Orlando City SC, Orlando Pride and KORE Partner to Drive Improved Data Ecosystem for Club

September 19, 2023

New York City, NY, 9/19/23– KORE, the leading sports and entertainment business solution, Orlando City Soccer Club (OCSC) and Orlando Pride are excited to announce their new partnership. Together the clubs will implement KORE’s industry leading data platform for City and Pride’s business, driving maximum efficiencies and insights across their organization, leveraging KORE’s platform to create maximum flexibility while minimizing effort within their business operations. Both parties will collaborate to onboard City and Pride onto KORE’s industry leading Fan and Partnership ecosystems. The partnership signals significant milestones for both organizations: City and Pride as an industry leading sports operations, and KORE as the solution of choice for the industry.

A central component of this collaboration is the integration of KORE’s Fan Engagement + Helix platform on top of KORE’s Data Warehouse & Analytics (DWA) ecosystem. This integration delivers the most advanced Fan Engagement platform available, maximizing the club’s capabilities and elevating overall fan intelligence. KORE will seamlessly integrate with the club’s existing native Salesforce ecosystem, streamlining data management and analysis for the organization.

The partnership culminates with the implementation of KORE’s Sponsorship + Activate package, which empowers the clubs with an end-to-end partnership management ecosystem. This comprehensive suite of tools and resources will enable both City and Pride to optimize their sponsorship strategies and provide partners with unprecedented value and engagement opportunities.

Chris Kamke, chief strategy officer for Orlando City and Orlando Pride, states, “KORE offers the most advanced, yet simplistic business platform to help us streamline our business while driving the most advanced insights. It was a clear decision on how to take our business to the next level.”

In response, KORE’s COO, Adam Grow said, “We’re excited to work with Orlando City SC and Orlando Pride to help them drive their business forward. Their goals align with the value KORE delivers for our Partners on a day-to-day basis. Together, we continue to drive the industry forward in a new era of success for OCSC and the Pride.”

The partnership between Orlando City SC/Orlando Pride and KORE underscores the growing importance of data-driven strategies in sports and entertainment. As the club embraces KORE’s innovative solutions, supporters, partners, and stakeholders can look forward to an enhanced and more personalized experience.

About KORE:
KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. More than 900 brands, venues, and sports organizations trust KORE’s tools and platform as a source of truth to manage assets and measure partnership impact, with real-time insights, across all channels. 

Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing and Fan Engagement, and Data Management and Analytics, KORE’s two-sided network unites corporate sponsors, sponsorship properties, and their fans with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters. Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow us LinkedIn or Twitter. 

About Orlando City SC & Orlando Pride:
Orlando City SC joined Major League Soccer (MLS) as the league’s 21st franchise in November 2013, becoming the first MLS team in the Southeast. The Lions began league play in March 2015, and in 2017, moved into its privately-owned downtown soccer stadium. In 2022, Orlando City SC re-launched OCB as a founding member of MLS NEXT Pro to bridge the gap between its successful youth development academy and the First Team.

In November 2015, the Club announced its intention to bring professional women’s soccer to Central Florida and launched Orlando Pride in the National Women’s Soccer League. The Pride began league play in April 2016 with a star-studded team of FIFA World Cup Champions. For more information, visit orlandocitysc.com or orlando-pride.com.

View the official press release here. 

For more information, please contact:

Eva Rieder
VP Marketing, KORE
eva.rieder@koresoftware.com

Jackie Maynard
Sr. Director of Communications & PR, Orlando City & Orlando Pride
jmaynard@orlandocitysc.com

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

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KORE NBA MARKET INTEL REPORT REVEALS SPONSORSHIP, SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

May 10, 2023
2022-23 NBA Sponsorship Spend Up Slightly
Basketball’s Social Media Footprint Leads U.S. Sports

NEW YORK, May 10, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — KORE has released its 2022-23 NBA Market Intelligence Report looking at key sponsorship insights and social media values, including the top sponsorship market sectors, the NBA’s overall social footprint, the top NBA athletes on social media, and the top ten brands earning social media value through NBA partnerships. The report looked at the NBA season through the first round of the playoffs. 

“Overall, we’ve found the NBA sponsorship marketplace is thriving, and the league is second in the United States behind only the NFL in total sponsorship spend,” said KORE Head of Sponsorship Intelligence RJ Kraus. “However, when it comes to social media followers and total engagement, the NBA is first among sports in the U.S.”

According to the KORE NBA report, overall sponsorship is up +2% year-over-year, and up +11% from 2019. Sponsorship was led by the financial sector, comprising nearly +20% of the market, with food and beverage at 15%, and technology at 11%. While the overall value of sponsorships was up, the number of deals per team was down -41%, indicating brands were focused on doing fewer deals, but signing longer terms with larger annual spends.

On the social side, basketball’s footprint encompassed more than 2.5B followers and more than 45B video views over the last year – the largest among U.S. sports. Video viewership has seen a massive increase (+80%) due to new video formats. Among the different social media platforms, Instagram dominates with 80% of engagement and 50% of brand value, but Twitter holds a third of the brand value, better than in other sports.

The playoffs have created extra interest in the league, driving 10M new social followers for the first three weeks of the postseason. 

The biggest value drivers across social media are the league and teams. Combined they drive nearly 95% of the adjusted ad value. Among teams, the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers dominate social media, combining for 22% of the total followers and 33.5% of total engagement.

Nike leads all brands, earning the most value through social media NBA partnerships, followed by Google, State Farm, KIA, and Crypto.com.

Lebron James tops the social media values among players, accounting for 23% of all brand value, followed by Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker through the first three weeks of the playoffs.

To see the complete KORE 2022-23 NBA Market Intelligence Report reach out to KORE, here.

KORE, now including Hookit, is the only single-source solution to offer a full suite of management, measurement, and optimization solutions for buyers and sellers of sponsorship, marketers, and organizations looking to better engage with their audiences. 

Annually, KORE releases a number of sport-, league-, and team-specific Intel reports, case studies, and white papers. KORE’s next report will be released in late May and will examine the state of sponsorship in golf.

ABOUT KORE:
KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. More than 900 brands, venues, and sports organizations trust KORE’s tools and platform as a source of truth to manage assets and measure partnership impact, with real-time insights, across all channels. 

Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing and Fan Engagement, and Data Management and Analytics, KORE’s two-sided network unites corporate sponsors, sponsorship properties, and their fans with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters. Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow us LinkedIn or Twitter. 

Contact: Eva Rieder, eva.rieder@koresoftware.com

Click here for the official press release. 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

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2022 SPORTS SPONSORSHIPS SPENDING UP 12%, SOCIAL MEDIA ADJUSTED AD VALUE TOPS $12B

April 18, 2023
KORE Releases State of the Industry Report
Financial, Food & Beverage, and Technology Sectors Top Sponsorship Spend
Nike, Adidas, and Emirates Top Brands for Social Media Sponsorship Value, and Cristiano Ronaldo and Eileen Gu Lead Athletes Social Media Value

NEW YORK, April 18, 2023 – KORE has released its 2022/23 State of the Industry Report, featuring an annual review of sports marketing, sponsorship, and social media trends. In 2022, sports-related sponsorship spending increased +12% for the year. However, overall sponsorship deals were down slightly, as brands became more selective about who they choose to work with and spent more time quantifying the impact of those sponsorships. 

In 2022, social media sponsorships saw overall engagement increase, with more effort on quality posts focused on subject matter and type driving engagement, while focusing less on overall quantity of posts. Branded social media posts and views were up for brands year-over-year, demonstrating the importance of understanding what content drives successful partnerships. 

“The work we do with hundreds of rights holders and brands across the globe allows us to surface really valuable insights throughout the industry, that impacts the market and helps give our clients a competitive edge,” said KORE CEO Jason Fletcher. “Where it really gets exciting is when we see how our clients begin to innovate with this type of intelligence.” 

Looking at the global state of sponsorship spend, KORE determined that the average annual deal size in 2022 was $326k versus $273k in 2019 (+23%) and $317k in 2021 (+12%). The average deal length increased to 3.3 years, indicating that brands and rights holders have shifted focus to more long-term objective setting and planning.  

The big five North American leagues experienced similar trends in terms of increased sponsorship income through fewer deals. According to KORE data, spending is up +6%, while deals are down -4% year-over-year. Compared to 2019, spending is up +14% despite the number of deals being down by -5%. 

KORE’s State of the Industry Report also tracked the top sponsorship categories, which sectors were spending more and less over the last year, as well as sponsorship asset trends and more. In 2022, the Financial sector led sponsorship spending for the fourth consecutive year. The other top sectors include Food & Beverage, Communications & Media, Retail, and Technology.  

Social media drives significant exposure and value for brands, creating more than $12B in total adjusted ad value (AAV) across social platforms. In 2022, KORE tracked an -8% dip in brand value from 2021 and fewer partnership deals created, but a +39% increase over pre-pandemic levels in 2019.  

Branded posts, engagement, and views were all up for brands year-over-year and versus 2019, which demonstrates understanding what types of content such as video, images, text mentions, hashtags, keywords, and various topic analysis are key insights for successful partnerships. 

Among all sports, global football had 54% of all social media followers, 53% of social engagement, and 42% of social brand value.  

Instagram videos were the most engaging form of content in 2022, rising above the other platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram (IG), Facebook, and Twitter. Instagram continued to be the most engaging platform for four years straight. 

The brands that benefitted most from partnerships in social media in 2022 included Nike, Adidas, Emirates, Puma, and Red Bull. The report also named the top 30 best promoted brands as well as top male and female athletes on social media. On the male side, global football stars Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Neymar da Silva lead the list, while skier Eileen Gu, global footballer Alisha Lehmann, and tennis great Serena Williams top the women’s list. 

KORE’s data footprint is the largest in the industry. The company’s sponsorship management data perspective covers more than 70% of major North American sport and entertainment properties and globally more than $52 billion in sponsorship spend. KORE actively tracks more than 500,000 entities across sport and entertainment on social media platforms, as well as more than 32-billion fan connections. 

The complete KORE 2022 State of the Industry Report is available here. 

KORE, now including Hookit, is the only single-source solution to offer a full suite of management, measurement, and optimization solutions for buyers and sellers of sponsorship, marketers, and organizations looking to better engage with their audiences.  

Annually, KORE releases several sport-, league-, and team-specific Intel reports, case studies, and white papers. KORE’s next comprehensive report will be released at the end of the year, focused on brands, teams, leagues and athletes on the rise. Shorter industry sector reports will be released throughout 2023. 

ABOUT KORE:
KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. More than 900 brands, venues, and sports organizations trust KORE’s tools and platform as a source of truth to manage assets and measure partnership impact, with real-time insights, across all channels. 

Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing and Fan Engagement, and Data Management and Analytics, KORE’s two-sided network unites corporate sponsors, sponsorship properties, and their fans with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters. Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow us LinkedIn or Twitter. 

Contact: Eva Rieder, eva.rieder@koresoftware.com

Click here for the official press release. 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

Read More

KORE Software Announces Brand Evolution Reflecting Company’s Acquisitions and Product Expansion

February 15, 2023

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2023 (KORE)- After three acquisitions and extensive product development in 2022, KORE has evolved its brand identity to better suit its global position in the marketplace. KORE acquired London-based Sports Alliance last July, adding the provider of fan data management and digital marketing solutions to its offerings. In February of 2022, KORE purchased SSB’s professional sports business, and acquired Hookit, the leading AI-powered social and digital analytics platform. 

As of January 2023, KORE has fully integrated all staff into daily operations, doubling in size and unifying the top experts in sponsorship, fan engagement, social media measurement, marketing, partnership management, and data analytics under one roof. This expansion has cemented KORE as the most extensive provider of partner, fan, and social media solutions in the industry. 

With the evolution of service and product offerings, KORE has removed “Software” from its name to represent its commitment to its innovation, reverence to its amplified team, and to put the purpose of powering better partnerships for rights holders, agencies, and brands at the forefront of its mission. 

“2022 symbolized a year of incredible growth for KORE,” notes KORE’s VP of Marketing, Eva Rieder. “It was important to us to evolve our company identity to be inclusive of this expansion, as we’ve felt that the word “software” has been limiting to what we do for a long time. We have best-in-class software, but what we can offer as a success and insights team, combined with our extensive dataset, expands our ability to be a key driver in this industry.”

With more than 1,000 clients globally, including many of the largest teams, leagues, properties, brands and agencies, KORE is the only single-source solution to offer a full suite of management, measurement, and optimization solutions for buyers and sellers of sponsorship, marketers, and organizations looking to better engage with their audiences. 

Elements of KORE’s brand evolution include:

New Logo & Brand Colors: KORE will continue to use its hexagon-shaped unifier logo symbolizing its purpose in uniting brand teams and sponsorship partners on each side of the equation. New accent colors will be adapted to represent the unification and product expansion that has resulted by joining forces with Sports Alliance (red and orange) and Hookit (green).  

2023 Purpose Statement: A Better Way to Partner

ABOUT KORE:

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. Over 900 brands, venues, and sports organizations trust KORE’s tools and platform as a source of truth to manage assets and measure partnership impact, with real-time insights, across all channels.

Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing & Fan Engagement, and Data Management & Analytics, KORE’s two-sided network unites corporate sponsors, sponsorship properties, and their fans with solutions that help enhance the fan experience, drive smarter decisions, and enable marketing and operations teams to spend time where it matters. Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow us LinkedIn or Twitter. 

Link to full press release: click here.

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

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KORE Software Announces Launch of their Portfolio Optimization Platform

November 1, 2022

New York, NY, November 1st, 2022

KORE Software is proud to announce the launch of their latest product and only solution of its kind, the Portfolio Optimization Platform. After the acquisition of Hookit in February of 2022, the two leading sponsorship performance organizations have spent the past nine months integrating their solutions into one industry-defining product, providing brands and rights holders with a single-source for managing all aspects of their partnerships and maximizing returns.  

Launching today, the Portfolio Optimization Platform is set to transform the partnership industry. The holistic system can be customized for any organization looking to manage, measure and optimize their partnerships. Organizations can use the entire platform or start with a single product, accessing different measurement tools, analytics, and industry insights that scale with their business needs. The solution’s mission, created through the powerful partnership between KORE Software and Hookit, was to evolve two dynamic platforms into one 360-degree view for organizations that makes their partnership data valuable and actionable. 

“Data and software can be overwhelming and isn’t always actionable. KORE and Hookit have been leaders in solving this problem for years. Since joining forces, we’ve spent the past nine months working on this game-changing platform that will redefine the way partnerships are managed and measured, on both sides of the desk,” Scott Tilton, CEO and Founder of Hookit, EVP, KORE Software.

KORE’s Portfolio Optimization Platform is built off of the industry’s most comprehensive dataset, including over $10 billion in sponsorship assets. Now, with near-time insights and a comprehensive new platform, organizations have a better way to quantify value and a deeper understanding of how their entire partnership portfolio is performing against industry benchmarks.

 “Organizations have been looking for better ways to measure and understand the value of their sponsorship portfolios,” said CEO of KORE Software Jason Fletcher. “This platform provides an unmatched level of sophistication and transparency into how all aspects of the partnership is performing.”

In addition to managing sponsorship budgets, tracking negotiations, assets, and evaluating the performance of each deal, KORE Software’s new platform enables all teams to access and collaborate seamlessly across one system that works as a single source of truth.

With this announcement, KORE Software solidifies its position as the leading provider of engagement marketing solutions – helping organizations create more informed and meaningful partnerships. To learn more about how KORE Software can help you optimize your partnership portfolio visit: www.koresoftware.com or contact them at  or follow them on LinkedIn.

For the official press release, click here. 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

Read More

KORE Software Announces Acquisition of Sports Alliance

July 18, 2022

New York, NY, July 19th 2022 – KORE Software is pleased to announce the acquisition of London-based, fan data management, and digital marketing solutions provider, Sports Alliance. This acquisition marks an expansion for KORE in the EMEA market, inheriting more than 140 clients and strengthening its position as the global leader of engagement marketing solutions. This acquisition represents continued expansion for KORE Software, after recently acquiring SSB’s professional sports business and leading AI-powered social and digital analytics platform, Hookit, in February, 2022.  

With more than 20 years of evolving and customizing fan data solutions for professional sports brands, the Sports Alliance platform helps marketing teams access, interpret and activate on their data faster, while inspiring new campaign and engagement ideas with AI-driven insights. From loyalty program integration, and email marketing or full Omni-channel orchestrations, to single sign-on, and contact management for privacy and detailed transactions, Sports Alliance’s platform unifies all fan data in one, easy-to-use interface where sport marketers can create unique fan experiences that deepen loyalty and improve efficiency for any brand. By adding Sports Alliance to the KORE Software portfolio, KORE will not only dramatically expand its global footprint, but be able to provide new features and functionality to its clients. 

The new partnership between KORE Software and Sports Alliance strengthens and expands best-in-class sponsorship, ticketing, fan engagement, and data analytics solutions from a single-source for their combined 1,000+ sport and entertainment organizations and top global brand clients. With overlapping clients across the Premier League, NFL and more, KORE Software will now be able to provide even more solutions for its clients. Marketing, partnership, and operational teams will all benefit from the time and cost saving solutions now offered in this robust product suite. 

Anthony Khan, CEO of Sports Alliance “We are excited to be joining the KORE Software family, with a shared company ethos and true business alignment, KORE is the perfect fit for Sports Alliance. Over the last two decades, Sports Alliance has achieved a dominant position serving European clubs, leagues and associations. As part of the definitive global leader in the provision of data and marketing software to sports and entertainment organizations, the growth opportunities are astounding.”

KORE Software is passionate about partnerships and creating solutions to help sports, entertainment and brand partners effectively manage, measure and optimize their own partnerships and fan relationships. The addition of Sports Alliance will also provide more General Data Protection Regulation’s (GDPR) support to global brands and organizations, helping them to remain focused on partnerships, ideation and strategy. 

“By bringing Sports Alliance into the KORE portfolio, we are expanding our global footprint and capabilities, ” said KORE Software CEO, Jason Fletcher. “ This marriage bolsters KORE’s position as the most extensive provider of engagement marketing solutions across the sports and entertainment marketplace. We are excited for what we can continue to achieve together. “

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KORE Software
KORE Software is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. Over 900 brands, venues, and sports organizations trust KORE’s tools and platform as a source of truth that drives smarter partnership decisions and deepens connections with their audiences. Through Sponsorship Management and Evaluation, Ticketing & Fan Engagement, and Data Management & Analytics, KORE’s two-sided network unites corporate sponsors, sponsorship properties, and their fans with solutions that accelerate and inform an organization’s ability to act. This allows teams to enhance the fan experience, maximize returns, and spend time where it matters.  Learn more at KORESoftware.com or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter. 

Sports Alliance
Founded in London UK in 2002, Sports Alliance serves over 140 sports brands across the UK, Europe and the Americas. Sports Alliance helps rights-holders use data, technology, analysis and marketing insight to enhance fan experience and revenue generation. Sports Alliance provides end-to-end fan relationship management tools and solutions in Marketing & CRM, Digital, Loyalty and Commercial. Our mission is to personalize sport for every individual fan, current and future. Read more about Sports Alliance at www.sportsalliance.com/us/ or visit the Linkedin page.

Official PR Newswire release 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

Read More

KORE Software Adds to All-Star Board with Sports Marketing Veteran Ann Rodriguez

June 2, 2022

AUSTIN, Texas & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–KORE Software (“KORE”), the leading sponsorship and business management software solution for the sports, entertainment, and corporate brands market, announced industry leader Ann Rodriguez has joined the company’s Board of Directors.

“KORE has seen exceptional growth and driven an impressive level of innovation in the sports ecosystem. I’m inspired to be joining a talented team and unique platform that continues to deliver substantial value to sports team, stadiums, and corporate brands,” shared Ann Rodriguez.

Ann brings more than 20 years of experience managing sports marketing spend, both for sports teams and with corporate brands that spend heavily on sports advertising. Ann’s prior experience includes leadership roles with the Under Armour, WNBA, Atlanta United FC, and the San Jose Earthquakes. She most recently served as Chief Strategy & People Officer at Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 (“LA 2028”) where she led strategic planning, strategic business development projects, and all aspects of HR for the largest sporting event in the world.

“Ann brings a phenomenal experience within the sports marketing ecosystem. As KORE continues its expansion selling sponsorship management software into the corporate brands, Ann will be a valuable thought partner who has both bought and sold sports advertising,” said Jason Fletcher, CEO of KORE.

Ann joins KORE Software’s board during a period of tremendous growth. In February, KORE completed two strategic acquisitions, Hookit & SSB’s Pro Sports Vertical, to expand the company’s sponsorship & engagement marketing solutions. With these new acquisitions, KORE serves nearly 1,000 sports properties, 20,000 athletes, and over 100 of the top global brands. The corporate brands segment will soon exceed 25% of KORE’s annual recurring revenue.

KORE received a significant growth investment from Serent Capital, a growth-focused firm that invests in technology companies, in 2018. Since the investment, KORE has grown 4x and completed 3 strategic acquisitions.

About KORE Software
KORE Software is a global leader in engagement marketing solutions. KORE’s intelligence platform is trusted by over 850+ of the largest organizations in the sports and entertainment industry to provide data-driven intelligence quickly and securely. Through one connected ecosystem of solutions, data, and insights KORE helps accelerate and enhance organizations’ ability to make the right decisions for their business. KORE’s platform drives excellence across sponsorship activation, fan engagement, ticket sales, partnership analysis, data analytics, and innovative marketing journeys, so organizations can build stronger connections with their fans, maximize returns, and spend time where it matters. For more information, please visit www.KOREsoftware.com.

About Serent Capital
Serent Capital invests in growing businesses with compelling solutions that exceed customer needs. As businesses grow and evolve, the opportunities and challenges they face change with them. The principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience navigating growth through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors, and board members to successful businesses. Serent leverages their expertise and capital to help growing businesses thrive. For more information on Serent Capital, visit www.serentcapital.com.

Click here to view official press release. 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

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Message to Our Customers

February 8, 2022

We’re excited to share some important news with you. Today we announced that KORE Software is acquiring Hookit, the leading AI-powered sponsorship analytics platform, and we have entered an agreement to acquire SSB’s pro sports business as they pivot into collegiate athletics and higher education. Both of these acquisitions are exciting wins for our team, our broader market, and most importantly, all of you. Simply put, we will now be able to provide you with more solutions, insights, and data to better drive success within your organization. 

Our dedication and expertise has allowed us to begin helping brands work more effectively across the sports and entertainment landscape. With Hookit, we not only grow our reach in the rights holder and corporate sponsorship market, but we dramatically enhance our product functionality for customers looking to better track performance across digital and social media channels.

Through these acquisitions, we are deepening our commitment to the rights holder space by adding another 75+ new logos. Our highest priority is to continue delivering the outstanding service you have come to expect, and we are greatly expanding our team in order to support this growth and better serve all of you. 

We are excited to welcome all new team members to the KORE family. Together we are dedicated to the same mission, providing the best, game-changing technology to our customers. 

This announcement is only the beginning. For more information on the acquisitions please see our press release.  

As our KORE partner, your contract and level of service will not change. We are pleased to share some of the immediate benefits that these acquisitions provide for our customers:

  • Access to New Software Solutions. Together, KORE and Hookit are well positioned to offer the most comprehensive platform for engagement marketing solutions.
  • Trusted Industry Expertise x2. Not one but two industry leaders and their team of experts dedicated to your software solutions.
  • A More Complete ROI Story. Double the data and double the insights.
  • Expanded Network. KORE’s logo portfolio will add many new clubs and leagues to our already expansive network, driving more ideas and opportunities for collaboration.
  • Better Serving You. Our combined offerings, vision, and resources make us stronger strategic partners for you and your business.
As we begin this journey together, we want to thank you for your partnership and ongoing support. We’re looking forward to the future and continuing to provide you with industry-leading customer service and engagement marketing solutions. 
 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

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KORE Software Expands Sponsorship and Engagement Marketing Solutions with Key Acquisitions of Hookit and SSB’s Pro Sports Vertical

February 8, 2022

KORE Software strengthens its position as the global leader in sports and entertainment solutions. With these acquisitions, KORE stands alone in its ability to help partners collaborate, deliver deeper fan engagement and superior sponsorship effectiveness.

New York, NY | February 8, 2022 — Today, KORE Software is proud to announce two major acquisitions in the sponsorship & engagement marketing space. With the increasing importance of social and digital media, KORE has acquired Hookit, the leading AI-powered sponsorship analytics platform. This extends KORE’s capabilities into the social space, strengthening the first true end-to-end solution in sponsorship management and evaluation. KORE is also bolstering its position in the rights holder’s market by reaching an agreement to acquire SSB’s professional sports business. With these new acquisitions, KORE will serve nearly 1,000 sports properties, 20,000 athletes, and over 100 of the top global brands.

Hookit is a pioneer of sponsorship technology and has partnered with the world’s most valuable brands whose logos are seen at sports and live entertainment events around the world. With athletes, teams, and leagues now engaging over 50B followers across social media, social and digital strategies have become a critical component for the modern partnership. By adding Hookit’s unparalleled expertise in sponsorship performance tracking across social and digital media, KORE will dramatically enhance the capabilities of its already market-leading sponsorship management platform.

“We’ve been working on the same market problem to improve sponsorship effectiveness from two sides,” said Hookit CEO Scott Tilton. “We’ve built the leading sponsorship analytics platform in collaboration with some of the world’s largest brands. There are so many synergies with KORE, and together we’ll be able to tell a complete ROI picture for our respective clients. The aim here is to accelerate the usage of data and enhance strategic partnerships.

KORE CEO Jason Fletcher agrees, stating “This is a monumental step forward for our market. We are stronger together and are excited to start this journey with a partner like Hookit.”

KORE’s agreement to acquire SSB’s pro sports business comes as SSB dedicates its focus to collegiate athletics and the higher education institutional advancement market. KORE currently partners with 70% of the largest professional sports and entertainment properties in the world. KORE will be adding over 50 new customers to its portfolio whose needs deeply align with KORE’s software offerings. This investment reflects KORE’s ongoing commitment to sports & event properties and their specialized needs across ticketing, fan engagement, and sponsorship management.

With these acquisitions KORE Software will not only grow its customer base but become the most expansive solutions provider in the engagement marketing space. In order to support this growth, KORE will greatly expand its team and looks forward to leading the industry with even more resources, connection points, data intelligence, and game-changing partnership analytics.

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KORE SOFTWARE
KORE Software is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions. KORE’s intelligence platform is trusted by over 850+ of the largest organizations in the sports and entertainment industry to provide data-driven intelligence quickly and securely. Through one connected ecosystem of solutions, data, and insights KORE helps accelerate and enhance organization’s ability to make the right decisions for their business. KORE’s platform drives excellence across sponsorship activation, fan engagement, ticket sales, partnership analysis, data analytics, and innovative marketing journeys, so organizations can build stronger connections with their fans, maximize returns, and spend time where it matters. For more information, please visit www.KOREsoftware.com.

HOOKIT
Hookit is the leading AI-powered sponsorship technology platform empowering brands to evaluate & optimize their athlete & sports partnerships. The best CMOs & sports marketing executives realize that social media is now central to maximizing the value of sponsorship marketing spend. As a pioneer in the Spontech space and strategic partner of the world’s largest brands, Hookit empowers marketers to impact the bottom line by measuring sponsorship spend and partnerships against a standardized set of KPIs. We combine real-time dashboards with insights and recommendations that can be leveraged across your organization to positively impact your sponsorship strategy and results. To learn more, visit www.hookit.com.

Click here to read the full press release. 

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

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Tourism and the New Age of Engagement Marketing: How to Move Business Forward in Uncertain Times.

January 11, 2022

It’s no secret that the last two years have been challenging devastating for the travel and tourism industry. But as 2022 opens the door, this resilient sector and would-be travelers are still hopeful that this will be the year for a full recovery. This year’s trajectory was promising until the Omicron wave forced a strategic retreat, but we continue to cross our fingers that waves will pass and the recovery will resume.

So how can the tourism industry expedite the next rebound, strategically use bruised budgets, and engage effectively in a highly competitive market? Let’s take a look at how some of our key tourism clients have innovated their way to successful new heights, review insights from KORE’s industry data, and give our top recommendations for sustainable success in uncertain times.

Prioritize Your Data & Lean into Evolutions in Tech

Marketing budgets weren’t the only thing that took a hit these past two years. Nearly every Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) and Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) was forced to cut staff in 2020. Now, lean and potentially overleveraged teams are trying to achieve increased revenue generation targets—a difficult combination.

In 2022, every dollar and every minute spent on building back business will be critical. It’s essential for teams to clearly understand who their target audiences are, what their travel motivations are, and how they engage with marketing material. Data is key not just for ensuring campaigns have impact, but also for smarter decision making and driving effective teams. An investment in engagement marketing technology that provides real-time reporting dashboards, centralized data, and consumer insights will help organizations send the right personalized message to the right person.

Focus on Trusted Revenue Generators, but Tell New Stories

Many cities and properties took the pandemic as an opportunity to innovate and add new amenities. Several expanded outdoor spaces and integrated health and sanitation protocols to boost visitor confidence. Optimizations like this help sustain tourism destinations on the path to recovery by providing safer options for pent-up travel demand. Highlighting outdoor activities, parks, natural monuments, restaurants with outdoor dining options, and even the availability of campervans can provide the little pushes necessary to give travelers the confidence to get on the road again.

As messaging evolves in creative new ways to build trust and interest, it’s crucial to use data to identify revenue drivers and then quickly capitalize on them. For example, our client the City of Denver utilized our Sponsorship Management & Engagement tool and discovered that for the past eight years, a substantial 41% of sponsorship revenue was attributable to signage alone. They also found that signage was only included in 68% of their sponsorship deals—a substantial majority, but still an opportunity for additional growth.

In an increasingly competitive industry where consumers have an endless number of destinations to choose from, tourism organizations need accurate reporting and data to back up their investments.  Understanding which assets provide the most value gives organizations clarity on what type of messaging is working—and encourages proactive pivoting from what’s not.

*Asset charts sourced from our 2021 City of Denver Case Study. Click here to download the full case study. 

Align Your Sponsorships with Evolving Travel Trends

CVBs and DMOs are in constant competition to attract visitors, and sponsorship has long been a key marketing tactic for accomplishing business goals. Sponsorships provide an effective way to drive awareness, reach target demographics, and instill local pride. But it’s not just the pandemic that is altering travel trends: workforce changes and climate awareness are factors as well. Sports tourism will continue to help drive the resurgence in travel, but there are new areas of growth to consider: ecotourism, health and wellness travel, and workcations.

Business travel remains far below past levels, but a new trend in extended travel stays has coined the term “workcation”. The pandemic forced many companies to adapt to remote work, and a lot of highly-paid employees don’t want to go back to their prior office-based routines. Instead of just making a long weekend getaway, some are choosing to spend an entire month working from a travel destination and making the most of their leisure time.

To capitalize on these trends, destinations are crafting new partnerships with organizations poised to serve this new age of travel. Sponsorships that resonate with both the current realities of travel and “outside the box” tourism ideas can help organizations break through the noise and bring travelers to their destinations.  

Relentlessly Commit to Your Objectives

The only way to know if a marketing initiative is successful is to first know what it’s meant to accomplish. Revenue is always important, but there are plenty of other important objectives that can set your destination or organization apart. At KORE, we see hundreds of unique objectives our clients leverage as success metrics. Targets such as community engagement, employee wellness, and environmental impact have become more widespread—and more specific—than ever before.

This is part of a wider trend we’re seeing. Organizations are raising their standards for measuring partnerships: they want clear and tangible objectives that are specific and easy to report on. On both the buying and selling sides of sponsorship deals, partners are asking for more data to show an ROO—return on objectives. As the travel industry works to come back stronger, higher standards for investments in engagement marketing initiatives are a key tactic to set you apart from the competition.

Eva Rieder, VP Marketing
KORE Software

KORE is the global leader in engagement marketing solutions, serving more than 200 professional teams and 850+ sports and entertainment properties worldwide, providing practical tools and services to harness customer data, facilitate sponsorship sales and activation, and create actionable insights.

Read More