French football club RC Lens integrates VOGOSPORT to enrich the experience of its fans
For the next season, RC Lens crosses two important milestones: first of all, a sporting milestone, with the rise in Ligue 1. Secondly, a new step in its fan experience strategy with setting up new digital services and reception facilities to increase attendance on match days and enrich the experience of its fans; Those projects has been initiated since the 2019-2020 season. For the past year, VOGO has been part of the adventure… Overview with Fabien Simon, Head of the RC Lens Brand Pole.
The club’s Fan experience strategy
“In the Club’s DNA, fans are at the heart of the support in all phases of the team’s development. Therefore, our objective is to always offer them the best”, Fabien Simon, RC Lens Brand Manager.”
RC Lens has defined two major lines of action, pillars of its fan experience strategy: closeness to the public and differentiation of services.
In this approach, the club has created :
- A Family stand, offering fun activities before the matches: normal and giant table soccer, animations and make-up for children.
- “Non-football” activities for those who are not soccer experts or enthusiasts, but wish to come and have a good time at the Bollaert Delelis stadium and share emotions with their loved ones during the matches: fireworks, concerts, staging of the official RC Lens song “Les Corons”…in short, a range of tools to magnify the show and intensify the feelings. The Club has the advantage of being a major center of interest in a city where the sports and cultural offer is limited.
“It’s a bit like in Dunkerque city with its carnival, the fans “sing in unison”, in a warm and fraternal atmosphere”.
A rich and segmented offer with the welcome of VIP guests
The Bollaert Delelis Stadium has developed 6 differentiated VIP service ranges, with catering and associated services, from the most accessible to the most upscale:
- An offer focused on the stands, with access to the lounges
- In two lounges, differently configured on 2 floors :
On the 1st floor, the most accessible lounge, based on a cocktail-dinner restaurant, arranged around thematic counters and a standing lunch arrangement.
On the 2nd floor, the most upscale lounge with table service, targeting companies that wish to offer a great service to their customers or employees.
The BBT: The Bollaert Business Team on the 2nd floor, which brings together partners and entrepreneurs in a “Business club” for their B2B meetings and events.
What are the advantages of the VIP lounges?
“In all of our range of services, we favor proximity, novelty and innovation. The proof: already before Euro 2016, we opened all our hospitality spaces in “open space” mode. This configuration gives our guests the opportunity to meet the president, management, former players, etc. and experience the match in a very friendly atmosphere, as close as possible to the Club’s team.”
The mainstream public experience
New for the 2020-2021 season: with the support of its partner WAIGEO, RC Lens launches its official application.
The app integrates new services, to live as close as possible to the Club and its players:
- Gaming
- Votes for the “best player of the game”.
- Rewards in the form of loyalty points linked to purchases and discounts on tickets
- Videos
- Exclusive contents
- Notifications
- Personalized offers, …
“The objective of the application is to bring an immersive character to the game, by privileging proximity and exchanges with our fans.”
VOGO’s contribution to the RC Lens strategy
VOGO has been a partner of RC Lens since the beginning of the 2019-2020 season: the VOGOSPORT Live & Replay video solution is set up in all the hospitality areas, through the VOGOSPORT app, available for spectators in the VIP stand, and on a large touch screen in the premium lounge named “L’exclusif”.
A unique post-match animation from the VOGOSPORT touch screen.
At the heart of its premium lounge on the 2nd floor, the Club has created a podium occupied by a large touch screen. It serves as a support for a singular post-match animation, based on the content of the VOGOSPORT solution.
In general, Fabien Simon is in charge of organizing the animation:
“Before the start of the match or at half-time, I announce the guest player who will come to debrief the match after the final whistle. Over the course of the season, we have managed to create an expectation and a craze among the guests; they exchange in the run-up to the game: “Who’s coming? A goalscorer? …During the match, I tag the most remarkable actions on the VOGOSPORT screen, memorizing the passages on which we will exchange with the player and the most appropriate angles of view. The animation takes place after the game and lasts about 20 minutes. I’m on the stage with the guest player, on either side of the touch screen. The guests of the lounge gather around the stage, less than 4 meters away from the player, thus giving concrete expression to the club’s desire for proximity.”
“The animation is meant to be interactive: if at the beginning, people were a little shy, it works perfectly today. We even create challenges between former player and guest player. I also give the guests the opportunity to interact with the player, ask questions and go deeper into the topics. After the animation, a signing session is organized for young and old, for the pleasure of all.”
Fabien Simon’s feedback:
“As time went by, the organization around the animation has been refined to be optimized and continues to improve. We managed to create un “rendez-vous” during which the actors of the match come on “stage”. When a goalscorer arrives to comment on his goal, the added value is greater for the guests than with just one journalist. ». According to Fabien Simon, “The implementation of the VOGO SPORT touch screen is a good opportunity to play the card of closeness and interactivity with VIPs, all with a lot of spontaneity”.
The VOGO SPORT application for the general public: a useful and enriching service
In addition to the touch-screen animation, the Club has made the VOGOSPORT app available since last season for the spectators of the MAX LEPAGNOT VIP stand.
For the 2019-2020 season, users downloaded the VOGOSPORT app free of charge from the iOS or Google Play stores. During the match, they were able to access live feeds from the cameras filming the match on their smartphones, with the option to instantly replay to review an action, to watch it again in slow motion, frame by frame, or to zoom in to get closer to the action. Starting with the 2020-2021 season, these functionalities are fully integrated into the official RC Lens application, for a simplified and unified digital journey.
” Feedback from spectators using VOGOSPORT is positive. The fact that the service was only available on 1 grandstand last season can create frustration, and communication targeted to a single area is not obvious. In this context, the Club plans to extend the service to the entire Stadium, which will allow global communication about the service via the speaker, the giant screen, and the new Club app.”
WAIGEO partner of the club sponsors the Live & Replay services
As part of its digital innovation strategy, RC LENS has marketed the visibility around VOGOSPORT services to its major technology partner, WAIGEO. Specialized in the development of web applications and solutions, with a natural digital sensibility, the company immediately associated itself with the implementation of the VOGOSPORT project at RC Lens, betting on the attractiveness of VIP animation in its own commercial strategy.
“The partnership was set up before the start of the season and from the very first match, WAIGEO was highlighted as a partner offering touch-screen animation to VIP guests. WAIGEO representatives are always present during the animations, and, as their table is located near the stage, it allows them to meet the other BtoB guests of the show and to initiate business relationships, which make their investment profitable. The WAIGEO logo is permanently integrated in the VOGOSPORT interface and ensures the company visibility throughout the season. For the next season, WAIGEO is ready to renew the VIP VOGOSPORT touch screen service”.
Practical aspects of this partnership are managed directly by LAGARDERE who is in charge of the contractualization of services with RC Lens. This first project could be duplicated in other clubs or for other events.
What’s new for next season?
As RC Lens enters Ligue 1 for the next season, the club focuses on renewing the VOGOSPORT animation by enriching it with new features as personalized tags, highlights broadcast in a loop, the possibility to draw on the screen… And integrate VOGOSPORT into the club’s new app, this time offering the service in all the stands of the Bollaert Delelis Stadium. The development is provided by WAIGEO, which suggests a strengthening of ongoing partnerships … for the happiness of fans.
