Adding to the many sports teams already using the mobile channel are two new teams this month getting on board with in stadium and text to screen mobile marketing. Many popular teams including Major League Baseball’s Colorado Rockies, the NHL’s Blackhawks and the NBA’s Pheonix Suns successfully use mobile marketing year on year to engage fans and drive ticket sales. The NFL’s Houston Texans and the NBA’s Utah Jazz this month join the ranks to discover the power in engaging sporting fans at the big game.
The National Football League’s Houston Texans are connecting with fans via a new in stadium program of mobile marketing sponsored by McDonald’s, MasterCard and Whataburger. The in stadium marketing includes SMS voting, text alerts, text games via the in stadium video board and text contests. Fans are encouraged to interact by texting to an SMS short code. Fans can also join the Texans’ text club by texting the keyword SCORES, NEWS or OFFERS to an SMS short code. As part of the sponsorship deal, the Texans display graphics featuring branding from McDonald’s, MasterCard and Whataburger.
Another popular sporting team new to mobile marketing is the NBA’s Utah Jazz. The Jazz use mobile marketing to conduct mobile polls and trivia both in stadium and via television broadcasts of Jazz games. The real time mobile services mean fans can see their votes counted and their texts displayed on screen instantly. The Jazz also encourage fans to sign up to their mobile loyalty club by texting a keyword to an SMS short code. Fans who opt in receive regular text alerts with team information, special ticket offers and merchandise sales.
Increasingly more sports teams are realizing the value of engaging their fans with mobile marketing. We look forward to seeing what the rest of 2010 will bring for in stadium mobile marketing, but until then why not read up on our previous posts about sport’s teams embracing mobile marketing.