Sports fans want to interact with their teams/sports in as many unique ways as possible to feel immersed in the action and engaged as a fan (Bashford, 2017). Fans want to know the players on a personal level, feel like they are at the stadium during a game, and use technology to get in on all the action. New technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and advanced smart-phones are paving the way for sports fans to have access to the ultimate fan experiences at the click of a button. “Thanks to the passion of millions of sports fans around the globe and the advances in technology, fan engagement with AR (augmented reality) emerges as one of the most promising segments within the sports tech industry” (ISPO, 2019).
"This creative project seeks to develop an AR experience that integrates design thinking research to create a unique digital sporting experience. This AR experience will be added to a grassroots sports marketing campaign with an original sports documentary at the center."
AR is an “experience that utilizes a camera to change or enhances the user’s view of the world. AR experiences are a new way to create context and add experiences over physical world objects and attributes like location or a recognized image or object” (Borst, 2019). AR technology is now included in all of the latest smart-phone and tablet software, which provides a ready audience for marketers who wish to make AR products and experiences successful. “The mobile-first era has ushered in new forms of storytelling, and marketers are increasingly expressing interest in the possibilities that AR technology can provide to break through the clutter and engage with consumers in truly organic ways that drive engagement and affinity” (Borst, 2019).
The MLB and NBA are both diving into this new technology in an effort to increase fan engagement with AR games, stadium tours, and real-time statistics (Joehnig, 2018). These leagues are bringing sports fans closer to the game than ever before with immersive experiences. However, there is little being done with AR in sports like gymnastics, lacrosse, and volleyball that have less money and media coverage, fewer stadiums, and no widely successful brand identities (Biddiscombe, 2018). These sports and brands don’t have that established platform to launch this innovative technology. After researching many databases such as Business Source Complete, Academic Source Premier, and EBSCOhost, there appears to be little to no strategic process that guides marketers for grassroot campaigns toward creating user-centered AR experiences. The implementation of design thinking strategies to create more personalized, user-centered products is growing in the field of marketing for some of the world’s most innovative companies such as IBM (Clark and Smith, 2008). Although design thinking strategies are being adopted by many of today’s innovators such as Apple, Volkswagen, and Coca-Cola (Tran, 2018), there were no documented cases of how design thinking strategies may be used to inspire development of AR products specifically designed to enhance for a grassroots sports marketing campaigns.
To address these concerns, this creative project seeks to develop an AR experience that integrates design thinking research to create a unique digital sporting experience. This AR experience will be added to a grassroots sports marketing campaign with an original sports documentary at the center. The documentary focuses on the growth of boys’ and men’s volleyball in the United States, which is driven by a grassroots effort to provide more athletic opportunities for young male athletes.
As such, this creative project makes the following contributions:
- provides strategic guidance for marketers who wish to incorporate augmented reality into grassroots sports marketing campaigns;
- highlights the value of design thinking methods as a tool for the development of audience-centered content.