Industry News

TheStadiumBusiness Awards spotlight: AFC Bournemouth

Premier League football club AFC Bournemouth has been recognised in the Product Innovation category at this year’s TheStadiumBusiness Awards for its artificial intelligence chatbot, CherryBot.

Bournemouth teamed up with Greenwood Campbell and Microsoft to enhance supporters’ match-day experience with CherryBot, which answers fans’ questions and offers access to an exclusive selfie competition and video highlights of matches.

The service launched for Bournemouth’s home match against Liverpool at Vitality Stadium on December 17 and has proved a hit with fans. More than 400 selfies were uploaded, with more than 1,150 unique Facebook users interacting with the service, sending an average of 17 messages per person. The service also attracted more than 3.2 million impressions across social media from launch through to midnight on matchday.

Adam Greenwood, chief executive of Greenwood Campbell, said: “I am so excited and proud of the CherryBot team. We wanted to build something unique and fun, using the latest technology, that could enhance fans’ experience in the stadium and around the world. We believe that we have done that and the future for CherryBot and other match-day engagement bots is looking very bright indeed.”

CherryBot will face competition in the Product Innovation category from:

·      ‘ASB G9’ Stadium Golf at Eden Park (Eden Park), New Zealand

·      The Tunnel Club at Etihad Stadium (Manchester City FC), UK

·      Virtual Hybrid LED digiBOARD (ADI.tv, Supponor), UK

·      The District Detroit Mobile App (Olympia Entertainment, XFINITY), USA

·      Wi-Fi Deployment Innovations at Notre Dame Stadium (AmpThink), USA

The 2018 TheStadiumBusiness Awards will take place at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester on June 12. A full list of this year’s nominees can be found here.

Image: Matthew Jackson