Brands whose marketing strategies overlook fandom communities are leaving their most valuable audiences untapped, executives shared at a group chat on Monday at the ADWEEK House in Cannes.
Michael Sugar, the CEO and founder of Sugar23, moderated the panel, which included Alyssa Buetikofer, the vice president and CMO of McDonald’s Canada, and Stephanie Fried, the CMO of Fandom. The executives discussed the power of connecting with audiences in fan communities and through online forums surrounding sports, entertainment, music and gaming.
All three executives are well-versed in the subject.
Sugar, an Oscar-winning producer, has been recently working with brands to connect them with popular, fandom-inducing celebrities. Meanwhile, Fandom and McDonald’s have been working together to activate fans after learning that the McDonald’s brand had a robust following in the anime community.
Together, the three executives discussed why every brand should have a fandom marketing strategy and what that strategy should entail.
Here are the three biggest takeaways:
Reaching superusers taps into buying power
Fan communities bring disparate groups together through their shared love of a cultural product, such as a television series, sports team or video game.
This engaged group of superusers differs from mass audiences in that they are visibly declaring their passion for these topics, which gives relevant brands a rare opportunity to connect with consumers who often want them to be there.
In fact, according to Fried, 75% of fans say they are more likely to buy products or services from brands that support the fandoms that they love.Â
At Fandom, which attracts more than 300 million fans monthly across its naturally segmented Wikis, the scope and depth of these communities not only provide surfaces for brand integrations but are also rich sources of consumer insights and data that can better inform those efforts.
“Our fans are exploring 50 million pages of content that are unlimited scroll, so we know everything about what people love within these IPs and these franchises,” Fried said. “We understand not only what they love, but how that connects to other IP, which today is even more important as we see the rise of franchises.”
