Free texting service lets fans
interact, enhances teams’ marketing databases
By GEORGE HENRY, Associated Press Writer
Feb 16, 3:30 pm EST
ATLANTA (AP)—Devrin Harris wasn’t taking any chances with the kiss cam.
Instead, the New York native proposed to his girlfriend, Jammie Shaw, with a text message that scrolled across the main scoreboard at Philips Arena.
“I got a yes,” Harris said with a big smile.
Check the video screens of your local stadium or arena. If fans aren’t already texting, chances are the technology will arrive soon.
The free service, first offered at Madison Square Garden three years ago, allows fans to use their cell phones and PDAs to send a text message to the venue. Once an onsite editor deems the message appropriate, it goes on display for the entire crowd.
The 28-year-old Harris had never sent a text message in previous trips to Philips Arena. Then, during an Atlanta Hawks-Detroit Pistons game, he took note when the marriage proposals went up.
“That’s what I’ll do,” Harris said to himself. “Let my cell phone pop the question.”
With a text message, Harris and Shaw could enjoy the sudden surprise of their moment without compromising their identity to the rest of the arena.
If he had decided instead to use the “kiss cam” to show the proposal, Harris risked embarrassing himself and Shaw in front of thousands of fans. Text messaging was more discreet.
“I’m glad it worked out the way it did,” the 22-year-old Shaw said with a slight grin. “This was perfect.”
The Hawks, despite losing to Detroit, came out ahead, too. When Harris typed 84695 into his phone, the team instantly sent a “thank you” reply and an obligatory ad for natural gas.
More important to the Hawks, however, was capturing Harris’ cell phone number, a potential gold mine in business.
The wireless industry, which estimates that 1 billion text messages are sent each month in the U.S., has created a technology that could bring a back-end windfall to teams and venues in the next few years.
By giving personal information like a cell phone number or an e-mail address, fans do more than improve a team’s marketing efforts with better target demographics.
Such was the case in a three-month campaign that ended Dec. 31, when the Dallas Cowboys sent thousands of messages to fans, encouraging them to contact Texas legislators and support the NFL Network’s ongoing dispute with Time-Warner Cable.
By Week 15 of the NFL season, league commissioner Roger Goodell and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones appeared before the state House Regulated Industries Committee. Lawmakers said their offices were flooded with phone calls and e-mails from people angry that the Cowboys’ Nov. 29 game against Green Bay was televised only on the NFL Network.
Fans might not know it, but their participation in free services like text messaging can help teams understand how to customize an individual’s experience at future games.
“We haven’t seen anything yet,” said David Carter, executive director of the Sports Business Center at Southern Cal. “It’s all about creating an intimate feel. Fans not only love sports, but they also want to receive information instantaneously, to communicate instantaneously and to participate in the event itself.”
The next step in personalizing depends on improved technology. Much like the importance placed on enhancing luxury services over the last decade, venues now are scrambling to add free public broadband and high-definition screens.
“Once those things are in place, you’ll have an infrastructure to give fans an almost unlimited choice of services,” said J.B. Vick, president of Atlanta-based FanDriveMedia.com. “We’ve already seen what text looks like on a hi-def board, and it just jumps out at you. It’s amazing. But the key is to let fans use their own icon, avatar or picture, something that makes their message much more personal and meaningful.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers have used Vick’s programs to offer texting service over the last two seasons. Jen Greco, a Cavs employee who monitors the messages and decides which ones are appropriate for public viewing, said 2,800 personal messages, a single-game high, were filed in a playoff game last year.
Promotions like “pick your favorite song” can bring as many as 1,500 text votes. Cavs owner Dan Gilbert believes that as much as Cleveland fans love LeBron James, they are equally as passionate about interacting on the scoreboard.
“Fortunately, I don’t think it’s even close to the top of the curve,” Gilbert said. “It’s just starting to happen now. A lot of it will be in fans’ experiencing what they want, like instantly finding statistics or other information, and what’s neat is they’ll be able to do this at the game or by watching at home.”
Not every message is about fan support, a star player or budding romance.
For Larry Banks, who serves as a volunteer firefighter in Winchester, Va., his 12-year-old son borrowed his phone at a recent Washington Wizards game and posted a surprising message:
“Congrats 2 my dad for savn a 4 yr. Old boy from a burning building 2day, Ur son brennan.”
Banks didn’t know that Brennan had told the entire arena about his heroics.
“I wasn’t expecting to see that,” Banks said. “What made the whole thing special was when we knew that the kid was in the hospital, and the doctors expected him to make a full recovery. His grandmother called the next day to thank me.”
2008-02-17
