ADO Den Haag
ADO Den Haag, a Dutch professional football club, uses Apifonica’s outbound IVR to excite their supporters and strengthen the relationship between the team and the fans.
On a day when the ADO’s midfielder Lex Immers extended his contract with the club, all the ADO’s season ticket holders received a phone call from Immers himself announcing the news. The fans were the first to hear it, minutes before the official announcement. Club’s social media feeds burst with likes and comments. Powered by Apifonica’s Outbound IVR, this campaign reached about 5 thousand people in less than 15 minutes.
Immers is popular among the fans, many followed with interest the negotiations of his contract. “When the agreement was reached, we wanted our loyal supporters to be the first to hear the news,” says Danny van Voskuilen, Marketing and Communication Manager, ADO Den Haag. “But ‘leaking’ the story to the fans would make it less newsworthy for the media. We were looking for a solution that would allow us to put the fans first, but also keep the story fresh for the press.”
Delivering the news privately to each supporter right before the official announcement seem the right approach, so the club turned to Apifonica to design a fully automated calling campaign. The campaign included calling a list of 5 thousand phone numbers, playing a pre-recorded message, answering return calls from the fans, and delivering SMS. The solution was customised to reduce the time it takes to make all the calls. Now ADO could share the story with their supporters minutes before it goes public.
Immediately before the official announcement, Apifonica automatically dialled a list of 5k phone numbers. When a fan picked up, they heard a voice message recorded by Lex and might request an SMS with a link to the entire story. Those who didn’t answer but called back later also heard the recording. It took 14 minutes to call everyone on the list. 3161(75%) people answered a call, 2461 (78%) listened to the whole message, and 1283 (30%) received an SMS.
“The campaign was a major success, with a very positive response from our supporters,” van Voskuilen says. “Apifonica’s Outbound IVR is a fresh and creative way of communicating with our fans and a great fan engagement tactic.” The video with Immers calling the fans collected 15k views on Instagram and received lots of positive reactions across other social media platforms. The campaign was also featured in the press, contributing to the innovative and modern image of the club.
About ADO Den Haag
Founded in 1905 in The Hague, ADO Den Haag is a Dutch association football club, member of The Eredivisie, the highest echelon of professional football in the Netherlands.
About Lex Immers
The Hague-born Lex Immers made his professional debut with ADO back in 2007 and stayed with his home town club till 2012. After playing for several clubs in Netherlands, UK, and Belgium, Immers rejoined ADO Den Haag in 2017 with a contract till summer 2019. In March 2019 he extended the contract by 3 seasons, until summer 2022.