Chelsea Opens Digital Store On Rawr

Premier League side Chelsea has partnered with avatar-based messaging app Rawr, to allow users to browse and purchase club items for their avatar to wear, in what is a first for the messaging app.

The products on offer are purchased with an in-app currency, which is accumulated over time by using the app or bought outright.

In the store, users can buy the 2016/17 Chelsea home and goalkeeper shirts and shorts, training wear, football boots, hats and scarves.

Rawr, owned by Futurefly, launched this year and Chelsea is the first to have a brand presence within the app, which enables users to design personalised avatars, chat to each other by text and interact through animations.

Blues fans can now communicate and show their colours thanks to a ground-breaking link-up with @RAWRmessenger… https://t.co/mraWHZcdUE

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) 11 August 2016

Chelsea FC chairman Bruce Buck commented: ‘This is an important step for the club as we look to engage and entertain our many millions of fans. This ground-breaking relationship with Rawr puts us at the front of the pack when it comes to digital innovation among sports clubs, and we cannot wait to see how Chelsea supporters interact with each other, and their other friends, all over the world.’

Oskari ‘Ozz’ Häkkinen, founder and chief product officer, Futurefly adds: “We are delighted that Chelsea Football Club has recognised the potential of opening a digital store within Rawr. As brands across the world seek to engage with new customers in increasingly innovative ways, we believe that this partnership will be a landmark moment for the messaging industry as a whole.

“Our strategy from day one was to create a platform which would be attractive to brands, and while other messaging apps are still trying to find the right formula for monetisation, Rawr provides brands a way to tap into the messaging market, while offering a generous revenue split which other apps are unable to match.”