 15 Seconds of Fame, of course, which I do believe will be ubiquitous in 12 months because teams need fan engagement tools and, frankly, I don’t think fans are embracing team apps as much as teams want to admit. I also think teams will increasingly develop their own ticket sale and re-sale platforms. This is not just in the service of generating incremental revenue but trying to solve one of the most vexing problems for teams — understanding who their customers are.
