AIM Technologies puts Big South in play

By Tim Green, dbusiness.com

Jul 07, 2000 08:03 AM ET

AUSTIN, Texas, July 7 (dbusiness.com) -- AIM Technologies Inc. has signed the Big South Conference for its database-building, fan loyalty program.

The Big South is a Division One conference composed of eight universities in the Southeast. Followers of college basketball may recognize Winthrop University as the Big South's representative in the NCAA basketball tournament in March. The Eagles lost in the first round of the tournament to Oklahoma University.

The Big South is the first NCAA conference AIM has signed to a fan-loyalty program. Getting an entire conference on board saves AIM the time, effort and expense of selling its program team-by-team.

Under the five-year agreement, Austin-based AIM will provide its FANCARD.NET program in the Big South's football stadiums, basketball arenas and baseball parks beginning with basketball this fall. The agreement extends through the 2004-2005 baseball season.

The company also recently signed the U.S. Naval Academy, the University of Houston and Kansas State University. Those programs will begin with the football season.

Fans sign up for the program at arenas or online and receive an ATM-style card that they swipe at kiosks at the games. The fans receive points that can pay off with free drinks, game tickets, autographed jerseys and other items.

The teams, for their part, get information about the fans. Colleges use the information to drum up interest in other sports, said Chris Fox, an AIM spokesman.

"Thanks to the FANCARD.NET program, the Big South Conference is now able to build a fan database, cross promote venues to increase attendance at all events and employ interactive, one-to-one marketing strategies to enhance the experience for our fans," said Kyle B. Kallander, the conference's commissioner.

The Big South schools are Charleston Southern University, Coastal Carolina University, Elon College, High Point University, Liberty University, the University of North Carolina-Asheville, Radford University and Winthrop University.

AIM sells advertising at the kiosks to advertisers seeking to put their messages before the sporting public. Industries interested in college sports crowds include airlines, banks, sporting goods and dot-coms, Fox said.

AIM said it has more than 500,000 people in its database. The FANCARD.Net program is in operation at more than 75 teams and venues in the major professional sports leagues, college athletics and minor leagues.

The company is a graduate of the Austin Technology Incubator. Investors are Polaris Venture Partners, Entertainment Media Ventures, G-51 Capital LLC and Spirit Enterprises.