Frisco, TX – April 17, 2016 – Toyota Stadium: Fan of FC Dallas during a regular season game
(Photo by Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images)
Keeping an eye on a game while also taking an all-important selfie can be tricky to negotiate sometimes, especially if you miss some of the crucial game action. Snaptivity is seeking to change this, by offering to do this on behalf of fans.
It works by partnering with a sporting venue to use cameras to take pictures of fans at the most critical and emotionally charged times during a game. For sports fans to be picked out in the crowd by Snaptivity, they need to download the iOS or Android app or login on the web. From there, fans need to enter their seat number, at a venue that Snaptivity is partnered with. Snaptivity’s interface offers fans to view photos of themselves and “trending” pictures, all of which can be shared on social media.
Based in Birmingham, England, it was able to develop the product by obtaining funding from Creative England thanks to winning Ideas Britian’s #InSport competition. The competition was also supported by English Premier League soccer team, Manchester City FC and enabled the company to sign a partnership with the club to trial the technology at home games at the Etihad Stadium. It has partnered with the famed Edgbaston Cricket Ground too and has been used during Natwest T20 blast British cricket league games for the local Birmingham Bears team and also International cricket matches.
To date, Snaptivity has been available at 18 combined sporting events since launching, while over 235,000 photos of fans have been taken, during these live trials.
For venue partners and also advertisers, Snaptivity’s pitch is that it is able to enhance and personalize the match day experience which maximizes fan engagement both at the stadium and online, while at the same time, the company is able to gather detailed user data and offer behavioral insights of an audience.
Regarding one of Snaptivity’s partnerships, Tom Rawlings, who is communications manager at Edgbaston Cricket Stadium said in a testimonial: “Snaptivity is not only a great tool for bolstering the match day experience, but it gives spectators an opportunity to relive their moments from a match at Edgbaston and to share them through their social networks. This represents a great opportunity for us as a sports venue to showcase our offering.”
The company was also recently selected by global advertising agency R/GA to take part in short internet of things (IoT) accelerator program, which is supported by Innovate UK, the UK Government’s official innovation agency. It concludes May 4, and Snaptivity will demo the product in an invite-only event.
