Fandom is dead, welcome to Fancom says M&C Sport & Entertainment

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, which describes itself as the “passions agency” (a new one on me but maybe I haven’t been paying attention) is celebrating 20 years in business with what it calls a “supercharged strategic offer (Passion Pulse), proprietary research and a new report into the future of passion marketing.” Fancom (as opposed to fandom) in other words.

MD Laura Coller says: “Twenty years ago we were the first agency to fuse the worlds of sport and entertainment. Then we were the first to adopt a positioning around passions. As we move into the next twenty years, we’ll continue pioneering approaches that enable brands to better connect with consumers whose behaviour towards their passions is constantly and rapidly evolving.”

New research by the agency claims that 63% of people use their passions as a way to engage with others, showing that the real value for marketers isn’t just in connecting brands to consumers through passions, but in helping brands connect consumers to each-other through the things they love. 2016 people responded to the study.

Coller again: “This demands a shift in how we look at audience needs and we believe there has been a demonstrable move away from the tropes of traditional fandom, towards what we call Fancom. Away from mass homogenised groups following a single attitude and towards communities coalescing around intersectional interests and behaviours.”

M&C has always had a penchant for bold new wheezes, co-founder Lord Saatchi was very fond of “Brutal Simplicity of Thought.” Whether passions does the business, we’ll just have to see.