Daren Trousdell is the founder and CEO of OneUp Sports, a mobile sports network and developer of the second-screen platform Connect. The company has partnerships with the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA Tour and NASCAR along with individual pro and college teams. Prior to founding OneUp, Trousdell founded Mindblossom, a digital agency that was acquired by Aegis Media in 2007, and he became managing partner following the acquisition of Isobar North America, Aegis Media’s digital and mobile marketing division, leading digital media strategy for brands such as Adidas, The Home Depot and eBay.
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We’re focused on educating our partners that mobile shouldn’t exist as a cost center. We want to see the industry deploy mobile with the goal of building a long-term business versus just another marketing channel.”
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Photo: COURTESY OF ONEUP SPORTS
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“Owning” the fan: It’s important for our league and team partners to “own” their fans. With so many sources of the same information available in various digital channels, the future lies in making mobile the primary source of access.
Why mobile matters: Mobile is the core access point for the fan; the operating system of sorts. It must be a meaningful part of a business plan.
Unified plans: I see a lot of people still deploying multiple apps that have a unique or singular purpose. This is mainly because the vendor set is highly fragmented and integration is still somewhat difficult. The industry’s best chance for success is to find partners that have the ability to run unified platforms or integrate seamlessly.
Building a platform: The teams have a unique opportunity that has never existed before. With a powerful mobile platform, teams can run their own fan ecosystem that covers much more than core content. Mobile becomes the transactional gateway that can start in-stadium, or not. We envision the teams generating meaningful business on a 365/24/7 basis because they’ve built a vibrant ecosystem with features that meet fan needs.
Unlocking the in-stadium opportunity: We are actively involved in the strategy and deployment of new location-based technologies like iBeacons. We see much more opportunity than the immediate marketing and messaging benefit. We think this technology can transform the business intelligence offering for our partners. Knowing who is in the stadium, their movements and interactions creates incredible opportunity that will affect the future of all in-stadium marketing and investment activities. A large amount of teams are paying a lot of money to do this in different ways when it quite possibly already exists in a small, lo-fi Bluetooth box.
