West Ham fan tokens come under the spotlight

A number of  Hammers social media accounts, websites and supporter associations have come together in an online group to campaign against West Ham’s partnership with Socios. The group say they object to further monetisation of fans under the banner of ‘Don’t Pay to Have You Say’.

West Ham and Socios announced their partnership in April saying they would launch an official West Ham fan token at the beginning of 2019/2020 season to seek the input and opinion of fans by running exclusive polls on the mobile app, with the Fan Tokens offering the opportunity for supporters to vote and share their voice.

A club insider has previously explained that voting on the Socios app is understood to be for trivial polls such as the man of the match for games sponsored by Socios themselves or other fan based polls mostly for fun and will not be used for important decisions for the club or for voting for awards like Hammer of the year. We also understand that season ticket holders will receive a voucher for at least one free token.

Claret and Hugh reached out to Socios this afternoon to ask them to clarify following the launch of the campaign against them.

Socios told us via Email “The debate on social media has centred around the voting, which only represents part of our offering. Our mission has always been to create a closer connection between football clubs and their fans. Voting on club-delegated decisions is part of that connection, but the real engagement will come from fans being able to partake in once-in-a-lifetime experiences that can’t be found elsewhere, which ourselves and the club are working hard to bring to life.

While we cannot yet announce an exact price point, we can confirm that the Socios.com app is free and we are purposely making the Fan Tokens accessible and affordable. We also plan to give away thousands of free Fan Tokens to fans before the app is launched through our in-app augmented reality ‘Token Hunt feature’. Users will also be rewarded the more they vote and interact, building up rewards points that can be used to acquire more Fan Tokens or swap for other experiences and rewards.

It’s also important to note that Fan Tokens are not like a season ticket or membership card. They don’t expire and you don’t spend the Fan Tokens in order to vote. This means, that once you obtain a Fan Token, whether you buy it or get it for free, it’s yours for as long as you want to keep it, and you will be able to vote as many times as you like. There are many fans who won’t have to spend a penny if they don’t want to, and still be eligible to do all of the above.

Please also note that the clubs will impose a limit on how many Fan Tokens one individual supporter can buy. This will be done for integrity purposes and to ensure that no one fan can control decision-making.”