Fanatics has built a business on being the go to place for fandom of all shapes and sizes, and there is no doubt they have become all things to their partners, their causes, and those looking for everything from merchandise to memorabilia. It’s not easy being everything to every fan, but they try.
It is with that in mind that we went to the first-ever Fanatics Fest on Friday at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York to see if you can take the online experience the multibillion dollar company has built and turn it into the tangible, especially with all the partners the company has in the business of sport.
If you went in expecting a recreation of The National Sports Card and Memorabilia Show, this was not really your thing. If you were a fan of today…teams and athletes of now, influencers who fill up your phone (especially the phones of a certain age), if you were looking for activities to do with young folks, if you had never been to an All-Star fan fest of the five major (male) leagues in this country or The Super Bowl experience, you had it all here. If you crave experiences tied to the WWE or the UFC, this was your place. If you wanted to see, even from a distance, what Stephen A. Smith looked and sounded like, or what Roger Goodell actually talked about, you had a chance to see it. If you wanted to be with your peeps in one place away from a stadium or an arena to emote joy and share thoughts, this was for you. If you were a brand licensee or a Fanatics partner company, this was your chance to see what it would be like if you put all these thousands of people together in an experience and see what you would learn.
Was it for the niche sport, recent Olympians, the growing women’s sport scene (aside from Gotham FC, the WWE Divas and a great activation by the WNBA this first iteration was all about the five men’s leagues), the astute collector of things from leagues and teams past? Not really. This was for the now…for the fan of today (like the young boy we saw with tears in his eyes because he actually got THIS close to Jalen Brunson), the influencers who are stars upon themselves, and for the relevance of brands to a marketplace of right now. Yes you could snag Kareem Abdul Jabbar signing or catch a pass from Tom Brady for a price, but if you were looking for low cost vintage buys then there were other places for you, and that’s OK.
All that being said, some observations away from the lines and the shooting contests and the autographs signing that I took away.
The WNBA and Educating Casual Fans: As mentioned if you were looking for women’s sports leagues and athletes, this really was not your place. This was MLS, NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL…all things of those five, as well as the testosterone driven push for UFC AND WWE fandom. No NASCAR, PBR, tennis, golf, NWSL and the like. However the WNBA did have a pretty big activation, which was centered on education…the education of the fan who may not yet be a die hard fan of the league, its players and its brands. It took a lot of creative thought to come up with how the league could fit into this demo, but judging from the crowds that went in, the education factor was unique and different.
VOTING: It may seem counterintuitive for this audience, but the NBPA had a voter awareness and signup spot with lots of merch giveaways. The demo for this was younger and if you want to drive voter registration and awareness for November, that’s the audience you need to reach, correct? Again, different from your card selling, your jersey buying and hat buying crowd, but when you give things away people stop, they think a bit, and you find an audience that needs to be reached through the brand of pro sports for an issue bigger than fandom. Different approach to find a key audience for the election cycle.
MLS: While the other four male leagues had mini versions of their traditional fan fests with contests and the like MLS had a different and more expansive footprint that had the contests for kids to try, but also had interaction pieces fueled by its partner Apple…think sounds of the game…as well as some cool giveaways that could be customized for free. NYCFC had its spot as well, but if you wanted something a little different, and MLS plays in the growing space, this was a way to engage fans who walked in looking for Mets and Knicks and Nets and learned and enjoyed soccer a little bit more.
Pinning Renaissance: Pin collecting and trading has always been more of a European and Olympics phenomenon over the tears, but maybe that is changing as we move back more into the affordable collectable, tangible items like Jibbitz, stubs (teams bringing them back) and the like. Although it was small, there was a Pin Trading station drawing a good amount of attention on Friday. Maybe pins will also see a rebirth amongst fans and artist and teams…fun, sharable and a unique reflection of who we are and what we follow.
Other spots of note: while Topps had its focus on the traditional, there were some artists doing very unique custom pieces at affordable prices, including Angel Aviles, whose graphite card recreations were both fun and different. If you were looking for more affordable and unique, we found Signables to be noteworthy…stats, images and autographs on a sturdy, uniquely shaped tangible collectable. There was also Westwood Sports Classics…custom built, very detailed metal stadia of various sizes and shapes.
Then of course there were the influencers who are more snaps and audiences than some of those actually signing autographs. Olivia Dunne in her Paul Skenes Pirates uniform, Drewsky wandering the floor, Sktech holding court for young fans while moms and dads stood nearby asking who this person was, Alix Earle on stage conducting interviews and posing for selfies whose line was amazingly long, and on and on. Pop culture meets fandom and drives reach and relevance.
And Education. For parents, for the industry, for leagues and teams, even for the athletes who could tangibly see what drives the dollars going into their contracts, their ratings, their merch.
There are very few places where a litmus test of fandom, especially intermingled fandom, can take place. Leagues are very siloed and rarely get to see what works with consumers when mixed with other leagues. Do more people, especially kids, want to shoot jumpshots or get in an Octagon? Do they want to take swings in a batting cage or shoot a puck or do an intro WWE style? Is it more important to be seen with an influencer or a sports legend? Often times it’s a guess. Fanatics Fest provided some concrete answers, at least for a weekend, for all of that.
Lessons learned all around, interested to see where it goes next. So worth the trip.
