NDML meets Dan Willsher from TNT Sports at CompSoc 2024
We attended the Competitive Socialising : The Power of Play event in London, Lighthouse Theatre, where operators and suppliers were exhibiting and accepting awards. We spoke to TNT Sports Business and Dan Willsher, Account Manager. TNT Sports brought along with them the Premier League trophy, as well as a new Playstation 5 for a competition in combination with Kwizzbit.
We spoke to Dan about the benefits of displaying football and sport at competitive socialising venues, and how the upcoming summer of sport could be taken advantage of.
Please explain your connection with nightlife businesses and competitive socialising businesses:
“We’ve come to learn more about competitive socialising, we’ve been involved in this event for the last couple of years. It’s about learning what the gaps are in the market, how we can help venues increase their dwell time, what they are looking for support wise, and ultimately help make them some more money.”
When asked why he thinks competitive socialising has grown so rapidly:
“I think people are looking for something more exciting to do and a lot more options. It’s the younger demographic – an old view of a smoky pub drinking alcohol seems to be a trend of the past. What you are finding now is the 18-24 year olds drinking far less, looking for experiences and memories. That’s what [with competitive socialising] you can get.”
“There’s so many things you can do at competitive socialising venues and from what we’ve seen at this event. It gives customers a completely new experience.”
When asked how venues can use the summer of sport that’s coming up:
“Sport is always a good driver for footfall and dwell time. Once people have finished whatever activity they are doing, sport an absolute key way of driving dwell time in the bars.”
“It’s a summer of sports, The Euros are on this year, TNT Sports have got a partnership with BBC and ITV to create posters and POS for venues to download free of charge from our website. We provide an option of paid sport to get people to come into the venues. It’s going to be a great summer. We’ve got the Olympics, the Euros, the new champions league starting in August.”
“The Champions League is great for providing content in January which is a very quiet time normally for the hospitality sector. Extra games midweek is an excellent way of driving people into venues.”
“We are not looking to tell people to redefine their venues, but we can be an opportunity for them to keep people in the venue, buy those extra couple of drinks, and get their bars working a little bit better for them.”
