Checking In To Tell The LBS Story

From our Corporate blog over at www.definition6.com


Wednesday, October 13, 2010 by Gil Wolchock


Fall is my favorite time of year, just like it is for a lot of folks. While I enjoy the cooler temperatures, the changing of the leaves and all the preparations for the holidays, the real coup de grace for me is sports. Let’s face it, summer is the ‘dead of winter’ for a true sports fan, but fall is our Valhalla.

I mean, could October be any better? You have baseball pennant races, playoffs and The World Series. In Hockey and Basketball, the seasons are just beginning and everyone thinks they have a chance. For America’s new favorite pastime, college and professional football are in full force.


But you're on our blog to read about unified marketing or the latest technology trends, right? You don't really care about my passion for sports.

When Sports and Marketing Collide

Sports and marketing have been closely aligned for as long as I can remember now. From the ads you see in the programs at the ballpark, to TV/radio spots (and shows created for the sole purposes of selling ads I might add). Of course, there's also the signage all over, including player uniforms, the scoreboards and that precious real estate in the line of sight of any television camera (like behind home plate).

The next iteration of fan engagement is coming through Location Based Services (LBS). There is no question that services like FourSquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places have moved beyond the fad to widespread fan adoption.

For me, I think sports is the bridge between fad and reality for LBS. Sporting events - whether you're at the game or watching it in the neighborhood bar or from your couch with your Snuggie on - have always been about participation. Fans want to be part of the experience. With LBS, they can mark the event.

- A captive audience – when you arrive at a stadium for a game, they have you at “hello”. You are there for 3-6 hours (if you include tailgating). Advertisers have long seen the value here with placement in Programs, buying up ballpark ‘real estate’, etc…

- Fans are a passionate, core demographic for sports. The term ‘fan’ comes from ‘fanatic’ - is there a more poignant example of this passion.

LBS Creates New Opportunities for Storytelling

- The narrative – here ‘IT’ is, the KEY to making LBS truly successful. At the heart of any success is STORYTELLING. At the heart of sports and why we love them is STORYTELLING. Whether it is sharing the ‘moment’ with 95,000 others or telling your grandchildren 40 years later about how you were there when ‘IT’ happened, sports is about the story! Deep in this concept of STORYTELLING is the desire to SHARE, which is really what LBS is about.

So now that we have the groundwork we need to look at LBS and assume that something is ‘missing’. If you agree that three things needed for success today from a marketing standpoint are storytelling, technology and social engagement you can begin to see where I am going.

Clearly LBS’ have the technology angle solved. Smart devices with GPS and social networking built in are what have fueled the revolution. Additionally, they are inherently social. You check in, tell your friends where you are, see where they are, etc...

What I see as missing is the ‘story’. When LBS first launched the question was raised, “Why would I check in and tell people where I am at?” In those early days the answer was, “If you give them a free beer they will check in”. While that worked initially, I don’t think it is a long-term strategy.

What should be the answer is sharing. Let people share in a group experience, add in their commentary/story, record it for posterity, and then relive it as they choose. Now, what better platform is there for that than sports?

Take this past week and look at all the great stories you could have been a part of:

Roy Halladay pitching only the SECOND No Hitter in baseball playoff HISTORY
Bobby Cox managing his last game for the Atlanta Braves
Brett Favre throwing his 500th touchdown last night on Monday Night Footbal
Quite literally there were THOUSANDS of fans looking to share those stories and LBS’ could have been the perfect tool to do so. Sure, you get a glimpse of the story with a short message, but there's more to it than that.

You could check in that you were there, you could post pictures, add running commentary and lastly share the emotions of the moment. Yet, it’s not being done, at least not through one consistent service.
The question is then why? The answer is money. It’s expensive to launch initiatives, especially ones that don’t have a direct ROI to the groups, in this case a Sports Teams, bottom line. But I see that as short sighted and where advertising can step in. For an advertiser what is the benefit of placing an ad in the program of a World Series Game? It’s that eyeballs in the stadium will see the ad, resonate with it and choose to purchase your product.

The same thing can happen through LBS with an even more emotional pull. Take the Halladay no-hitter (as a Philly fan I will). If I were checked-in to the game and right after it ended, I received a personal message to me (and the others that checked in) that I could be the FIRST to get the t-shirt commemorating the event --- how fast would I do it? Two seconds! How long would it take me to tell the rest of my social network that I did? Less than two seconds!!

Soon I would have two stories to tell, the game AND the great offer I received after, all because I was checked-in. How many of my ‘friends’ will now check into games waiting to see if they will get anything? A lot of them. If they get something, they might tell two more friends, and they tell two friends and soon we are all using shampoo from the 1980’s!

So, why haven’t teams, leagues and advertisers seen the power of this yet? I’m not sure, maybe they need to check into LBS in the off season.