Hollywood always has a happy ending.
We are going to reverse it and start with one.
We are still here and we have a lot of opportunities on the horizon for 2023.
So let's look back at last year…
Covid, the global economic slowdown and decisions that didn’t go the way that we wanted have all contributed to a very difficult year.
During Covid we linked up with Sports Agency Wasserman and successfully delivered campaigns for THE US OPEN, SF49ers, Dallas Cowboys and the BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.
However, the long tail of covid reached into 2022 and despite sports and music organisations being back to normal, budgets were constrained with organisations sensibly focussing on the day to day.
However, it wasn't all doom and gloom.
We successfully launched Filmily Music at the British Music Embassy at SXSW in March, bringing the music Svengali RON ROY on in the process. Ron is a music legend, having formed a very successful business partnership with David Bowie at Ultrastar.
Andy spent all of March in the US, meeting our friends and investors at STADIA VENTURES, customers including NTT, The MLB and working with the UKs Department of International Trade to present Filmily at conferences in Houston and LA.
In June we were one of only 10 companies selected to present at UEFA’s Reimagine Football competition. The program was in association with City Football Group, AJAX, KNVB and the Johan Cruyff arena. UEFA wanted companies to present ideas on future fan engagement. They wanted strategies to enhance the experience for fans that attended games and as importantly, to engage remote fans and make them feel a greater part of the match day experience.
The judges' results were broadcast live. We sat nervously in the audience waiting to hear our fate, we knew that not all the companies would be offered a pilot. However, our hard efforts paid off with both CFG and AJAX agreeing to work with us. A truly brilliant result and one that we are extremely proud of.
On the back of this we were invited to join ARNO HERMANS at the Sports Vitality Hub in the Netherlands. A select community of sports companies, government and academic institutions all focussed on the next chapter in global sports.
We were shortlisted and a finalist in LA LIGAs start up competition to work with their clubs on digital fan engagement. Sadly, we were not selected, but happily we are still in discussions with them for next year.
Working with our friends at the German agency BRAND & EMOTIONS, their client REWE, we launched a brand new Filmily feature which amplified REWE’s sponsorship of 1.FCKoln with ‘Fan of the Day’. A mosaic of fans celebrating their support for 1.FCKoln, which then focuses on one particular fan who is then the ‘REWE Fan of the Day’ and appears on the big screens throughout the stadium.
TOM HILL joined the team as Non-Exec director for Sport. Tom is ex CCO of WORLD RUGBY and brings with him a wealth of experience in the commercialisation of sports properties. We are very grateful to have him on board as his insight and introductions are priceless.
Finally, we were selected by Sports Tech Belgium, as one of the start ups to appear on their highly prodigious accelerator program. The program runs through to January next year, when we present live to a room of VCs and potential investors. During the program we are being mentored by the force that is RYAN MCUMBER, Ryan has already made great introductions to sports properties in Latin America, Europe and the US.
We are very much focussed on a number of great clients that we are going to be launching in quarter 1 next year and we will be posting our successes as soon as we can.
Our one ask is that if anyone in your network is a rights holder or a brand that sponsors music or sport we would love to be introduced.
In the meantime, from all of us at Filmily, we wish you a peaceful and prosperous New Year with all the best for the festive season.
Happy Christmas
Andy, Ian and the whole Filmily team