Take a stroll across a college campus in America, and one thing will quickly become clear: College students are glued to their mobile devices. On Saturdays in the fall, though, those college students are glued to their team's college football games. Thus, improving a college student's college football game experience is about meeting them where they are: On their phones.
Seen as one of the most dominant conferences in college football, in 2012 the SEC formed the SEC Fan Experience Working Group. One of the goals of the group was to develop recommendations to enhance SEC fans' experiences at games. For the 2014 football season, all 14 SEC schools have adopted strategies to address fan experience. “Our institutions have made it a priority to engage their fans in a way that will enhance their in-game enjoyment and satisfaction. I salute our schools for being bold in addressing the fan experience and recognizing that increased attention to fans is critical to the continued success of our league," SEC commissioner, Mike Slive, said.
Recognizing the time fans spend on their smart phones, Mississippi State turned to technology to improve its fans' experiences at games. "Everyone has their phone in their hands at all times. In terms of improving fan engagement, we wanted to do something that wasn't fully centered on one particular social media medium, like Twitter or Facebook. Rather, we wanted something that fans of all age ranges could and would use," Mississippi State's assistant athletic director for marketing, Leah Beasley, explained.
With that goal in mind, beginning with the 2013-14 basketball season, Mississippi State partnered with Experience, a fan experience technology company that is focused upon helping fans enjoy events to the full extent possible. In partnering with Experience, Mississippi State developed a mobile engagement application that delivers unique interactive experiences to game attendees. "With Experience, we launched our Maroon Memories program. This program gives fans who use their smart phones to access the Experience site the opportunity to purchase in-venue seat upgrades or game day experiences, which we call 'memories,'" Beasley, said.
Through the Maroon Memories program, Mississippi State fans certainly have opportunities to create lasting memories built around their favorite team. With Experience, Mississippi State built a web portal where members of its Bulldog Club booster club and Hail State Rewards program for students, can login and see what "memories" are available for given dates and games. For Mississippi State's program, the "memories" experiences range from standing on the field with players during the National Anthem and selecting what songs will be played over the loudspeaker during a game to pictures on the field with the team's mascot and private stadium tours. Fans purchase these opportunities using credits. Mississippi State awards students credits when they attend games and other athletic department functions. Bulldog Club members receive credits with their membership but may also purchase more. Mississippi State values its "memories" packages at between $10 and $300. "Positive feedback is rolling in from fans about them enjoying their experience at games more since we launched Maroon Memories. Many say that the experience they're enjoying is night and day from years past," Beasley noted.
Mississippi State was one of Experience's early clients. Yet, Mississippi State is one of a growing list of sports entities that has partnered with the Experience to provide fans with a more personalized game day experience. Started in 2011, the company's first customer was the Los Angeles Clippers. Today, Experience's list of clients spans over 170 properties.
With a wide range of clients spanning from college and professional sports teams to concert promoters and venues, Experience is focused upon providing each customer with a customizable way to utilize its product. The customization of Experience's product allows its partners to tailor their offerings based upon the type of events they host. Thus, what Mississippi State offers through Maroon Memories may look different from what a venue hosting a Disney on Ice event may offer. "Ultimately, fans go to live events to create a memory. They want a moment in their life they can talk about for the rest of their lives. We want to find out how to deliver a personalized memory. What we've built to help teams figure that out is categorized. Effectively, what we have is a fan engagement platform that is a mobile first technology that allows live event operators to engage with their fans in a variety of ways. It's very robust and highly configurable, so our partners can use it in a variety of ways," Experience's president, Ben Ackerman, said.
While Mississippi State has been able to provide fans with unique memories by partnering with Experience, it has also been able to further another important goal: Building fan loyalty. In a unique move, Mississippi State allows students to roll over their Maroon Memories credits upon graduation earned as student members of the Hail State Rewards program into Bulldog Club points upon graduation. "We are the only athletic department that rolls over reward points for students into [booster] club credits when they graduate. Their fees are waived for their first year. We want to motivate students to stick around and be fans after they graduate," Mississippi State's Beasley said.
If Mississippi State continues partnering with Experience, it's likely that its students will take them up on the opportunity to turn their credits into a Bulldog Club membership and return to games. This is because, as time goes on, the memories they're able to build through Mississippi State's partnership with Experience will only continue to grow. "Our goal is to never stop innovating. What drives our innovation, is continuing to figure out what we can do to touch each and every fan in the stadium on event day. We believe that the live event experience is so special and incredible, that if we can allow each and every fan in the venue to personalize it, it'll take it to the next level," Experience's Ackerman noted.
