(Courtesy of Detroit Pistons/Twitter)
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The Detroit Pistons are the latest professional U.S. sports team to leverage gamification in order to further engage fans.
On Monday, the team officially rolled out a new game experience, dubbed “One-On-One with the Detroit Pistons,” becoming the first professional sports franchise to engage fans through interactive video technology.
According to Charlie Metzger, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, being “first-ever” when it comes to new technology integrations and other innovative ways of thinking is a consistent mindset for team executives, which he reiterated to SportTechie.
In partnership with video developer Interlude, which recently unveiled its new interactive platform Eko, fans can go head-to-head versus Andre Drummond, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, Tobias Harris and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope as they try to block, steal, dribble and score against their favorite players. Fans also have the opportunity to share results across social media and the ability to win prizes and promotional giveaways.
“The Detroit Pistons are at the forefront of sports franchises in their approach to innovative technology and entertainment as new generations of sports fans continually seeking ways to connect with their favorite players and teams,” Yoni Bloch, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Interlude, said in a statement. “Our goal with ‘One-On-One’ is to give participants and basketball fanatics a digital, yet very true to life one-on-one experience on the court.”
The technology uses video of the players which was captured over a 12-hour filming session earlier this summer. Interlude’s new Eko platform streams the video in real-time and allows participants to play One-On-One on whatever platform they’re currently on, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, mobile or desktop. Not needing to download an app or switch platforms to participate was key for the Pistons exploring the new fan engagement initiative, according to Metzger.
“As you look at the game of basketball, and specifically if you look at the NBA, fans are connected to our game not only when they come to The Palace to watch our guys, but they’re being connected throughout all of the different ways they engage with media,” he said. “So, this is an opportunity whether you’re in New York, Chicago or Shanghai, you’re going to be connected and sharpen your skills against the Detroit Pistons.
“The opportunity is really to connect with people on their terms. If they’re not at a game, what else can we do to connect with them? This really sparked our interest, and the fact that there’s no console and you can play it on your phone, laptop or desktop, that made it even more interesting to us.”
Added Pistons forward Tobias Harris: “Who knows, maybe this is the next technology that goes into making Xbox games and you eliminate the graphics altogether? This is definitely a cool concept.”
Beyond Detroit, another similar example came from the NFL, with the Jacksonville Jaguars doubling down on its commitment to gamification as a lead marketing strategy and way to gain additional fan insight. It re-introduced JaguarsArcade.com this season along with a new pinball video game called “Bud Light presents River City Rollers.”
Like the Pistons, the Jaguars are hoping its branded content initiative will attract current and new fans to engage with the team online.
“The old adage was content was king. It’s now, native content is king,” said Steve Ziff, Vice President of Marketing and Digital Media at the Jaguars. “We’re taking it a step further. If it’s not integrated in a native environment, it’s less important to people.
“For us, we moved into this format that, if we’re going to make branded content as the Jaguars and we’re going to sell that branded content to people, we only want to sell it in ways that are native to our audience. We really believe in the new model of right content for the right audience through the right distribution channels will lead us to the right opportunities.”
