“AS Monaco always tries to be at the forefront of new technologies”
After Paris Saint-Germain, AS Monaco is the second Ligue 1 club to embark on the Fan Token adventure by issuing its first $ASM tokens last January in partnership with Socios.com. An initiative that should allow AS Monaco to consult its fans more in its decision-making while consolidating its status as a club at the forefront of innovation. In an interview with Ecofoot, Tyson HenleyChief Commercial Officer of AS Monaco, takes stock of the first projects carried out in the world of Fan Tokens.
How is the $ASM Fan Token an additional tool for fan engagement? How does the club intend to animate its community of fans holding club tokens?
Engaging with our fans is always key to our thinking as a club. We recently partnered with Sorare and this partnership with Socios.com is another step in this new way of engaging our supporters. It allows us to offer them a complementary experience by being even more part of the club. It is a unique opportunity for them to create a lifelong connection with AS Monaco and an unprecedented innovation in the possibility offered to them to be involved with their club.
For a very affordable price – €2 during the initial sale phase called FTO (note: Fan Token Offer) – buyers have access to many advantages: the possibility of voting during club consultations or of winning rewards such as VIP access to home games or experiences “Money can’t be bought” during games and quizzes. We want to bring this Fan Token to life as much as possible and in the most beautiful way to offer our fans the best experience with many activations.
We have already launched 2 consultations and for the first of them, where we invited our supporters to choose the special patch that our players will wear during the Paris SG reception on March 20, more than 7000 people participated. This is around a third of the total number of holders of our Fan Token, which is a very good result compared to the figures of other clubs that Socios.com collaborates with. For the second consultation, we asked our fans to decide on the next historic jersey that the club will reissue, once again generating a surge of enthusiasm within our community.
📲 Fan Token Holders $ASMon the occasion of the listing of the Fan Token $ASMyou can now access the 2nd vote via the application @Socios :
Choose the historic jersey that you will then see reissued next season with @KappaFrance on the app! pic.twitter.com/rFYsswwElv
– AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) February 3, 2022
As this is a new and growing universe, we move forward with humility. We look at what other clubs, leagues and sports federations are doing, we listen to our supporters on how they want to engage, we test and we learn in order to provide the best possible experience. We will also benefit from the know-how of Socios.com which is a partner of more than a hundred leading sports organizations worldwide. It’s an exciting new adventure. We have all the cards in hand, it’s up to us now!
This partnership also gives us the opportunity to set up innovative collaborations, such as the one with the renowned artist Nairone Defives, who designed the special patches for the match against Paris SG and submitted to the votes of Fan Token holders during from our first consultation.
⏳ … @socios
🖌 @Nairone pic.twitter.com/5GI2HsWEYZ
– AS Monaco 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco) January 16, 2022
Aren’t Fan Tokens mainly intended for fans living far from the place of residence of their heart club? Is this a particularly effective way to engage communities of supporters living abroad?
The particularity of AS Monaco is that a large part of the club’s fans live outside our territory. We have more than 20 million subscribers on our social networks – 1before Ligue 1 fanbase behind Paris SG and the club occupies the 16th place in Europe – while the city of Monaco has less than 40,000 inhabitants. We must therefore find ways to get closer to them and create commitment by offering them new experiences.
However, Fan Tokens are a very effective way to meet this objective. The proof, during the first 48 hours of our FTO, Fan Tokens were sold in more than 120 different countries. However, they also allow us to strengthen the commitment of our local supporters who are also delighted to be able to acquire Fan Tokens and become more involved in AS Monaco’s activities. We therefore address our entire community of fans, local or international, to enable them to strengthen their commitment to the club.
Has the club planned measures to guard against speculative phenomena? Have you put in place actions to favor the sale of tokens to ASM fans?
Our $ASM Fan Token was designed for our fans. This is why, unlike all other Fan Token auction systems, we issued ours in multiple sessions, with a limited number of Fan Tokens available per person during each session. Our supporters therefore had time to acquire their $ASM Fan Tokens. And they are guaranteed to appoint the majority of token holders, guaranteeing them that the democratic game will be respected during the various consultations and that their vote will count even if they only hold tokens.
We opted for the method “Do not sell the fastest but the best” to ensure a true representation of our fans among the holders of our Fan Tokens. This method has paid off as at the end of our FTO, 280,000 $ASM Fan Tokens have been sold to over 22,000 people, making our operation the 5th FTO with the most buyers among all the clubs that have launched their Fan Token with Socios.com. It was the first time that a club and Socios.com implemented such a listing system. We were therefore pioneers and this approach was very positive.
How does the club’s commitment to Fan Tokens reveal AS Monaco’s desire to get involved in the field of new technologies and digital innovation?
As a club, we always try to be at the forefront in the sporting field but also in new technologies. We are the only Ligue 1 club with Paris SG to have launched our Fan Token. We were pioneers with the creation of our Esport section. Finally, with 20 million subscribers worldwide on our social networks, we added 16th largest digital audience in Europe; it is therefore important to address this large community through innovative topics. It is in the DNA of AS Monaco to be present on all subjects related to new technologies representing strong potential.
🏟️ Long ignored, the subject of the fan-experience is treated more and more simplified by several leading Ligue 1 ⚽️ clubs.
👉 What are the goals and challenges?
Survey 👇https://t.co/JmDJWSteZW
— Ecofoot.fr (@Ecofoot) November 16, 2021