How the Portland Timbers Used Community to Drive Fan Engagement and Growth

The Portland Timbers are one of Major League Soccer’s most passionate and community-rooted clubs. With one of the most creative digital teams in the league, the Timbers use Community to turn static campaigns into interactive conversations.

The Challenge

Despite seeing strong matchday presence and dedicated social following, the Timbers faced a few challenges:

• Stagnant audience growth and declining engagement in traditional channels like email and social media
  
  
• Lack of real-time feedback loops
  
  
• Marketing needed to feel more fan-first and mobile-native
  
  

The Solution

The Timbers were looking to build deeper relationships with their fans across the Portland area on their mobile devices. The team also wanted to go beyond the traditional batch and blast approach and really engage their fans in meaningful ways to build loyalty and fandom. When looking for a solution, their main criteria included: 

• A simple, intuitive platform that anyone could use
  
  
• Robust reporting and analytics
  
  
• Integration with existing tools for an omnichannel approach
  
  
• Full alignment with strict legal and compliance standards

“Community really provided us with a way to engage our fans more directly and instantly, with a lot more segmentation. It’s far more direct than email and social media.”
— Chris Thompson, Vice President, Business & Data Strategy, Portland Timbers

Results

The team chose Community to launch a variety of highly creative campaigns that helped them increase opt-ins and boost engagement with their fans throughout the 2025 season.

• Scavenger Hunt: Ahead of home games, fans signed up to receive text clues leading to hidden locations and exclusive prizes. One standout activation, the Diego Chara scarf and bobblehead giveaway, drove over 500 new text members and a 28% response rate.

• Matchday Bingo: During 11 home games, the Timbers displayed a QR code on the big screen leading fans to sign up for Bingo. The first five winners scored signed jerseys, driving a 73% click-through rate and an average of 372 participants per match.

• Flash Sales: Targeted ticket offers exclusive to SMS subscribers yielded click-through rates up to 88% across 3 key match dates, helping to fill seats and increase revenue.

• Tuesday Trivia: A weekly initiative that drove a total 37% opt-in rate, an average 62% response rate on quiz-style replies, and 73% click-through rate, creating weekly engagement loops.
  
  

“Every Tuesday, we sent out a different trivia question. We had a lot of engagement and feedback from season ticket members and a lot of follow-up from fans. That worked really great!”
— Jen Mylett, Digital Marketing & Database Analyst, Portland Timbers

By leveraging Community’s platform, the Timbers tapped into a powerful engine to grow and engage their mobile-native fanbase. The ability to connect with fans so closely led to a visible increase in engagement and event participation, leaving fans expecting what comes next.