Immersive Experiences in Sports

Immersive experiences bring a wow factor for sports teams, venues, and leagues. Fans expect more than passive viewing, and AR and VR give a brand a way to meet them with something to do, not just something to watch. Done well, the result is a memorable experience that ties fans to the team and its partners.

What is an immersive experience?

An immersive experience builds on the physical environment to add to it. With technology, users can see, hear, and interact with things that are not in front of them. The experience feels real, and fans can get involved on a new level. Sight, sound, and touch all help.

It does not have to mean a headset. In this article, we use the term for AR, VR, and interactive installations such as games and trivia.

Why do immersive experiences matter for sports brands?

Research points to a reason experiences land. In a peer-reviewed study built on two surveys, respondents said experiential purchases, ones made mainly to gain a life experience, made them happier than material purchases. Event marketers have their own numbers, from the EventTrack survey that Mosaic and Event Marketer run with consumers who have attended branded events:

• In a consumer survey of people in the U.S. and Canada, 91% said that, assuming the product was one they were interested in, taking part in an event or experience would make them more inclined to purchase.
• In the same survey, 46% said they felt more positive about the brand afterward, and 41% said their opinion stayed the same.
• In an earlier EventTrack report, 98% of consumers said they create digital or social content at events and experiences, and all of those who do share it.

These are self-reported answers from people who already attend branded events, published by an experiential marketing trade group. We read them as a sign of interest, not proof of sales.

How do AR and VR work as brand activations?

AR focuses on the real-world setting, so a phone can show a game or a product in the stands. VR takes the user somewhere else. Both let a brand show its story instead of telling it.

Physical activations have limits, such as planning time, site installation, and manufacturing. A digital layer can remove some of them.

What do immersive brand experiences look like in sports?

Immersive experiences take many forms. Here are three:

• In-stadium experiences: At the Super Bowl Experience fan festival in Phoenix, Frito-Lay and an agency built an area called Route 57. According to a write-up by Interactive Entertainment Group, an event entertainment company, it included a Doritos arcade and a giant human claw machine.
• Gamified experiences: The Denver Broncos hosted a trivia-based game show at Empower Field, described by Interactive Entertainment Group, which provided the trivia experience, as the team’s first “Broncos Game Show.”
• AR games: We built the Blueberry Catch Challenge for D.C. United, an AR mobile game that uses facial tracking so players catch falling berries on a live leaderboard. It was designed to turn downtime during matches into a sponsor-linked activation with lead capture. You can see more projects in our work.

Are fans using AR and VR at games today?

Less than the hype suggests. PwC surveyed about 2,000 sports fans and found that 18% of younger fans report using AR or VR at live games, a rate that largely tracks with older fans. PwC wrote that these technologies have not yet convinced this group to engage with immersive tech.

In our view, that is a reason to tie AR to something fans already want to do, such as playing for a few minutes at halftime, and not to lead with the technology.

How can teams, venues, and leagues get started?

In our view, four habits help:

• Pick a moment of downtime, such as halftime or pre-match.
• Make it fast to join, with no heavy download.
• Give sponsors something they can measure.
• Plan for crowded stadium networks.

We also write about how to de-risk digital fan experiences and about the stadium user experience, and our services page covers how we work.

Planning a fan activation? Talk to us.