Fantastec

NFTs experienced unprecedented growth and demand across a multitude of sectors throughout 2021, not least in football

Sustaining fan engagement has never been more important for some of the world’s biggest football clubs. Popularity accelerated during the global pandemic as fans were unable to physically attend matches, with clubs needing to pivot and innovate to keep fans engaged, a trend which Fantastec capitalised on by creating a unique digital collection of memorable moments and exclusive player access for clubs including Arsenal, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund – powered by the blockchain. At a time when fan engagement was taking on a new meaning across the globe, our campaign aimed to increase the brand awareness and corporate profile of sports technology company Fantastec and its leading NFT digital collectibles product, SWAP.

Fantastec and its founding partners, Steve Madincea and Simon Woollard, wanted to raise the media profile of the business and its SWAP product to reach a core audience of decision makers within football across the globe, while also appealing to football fans and prospective app users. We were also tasked with growing Fantastec’s presence on LinkedIn, specifically targeting a senior stakeholder audience within football clubs, sporting organisations, and within the wider blockchain space.

Our PR strategy focused on leveraging the leadership positions within the NFT sector of Simon and Steve who had identified this new fan engagement sector long before it became mainstream.

We implemented a press office programme comprising business profiling and interviews, thought leadership, expert commentary, features and company announcements, to reach a range of audiences across different media verticals – all relevant to the core Fantastec proposition.

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We closely followed the busy footballing news agenda, in particular how the pandemic was impacting the sport, to determine how and where we could align Fantastec, its mission, and key messages. We told Steve’s personal story and communicated his mission and vision for Fantastec through interviews, while also educating readers and key target audiences with opinionated editorials and commentary on thought-provoking topics.

To round off the campaign, we announced the news that Fantastec’s millions of SWAP NFTs would be relaunched in the summer of 2021 on Flow, a next-generation blockchain developed by Dapper Labs – a move which would allow SWAP users able to buy or sell NFTs on a peer-to-peer basis. The announcement led to global industry media coverage and international recognition for the brand.

We delivered over 30 pieces of earned media coverage during the 10 month campaign, which contributed to Fantastec SWAP being recognised as a leading innovator in the NFT digital collectibles space, increased the business’ corporate profile, and built credibility among footballing decision makers globally. Highlights included national coverage in The Independent, Daily Express and City AM, two pieces in Forbes, sports industry coverage such as SportsPro and Squawka, and tech podcasts TechHQ and

On LinkedIn, a thought-leadership focussed organic content strategy was paired with a targeted paid strategy which reached senior figures at leading football clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. In total, our campaign reached 80,200 users on LinkedIn and we grew Fantastec’s LinkedIn channel audience by 11%.