The Patriots understood what many other companies today are only starting to grasp: that they needed to find where their fans were naturally socializing online and engage with them there by providing compelling content. Read case study to learn how they achieved this while maintaining brand control.

1. Client Case Study
New England Patriots
Optaros Delivers Front Row Seat to Patriots Content with OView Application Syndication
SaaS (Software as a Service)
The Client balance of entertaining and engaging fans on the front
The New England Patriots are one of the premier teams end, while gathering real data and engagement metrics
in the National Football League. As the first professional for our advertisers and executives on the back end.”
sports team with a website (launched in 1995), the
Patriots are true web innovators in the professional sports Using OView,
franchise arena. the application
syndication
service, and the
The Challenge
Event Viewer and
The Patriots understood what many other companies
Media Player
today are only starting to grasp: that they needed to find
modules, Optaros
where their fans were naturally socializing online and
created the
engage with them there by providing compelling content.
Patriots Calendar
App, a sharable
Essentially, the Patriots were looking for a new, unique
application
way to connect with fans on sites where they naturally
available at the
congregate with friends and other Patriots fans. The
Patriots website
franchise wanted to break through the clutter of online
and Facebook.
messages and to enrich fans’ conversations by providing
new, interesting, multimedia team content.
The Patriots
Calendar App
A critical challenge was to leverage viral distribution
gives fans
while still maintaining brand control. The Patriots needed
complete access
to track all embed sites and be able to block any
to all kinds of multimedia content on Patriots news
undesirable sites.
and information, including draft announcements, game
schedules and scores, videos of press conferences,
The Solution
radio interviews with team members, details about
“We chose OView because it is the only application
upcoming Patriots events, great moments in Patriots
syndication service that balances our desire to engage
history and more. Fans can grab the app and embed it
fans across the web with the need to protect our
into any website (including blogs and social profiles) or
brand,” said Fred Kirsch, director of interactive media at
synchronize it with Microsoft Outlook and other calendars.
Patriots.com. “As a professional sports organization, we
always have to balance being a fun, entertaining sports
Using OView, the Patriots are able to manage all content,
team with running a smart, profitable business. We feel
aggregate numerous inbound RSS feeds, make global
that the OView syndicated application gives us the perfect
© Copyright Optaros, Inc. 2009. All Rights Reserved. | www.optaros.com

2. updates, insert ads, block undesirable sites, and access
user engagement through a sophisticated analytics
system — helping the Patriots determine fans’ interaction
levels and specific areas of interest.
camaraderie with fans increase, and the application view
In short, OView allows the Patriots to update and share is embedded into more websites and social profiles,
content, and track user engagement, as if each individual brand visibility will increase exponentially. In turn, the
instance of the Patriots Calendar App were hosted on the Patriots anticipate a dramatic increase in advertising
team’s own website. interest, as impressions will continually grow through the
OView-driven Patriots Calendar App.
Revenue is generated through new online advertising
slots within the Patriots Calendar App, as well as traffic About Optaros
driven to various online and offline Patriot’s properties. Optaros (www.Optaros.com) delivers each client a
The Results tailored roadmap of Assembled Web solutions to achieve
The Patriots Calendar App launched in late December their business objectives. Clients are able to engage
2008, and has since been embedded into more than and transact with target customers anywhere online,
140 websites, synched with more than 1,600 Outlook increase business agility through assembled software
calendars and has 3,340 users on Facebook. Collectively and save money through the pervasive use of open
these satellite locations are driving more than 50 percent source software. Optaros serves more than 100 clients
of the traffic to the Patriots Calendar App. including Neiman Marcus, Smart Bargains, Rue La La,
Nestle, Travelocity, The New York Times, Sony Pictures and
The integration with Facebook, recommended by Optaros, Swisscom.
accounts for approximately 20 percent of this additional
traffic, providing significant opportunities for the Patriots Headquartered in Boston, Optaros has operations in the
to extend their brand communication beyond current site United States, Switzerland, Germany, United Kingdom and
operations and into the fan sites where the team’s most Romania.
loyal supporters are promoting their message.
“We’ve certainly achieved our goal of finding and
connecting with fans on sites where they are most
comfortable and already interacting with friends,” said Contact Optaros:
Kirsch. “In professional sports, one of the key factors in Switzerland: Kay Fleiger
creating a successful franchise lies in keeping the fans email: kfleiger@optaros.com
phone: +41 22 731 84 20
engaged with the team. By having our fans receive and
interact with team content on their own turf, the Patriots Germany: Sascha Rowold
Calendar App encourages ongoing engagement like email: srowold@optaros.com
phone: +49 (0) 89 210 199 00
nothing else we’ve done to date.”
United Kingdom: Peter Short
The Patriots’ return on investment will continue to be email: sales-uk@optaros.com
phone: +44 (0)207 953 4054
closely monitored, particularly as the 2009-2010 NFL
season gets underway and more fans are expected to United States: Brian Otis
email: botis@optaros.com
access, embed and share the Patriots Calendar App. phone: +1 617 227-1855 x8110
As user engagement and the Patriots’ unique level of
© Copyright Optaros, Inc. 2009. All Rights Reserved. | www.optaros.com