Forward Madison’s Football Manager 2020 challenge creating new fans worldwide

From Sweden to Singapore, video game challenge making fans go #FullMingo

If you’ve paid any attention to lower-division soccer the past year in the U.S., you’ll have noticed the meteoric rise of Wisconsin-based Forward Madison FC into the hearts of fans. The third-division USL League One club hit the ground running with a fun, quirky personality that encapsulated Madison perfectly and has become a darling in the eyes of many.

Given their astounding social media and communications presence, it should come as no surprise that when yours truly created a four-tier, pro/rel-enabled, regionalized American pyramid in FM 2020 — which you can download here — the team at Forward Madison leapt into action to create a fun, unique challenge for fans of the game series around the world.

Detailed here and on Forward Madison’s Twitter and Reddit pages, the Forward Madison Football Manager 2020 challenge encouraged fans to go #FullMingo and guide the team to promotion into the top flight and win the highest level of silverware on offer. Winners would receive a personalized letter signed by real-life Forward Madison manager Daryl Shore.

The challenge exploded in popularity and — over the past month — the club has seen fans take up the task all over the world, with some amazing stories to share as a result and a few more Mingos rooting for the team around the globe.

Joining Soc Takes to discuss the tremendous success of the challenge and share some of those stories is Jason Klein, Digital Media Manager at Forward Madison FC.

Colton Coreschi: After seeing the database, who proposed the idea of the Forward Madison challenge?

Jason Klein: To preface, my name is Jason Klein and I’m the digital media manager at Forward Madison FC. In practice, that means running most of our online presence, including social media, news articles and website features. Of course, due to the nature of being a small club, everyone has their hands in lots of different tasks. For instance, I also help run the press box on game days and occasionally assist with corporate partnership proposals.

I came up with the idea of the Forward Madison challenge last year, simply because I’ve played Football Manager for a long time and I know what kind of connection it can foster between a supporter and a club. I grew up in the Indianapolis area, so playing with the Indy Eleven in a similar database on FM16 really developed my fandom. Now, as someone who works for a team, I just try to do the things I would have wanted to see as a fan.

CC: How quick was the rest of the team to jump on-board with the idea?

JK: I really only discussed the idea initially with Kuba Krzyzostaniak; he’s my direct supervisor and together, we make up the media team. He had played FM in the past, too, so I think he “got” it pretty quickly.

CC: Your posts on Reddit and Twitter got a ton of traction. What kind of response have you seen overall?

JK: The response has just been incredible. The Reddit post in particular became way more popular than I expected, and it’s felt really heartening to see the kind of reactions it’s inspired. People have put us on their Football Manager blogs, their Football Manager YouTube channels, and of course they’ve been sending us all kinds of stories about their experiences with the team.

CC: How many people have completed the challenge and received the personalized letter from HC Daryl Shore?

JK: I want to say there have been around 20 so far that we have mailed letters to, although I know there are still a few stories in my inbox that I have to catch up on. There were a handful of people who completed it in the first weekend, which is quite the feat. I’m usually a much slower player, so it can take me weeks to just do one season.

I have to thank Daryl as well, who’s always game for these sorts of things. He’s really personable with fans and willing to participate in some of our crazier ideas.

CC: Do you have many Football Manager players in the office? Has anyone tried to complete the challenge themselves?

JK: Kuba and I are probably the only ones, to be honest! We had to explain what Football Manager is to several of our co-workers, so at least they all understand now. I’m planning on doing the challenge at some point, but I’ve been pretty busy with getting real-life player announcements done!

It’s funny, because when I initially stumbled into this job, I liked to compare it to the experience of playing Football Manager, but on steroids. There are constantly these deals that come and go and break down and suddenly happen, but on a far more intense scale than in the game. Plus there are so many added variables… If (game developer) Sports Interactive ever wants to make a Football Manager: USL Edition, I’m happy to help!

CC: What’s the best story you’ve heard from players trying to complete the challenge so far?

JK: Some of the best stories have come from people from the other side of the world, with literally no other connection to Forward Madison, who have become a fan of our team. We have new fans in Portugal, Singapore, Sweden and beyond now. I’ve actually connected a bunch of those people to our merchandise manager, Chase, to arrange international shipping for jerseys.

I think my favorite story, though, comes from John from Northern Ireland. He sent me a long letter about how a sudden onset of ill health had forced him to stop working, and that it had been difficult to enjoy much of his time since. Doing the Forward Madison challenge gave him something to progress towards and achieve, and we interacted quite a bit on Twitter to get updates on his save. Since completing the challenge and receiving his letter, John has continued to follow us online, so I hope he can watch some of our games this season!

CC: You mentioned a lot of interest from around the world, where are some of the craziest places you’ve seen fans taking on or completing the challenge?

JK: It’s been insane! I know we’ve had participants from four continents so far, although I’ve only sent letters to three. We’ve had winners from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Denmark, Sweden, Romania, Portugal, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and, of course, the USA. I hope I haven’t missed any in there!

CC: Do you have any messages from fans that you’d like to share?

JK: Yeah, there are some really memorable ones! Of course, there was John in Northern Ireland. There’s also been Victor from Malmo, who told us that, “For the first time I really have a team outside of Sweden that I am rooting for.” Then there was Shaun from Singapore, who told me he’d really like to come to a game someday. But more than anything, I’m still waiting for a winner from Madison! I know several of our fans are working on it.

Forward Madison FC kicks off their second season in USL League One on March 28 at 5:30 p.m. CT on the road against the Richmond Kickers.

Follow Colton on Twitter: @cjcoreschi.

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