Innovation

Ajax about their selected winners of the Fan Experience Challenge

Published at 27 May 2022

AFC Ajax, one of the organizing partners of the Reimagine Football innovation program, has chosen four winners in the Fan Experience Challenge. The companies SQWAD FanTile, NeoXperiences, Piing and Filmily have been selected to further collaborate with Ajax. We talked to Menno Geelen, Chief Commercial Officer at AFC Ajax, about these winners and which follow-up plans he has in mind.

How did you experience the Reimagine Football Challenge about fan experience and the Collaboration Event in Manchester?

“I am proud to be a partner of the Football Innovation Platform. We really believe in developing talent but also in creativity and innovation. The finalists that we met during the Collaboration Event inspired our organization to really think about innovation.”

Who did Ajax choose as their winners of the Fan Experience Challenge?

“Out of the six finalists we spoke during the event we have selected four winners. We have decided to continue with the companies SQWAD FanTile, NeoXperiences, Piing and Filmily. We were very enthusiastic about their solutions and look forward to work together.”

SQWAD FanTile turns any bar or pub into a personalized watch party for fans.
NeoXperiences is revolutionizing the sports-entertainment market with immersive and interactive real-life experiences without helmet or equipment.
Piing makes games for crowds: fanzone-sized crowds, stadia-sized crowds, and nation-sized hybrid crowds joining in from home.
Filmily is a new highly personalized and targeted suite of fan engagement solutions, that bring fans closer to you and ultimately delivers better value for commercial partners.

Can you explain why you decided to choose these winners and what the future holds for those winners?

“What we liked about SQWAD FanTile, is the simplicity and the potential power of their solution. For the next steps, we want to explore further collaboration with them together with our sponsors. Having fun together is also very important: that is why we chose to select NeoXperiences and Piing. Their solutions were very good and we ourselves had so much fun playing their games during the Collaboration Event. Together with the Johan Cruijff ArenA we aim for a pilot this summer or at the start of the next season. The fourth solution that we selected was Filmily. This solution is simple, yet very smart. We look forward to start a pilot together to connect the fans worldwide as well as in the stadium.”