Atlas’ Game-Changing Sports Fan App & Social Network: Bad News For Facebook? » mobilegroove

Social networks allow us to share and discuss our passions with people everywhere on the planet. Up until now this free exchange has known only one barrier: the digital fence erected by the social network provider. But a new mobile app from Atlas Premium Brands (APB) could do more than turn the tables on the likes of Facebook; it could also provide brands and advertisers a much-needed opportunity to join the conversation.

When it comes to mobile sports content, Atlas is a major league player with an innovative mobile business model. The company— official and exclusive mobile partner of several leading soccer teams including Chelsea, Liverpool FC and Real Madrid with exclusive mobile and Internet rights to players and teams within the premiership league across in territories worldwide, including the Middle East, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Vietnam and all countries in Africa —has built up a stockpile of rights and relationships. The ability to connect teams and their fans (and gather all the CRM data it produces) is a core capability Atlas plans to monetize big-time through today’s release of Second Screen.

This social-focused app allows fans to watch the game live (complementing the TV experience, not negating it), discuss the action with friends in real-time (regardless of whether fans are on Facebook, Twitter or Instant Messenger, for example) and co-create a truly tribal sports experience that ticks all the relevant boxes.

Brands get social

Atlas has also quietly and cleverly sealed a partnership with Omnicron, the second largest advertising agency worldwide. Together the companies have the resources to take brand sponsorship of sports to a new level, and one where advertisers alone will call the shots. The strategy is on the mark since Omnicron already works with high profile brands (the likes of Emirates, Etihad, O2 and other brands that sponsor sports) eager to engage with fans every stage of the journey, and not just during the game.

To this end Atlas and its partner Omnicron are determined to offer brands an alternative to the likes of Facebook. Since brands cannot monetize on Facebook, except through the virtual currency Facebook Credits, Atlas has stepped up to allow brands to monetize using any payment system (through integration with payment APIs from all the usual suspects including PayPal, Google and mobile operator billing systems.

More importantly, Atlas enables brands to access all the CRM information around the relationships they cultivate through interacting with fans via the app, data that would otherwise be the property of the social network provider.

Connect the dots, the new apps covers all the bases to give the likes of Facebook some serious competition. Nigel Tatlock, Atlas Premium Brands CEO, tells me he has already signed deals with advertisers including P&G —a brand well known for its massive mobile spend.

Editor’s note: We’ll have more information about the app (formally announced today) and the brands on board from Nigel in next day(s). He is in Brazil speaking at SOCCEREX, the world biggest soccer show, and currently unable to respond to our questions.

Exclusive interview with Altas’ Nigel tatlock in Netsize Guide by Gemalto

One of the great advantages of writing the Netsize Guide by Gemalto is the opportunity to connect with cool companies and individuals to discuss disruptive technologies and debate mobile mega-trends.

Nigel and I did both in an exclusive Q&A, an interview that also details Atlas’ larger mobile-social-CRM play and big-picture strategy to give TV broadcasters a new and pivotal role in cross-platform, cross-media efforts to deliver us an immersive experience.

As Nigel put it in the interview: “The idea is to give the networks the ability to take control of the consumer experience on the handset — through our app — during half-time, so they can start a discussion with fans directly about the game. This way the TV execs at SuperSports in South Africa can say, ‘Wayne Rooney was off sides when he scored that goal.’ Back in the studio, they can take excerpts from the fan comments that pour in, and broadcast them.  After all, people everywhere want that 15 minutes of fame. If fans see their name on a ticker scrolling across the bottom of the screen with their message or their views, then they are more inclined to pay attention, and watch the advertisers that are sandwiched in the conversation.”

The reward is our attention, but the real value is in the CRM data brands can glean from our exchanges and interactions. Without a sharp focus on mobile loyalty, mobile CRM and all the ways to grow the lifetime value of the fan/customer brands (and sports teams!) are leaving money on the table.

“A football club will tell you they have around 200 million fans around the world. Ask them to supply names and details, and they can’t. Atlas adds value to their model because we have state-of-the-art CRM platforms that allow us to provide our partners and clients insights into every handset that buys content from the service. We could give Samsung, a sponsor of Chelsea, what we acquire from 10 million handsets and users — no matter if they are Nokia users, HTC users or iPhone users. What that does is extend the reach of the football clubs and their sponsors. We engage with consumers on a daily basis, a relationship that allows us to build up a detailed profile. And we can become quite scientific about our calculations based on the data — to the extent of that we can predict how much users are likely to spend over a period of a month.”

Based on this, Atlas can help its customers set the prices and offers for regions and user segments accordingly. “That’s where all football clubs traditionally fail,” Nigel points out. “They simply don’t have the CRM in place to understand the buying consumption of their consumers. Our systems help them identify where to spend the money and effort. We can also advise then when — and how — they need to target specific user segments, rather than just spend their marketing budget putting up a billboard up in Cape Town Airport with Manchester United plastered all over it.”

DOWNLOAD THE NETSIZE GUIDE BY GEMALTO & READ THE COMPLETE INTERVIEW

My take:

Will Atlas eat Facebook’s lunch? It’s a tough one to call. But the app clearly allows people new flexibility and freedom to connect and multi-task as never before. Against this backdrop, the app emerges the perfect complement to watching the game on TV — and the only platform to bring together all our friends across Facebook, Twitter and more. Atlas also wields its own stockpile of rights and exclusive games content (video, stats, interviews —the works) to give us stuff to share with our friends during the game and so enrich the overall experience. That’s the human side of the story. The business model puts brands and broadcasters back in the picture, allowing them a real opportunity to deliver advertising/content that is aligned with our context (watching the game). More importantly, this model (unlike Facebook & Co.) allows advertisers access to the CRM data that was created through their interactions with us. Granted, brands and advertisers will have to play by the rules (translated: learn from Facebook’s mistake and do not share our data with partners or third parties without our consent). But, if brands can grasp the reality that we alone own the customer, then this sports app (and think beyond sports to any activity we enjoy or participate in as a tribe) could indeed change the game — forever.

Disclaimer: Netsize collaborates with MobileGroove’s Peggy Anne Salz since 2007 to research and write strategic thought leadership and collateral including the new Netsize Guide by Gemalto. You can explore these industry reports and books here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Mobile Marketing, Mobile Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.