Kelly's Blog
Open Letter #9 - Fastpoint Games CEO - Kelly Perdew
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Early spring is perhaps the busiest time of year in the sports and entertainment space. It features high impact events like the Oscars, Sweeps Week, “March Madness,” the beginning of the MLB and MLS seasons, and the NFL Draft. All of this is in addition to the improving weather outside (except in LA!) and a bigger focus for most of us on family commitments, which makes time management a challenge for everyone, and forces all of us, including the highest impact brands and properties, to find ways to cut through the clutter and achieve strong personal and business objectives.
Here is a look at our latest developments in sports and entertainment:
Major League Soccer. There is perhaps no faster growing sports property in North America than Major League Soccer. Their highly successful franchises in Seattle, Philly and now Vancouver and Portland, have made them the envy of all sports leagues in terms of launches in the past 20 years. Their cornerstone franchises in New York and Los Angeles are also mirroring the expansion franchise growth, which makes for a very exciting time. One of MLS’ biggest areas for activation remains in the digital space, and we are pleased to work directly with the league to develop and launch two fantasy games that we all think will help them expand their fan activation platforms and continue to make them a leader in brand growth - the MLS Salary Cap game that allows fans to compete in free and cash competitions (http://games.mlssoccer.com/scm), and the League Manger game that allows fans to participate in a “draft and trade” fantasy game featuring their favorite MLS athletes for the first time ever (http://games.mlssoccer.com/lm). The MLS project was just featured in Technorati, here is the link: http://technorati.com/sports/article/mls-kicks-off-into-the-digital/
American Idol. We all know what a game changer American Idol has been in popular culture. Everything Idol has touched has been a success, yet there is always a need to attract and engage fans even more. Therefore we are proud to have worked with Fox to create and launch a new engagement platform for the show that allowsfans to predict winners and answer trivia questions over the course of the American Idol season. We think this will help make a great property even better, and set the standard for fan engagement in entertainment. Please check it out at http://apps.facebook.com/idol_predictions/ and see if you can predict who will be safe next week!
Fortune League for Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). In January, we launched our first meta-game for a major MMOG based on SOE’s EverQuest II game. By creating a “snackable” game accessible inside of Facebook, we have created a way for fans to interact with the EverQuest brand in short bursts when they are unable to engage in full usersessions. We have also opened up new revenue streams via virtual goods and have created a way for sponsors and advertisers to connect with EverQuest users in new ways. Perhaps most importantly, it re-engages existing users with opportunities to earn rare and unique prizing that they can use inside of the “actual” EverQuest world. The game is live at http://apps.facebook.com/fortuneleague. We also received a nice write up on the site “Inside Social Games” at http://www.insidesocialgames.com/2011/03/21/fortune-league-fantasy-sports-league-everquest2-style/
The NFL. Even with talk of a lockout, football remains king in the world of fantasy sports. From NCAA spring football to the coming NFL Draft, no athletes have put themselves on the year-round map more than those who patrol the gridiron on fall weekends. As a stand-alone offseason event, the NFL Draft has morphed into a multi-faceted, all encompassing three-day sports and entertainment extravaganza. The interest in the draft pulls from fans, brands and all levels of media, as stars are born and franchises altered. To capitalize on this obsession with the NFL Draft, Fastpoint has partnered with “First Round Exchange” to provide a unique, draft-based fantasy game. Unlike other draft prediction games, First Round Exchange will let fans “in the know” capitalize on their knowledge of underrated and overrated draft prospects, and will certainly enhance the draft experience for all who play. The game can be found at http://football.firstroundx.com/scm
March Madness. Our work would not be complete in the spring if we didn’t continue to refine our engagement platforms with the NCAA Tournament. This year marked the second time we launched enhanced bracket games for MySpace, again helping the property offer enhanced content to its strongly engaged audience. The link is http://www.myspace.com/myspacebracket. And my Kentucky Wildcats are still in it!
MLB and Facebook Migration. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we are making our core fantasy sports games available andplayable on Facebook. This will give every one of our partners a tremendous edge in being totally integrated with a global audience who are using the world’s most popular social networking platform for engagement. Please check out our Salary Cap Baseball games on FB at: http://apps.facebook.com/baseballsalcap/
All of these elements again show the fluidity of our business and the ways we can engage multiple partners on different platforms that best suit their needs. Whether they are established media properties like US Weekly and the Bachelor or entities that are just beginning to see significant momentum, like Major League Soccer, Fastpoint Games can not only provide a unique solution, we can provide the best solution, on budget and with measurable results. And those results will help whomever we work with to effectively cut through the clutter.
We will have more news in the coming weeks, but I wanted to take a few minutes to update you now, wish you the best as spring arrives, and encourage you to sample some of our new offerings. We would appreciate your feedback on these games, and all of our work, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you again for all the support!
Regards,
Kelly Perdew | CEO | Fastpoint Games