EXPRESS: Exploring the Influence of Football Fan Tokens on Engagement: a Study on Fans’ Meaning, Team Brand Identification, and Co-creation Mechanisms

Sport brands are pursuing new avenues that affect consumer–brand relationships through digital engagement platforms based on fan tokens, a specific type of cryptocurrency. These metaverse-enabling technologies offer novel stimuli to enhance fans’ brand experiences, but their impact on fans’ intentions and behaviors has yet to be determined. Drawing on social identity theory and customer engagement literature as a theoretical lens, this paper examines how the meanings attached to fan-token-related activities impact on team brand identification and the associated social influence mechanisms between fans, concurrently with brand co-creation awareness. Results show that meanings associated with fan-token-related activities have positive influence both on identification and engagement with fans’ favorite team brands, while intentions to continue using and recommending these digital assets depend primarily on the meanings that fans associate with these activities. This study has several theoretical and practical implications. It questions the ways through which metaverse technologies are affecting brand co-creation mechanisms and fan engagement. In managerial terms, it suggests that teams should primarily define an “open brand” structure to keep fans involved in these digital engagement platforms and reap the benefits of positive non-transactional behaviors from these engaged fans.