The Golden State Warriors are a professional basketball team based in Oakland, Calif. They are part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association.

The Situation

The Golden State Warriors’ marketing department was looking for a new and exciting way to engage and connect with its season ticket holders in their ticket renewal campaign during the spring of 2009. To their delight, they came across an interactive and engaging product called Vontoo V2 (Voice + Video) which provided the perfect opportunity to “treat” their fans.

This product comes from Vontoo voice marketing, a company that uses VoIP technology to send permission-based messages. By incorporating video in the V2 product, Vontoo has created a truly engaging and exciting method of marketing to customers and obtaining valuable opt-in permission.

The Campaign

The Warriors put together an interactive video to excite fans. Before the video begins, viewers are asked to provide some basic contact information including their names and phone numbers. The video then plays out, depicting a dramatic game situation from the perspective of the team’s huddle during a time-out, which includes the viewer’s name in the action. Then, viewers receive a phone call with a recorded message which appears to be coming from Warriors Coach Don “Nellie” Nelson. Coach thanks the fans for their support over the past season and encourages the same enthusiasm for next year’s season.

Equipped to handle thousands of people simultaneously viewing the video and receiving phone calls, Vontoo V2 is a robust product that flawlessly synchronizes call status with video cues in a high-demand, high-capacity, dedicated telephony environment. It also provides the most sophisticated Web metrics program set-up to measure ROI on a campaign-by-campaign or overall basis.

Additionally, and possibly most exciting for marketers, is Vontoo V2’s ability to offer marketers a creative, exciting and unique way of getting customers to opt-in to receive future voice marketing communications. By engaging customers in something they’re passionate about, Vontoo V2 can act as a gateway for gaining permission from customers, leading to additional marketing opportunities and making future communications easy.

The Results

The Warriors and their fans were all thrilled with what the Vontoo V2 technology allowed. It provided the Warriors with an innovative means of communicating with fans and giving them a surprise online “treat.” Fans said they loved watching the video and receiving a call from Coach “Nellie.”

“Vontoo V2 played a very innovative and important role in our recent season ticket holder renewal campaign, said Warriors President Robert Rowell. “It was the perfect complement to our marketing mix, and the personalized video allowed our fans to interact with Head Coach Don Nelson and guard Stephen Jackson in a fun and unexpected way. The unique technology provided a great personal touch for our fans.”

Vontoo was thrilled to be involved in the Warriors’ successful campaign for fans and that the interactive video was so well received.

“We’ve combined two technologies which, separately, are both good, but together they make for a jaw-dropping experience,” said Bob Compton, co-founder, CEO and president of Vontoo. “The unique combination of video and phone is such an unexpected and smart way to engage users and successfully obtain customer opt-ins.”