DEAN DRURY, HEAD OF PRODUCT AND INNOVATION, PERFORMANCE
At Wasserman, we believe fandom isn’t just passion – it’s potential – and that the industry has been woefully underestimating that potential. Until now.
What if truly capturing fandom was one of the biggest untapped commercial opportunities in sport and entertainment?
That’s exactly what we set out to continue exploring at this year’s MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Hackathon. The Hackathon, held annually as part of the conference, hosts more than 100 students and young professionals as they assemble in groups and are given a business challenge to solve using a large data set. We put real data in the hands of future industry leaders and ask them to think bigger and more strategically.
This year, we specifically armed the students with tens of thousands of rows of anonymised first-party fan data, assessing the potential of an airline partnership with a global football club. This dataset included everything from football match attendance and merchandise spend to loyalty metrics and travel habits. The challenge: turn fandom into measurable sponsorship return on investment (ROI).
One group uncovered how targeted fan engagement alone could drive $21M in incremental airline bookings by linking fan behaviours to booking patterns and uncovering segments ready to convert.
Another group took a slightly different approach. They segmented fans based on how often they travel, their engagement with sponsors and their level of loyalty. The students pinpointed two fan groups with significant commercial potential: frequent flyers with high disposable income who also attend matches regularly. By modelling different fan scenarios, they showed how personalised offers – such as VIP travel packages or match-day perks – could significantly increase revenue while reducing media waste and improving conversion efficiency.
This isn’t theory. It’s proof that data can now further turn passion into profit, one fan at a time.
For too long, sponsorships have focused primarily on visibility. But brand leaders want more measurable outcomes, including leads, conversions and long-term loyalty.
The real opportunity lies beyond metrics such as ‘revenue per fan.’ It’s in the ability to know, grow and convert audiences with a desired outcome in mind. Fandom is more than emotion; it’s a commercial driver. And when activated with purpose, it delivers results.
Take Tottenham Hotspur and AIA. Most partnerships scratch the surface – this one went deeper, using data to unlock genuine performance value. By aligning AIA’s commercial objectives with fan data captured through our digital activations, Wasserman uncovered $19.48M in incremental value, from insurance intent signals to cross-market audience overlaps and high-impact retargeting opportunities.
Not just scale, but precision. Not just reach, but relevance.
At Wasserman, this is exactly where we focus – turning audience insight into action and making partnerships work harder for brands and rights holders together. Not every brand is looking for the same outcome. Some do need that broad reach to drive awareness, others benefit more from targeted engagement and most need a mix that’s shaped by what they’re trying to achieve.
Our job is to understand those objectives, intimately knowing the fan, and developing the appropriate strategy to make it happen – capturing return that may have previously been underestimated.
Brands spend $800B a year on digital marketing. If we can redirect even a fraction of that through smarter, insight-led partnerships, we reshape the role of sport and entertainment in the media mix.
Fandom is powerful.
We’ve seen first-hand what’s possible when data meets creativity, and strategy meets relevance.
Now the question is: how many partnerships are still leaving value on the table?
For more information on how Wasserman’s Performance team can help you unlock commercial value through fandom, please contact: dean.drury@teamwass.com
