Enhancing Consumer Engagement: Exploring the Potential of Fan Tokens

Abstract

The present study explores how fan tokens mediate engagement for a global community of football fans. Employing a mixed methods approach, a netnographic research strategy is used to collect podcasts, surveys, statements from official fan associations and special media reports, and to interpretively analyze underlying desires, motivations, values, and meanings of engaged football fans. Further, data from Socios.com in the form of club-initiated engagement opportunities (N=205), and the resulting engagement behavior of fan tokens holders is dissected and analyzed through descriptive statistics. Findings show that fan tokens allow for engagement through a task-based structure, resulting in varied levels of engagement, valuable extraordinary experiences for the few. Moreover, findings indicate a tension between monetization on engagement through the use of cryptocurrency, and a desire to engage with football clubs, resulting in both positively and negatively valenced engagement. Based on existing engagement literature and the findings of the research, a conceptual model is proposed, showcasing the existing and a hypothetical route of how fan tokens mediate engagement.