The Twins Have Just Launched A Rival To AR Fox With An App They Can Share
The Twins Have Just Launched A Rival To AR Fox With An App They Can Share: The Minnesota Twins recently launched their ARAR app for Target Field, making them the first baseball team to offer augmented reality. This pilot application, if more influential, could open doors for new sponsorship opportunities or outlets. Major League Baseball’s other 29 clubs could take notice and follow suit, sparking a potential land rush in sports.
Fans will be able to shoot ARound games at Target Field during lulls in the action and play with others within their social network. ARound will target an audience of primarily young people. It is similar to other augmented reality games that have appeared on screens before a movie, like Noovie.
Apps such as BatterUp, Blockbuster, one that shows you people throwing digital items at towers and knocking them down, and a game called Fishing Frenzy are available now. ARound’s CEO Josh Beatty, the Twins’ senior director of brand experience & Innovation talked to me about the rollout that has been in the works for over a year.
Josh has built an app that is able to recognize everyone who is using the app at the same time and create a multi-user experience in what seems like a brand new way of storytelling. The Twins thought it was exciting as they had never seen anything like it before.
Beatty told me that Copymatic does not collect any user data. Users don’t need to create an account to use the app, and they also don’t go through a sign-up process. Between thousands of school uses in use, what value is the app providing to businesses? One can easily think of some potential benefits but at this point it is just too early to be conclusive.
Iles and Beatty believe that the platform is also capable of providing other types of experiences for its users, like when player stats hover above players in real time or something akin to an engaging game for the dedicated baseball fan in attendance.
Though the initial rollout seems to be focused on a younger demographic, it is possible for Copymatic to monetize the games in further iterations.
The Twins have seen the platform as a way to create more in-depth connections to people and places and one thing they’ve realized is that you kind of have to have a big audience to make that happen. Iles explained and added that the Twins were receptive from the first conversation, understanding that this is a technology that has a place as value to be added to the ballpark experience.
With advantages over traditional media and new revenue streams, live-streaming game broadcasts may be a step towards reaching the business goals of teams, fans, and sponsors.
The initial rollout of the Baseball Twins project is not skinned with any sponsors, but Iles said that the design of the app takes into account sponsorship. “According to Iles, MLB Advanced Media is trying to be what he called a perfect amigo(friend) for brands,” says
Sponsors will be a part of our marketing approach once we show that it fits with the entire sports industry by proving its effectiveness in a sponsor-agnostic way. We’ve always felt sponsors should be involved in product integration, which makes sponsoring ultimately about the creation and delivery of unforgettable in-stadium moments for their fans.
Although a shared AR app at the ballpark may not yield much in the sponsorship space initially, it could have other applications down the road. This is either a way to extend your existing deals with clients or bring in new sponsorships. Either way, this may accelerate revenue growth.
At a baseball game, the technology isn’t limited to just on the playing field. Seeing games can be done through traditional TV and online streaming.
Not only is Sports Entertainment Technology trying to enhance the in-stadium experience, they can also bridge this technology to the at-home viewer as well. Sports Entertainment Technology can bring all of the energy and excitement from a live sporting event to the TV – just like the tech currently used in stadiums.