To leverage excitement around the start of the new NFL season and help boost fan support, the Baltimore Ravens are enabling supporters to get their gamefaces on through augmented reality face painting.
The Ravens have teamed up with augmented reality specialists Faceware Interactive and tech outfit Imaage Metrics to become the first NFL franchise to offer fans augmented reality face painting through the team’s mobile app (at http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/mobile.html).
Fans need just to download/update their Ravens app, available on both iOS and Android, ahead of the Ravens’ 2017 Sunday season opener against the Cleveland Browns and then can choose from 13 different face paint looks to express ‘Ravens Pride’.
This mobile AR offering, which potentially saves hours of actual face painting (and cleaning off afterwards), includes a Ravenized Maryland state flag, purple and black stripes, a Ravens birdie head, a Ravens eye mask, and evena feather mask that flies onto your face when you open your mouth and more.
Like a Snapchat filter, the images then appear virtually on the fan’s face within the app and are also shareable with fellow supporters and rival fans across social media and messaging platforms.
The initiative was promoted across the team’s social and digital platforms such as Twitter,
#RavensFlock now you can express your Ravens pride with 13 different face paint looks in our app!
: https://t.co/3fFH2aUYPb pic.twitter.com/DegQYb6Q3k— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 8, 2017
Facebook,
and YouTube.
“We say it all the time. We want attending a game to be an amazing experience for our fans. We want to create lifelong memories,” said Senior Vice President of Ravens Media Michelle Andres.
“Our face paint executions are not only a cool way for our fans to show their team spirit, they create those great memories.”
Comment:
We like this kind of gimmicky fan fun, but, like a fair few Ravens fans, we still like some old school face painting too – although it can be tough to tell which is AR and which is real.
@Ravens even the tiniest of ravens fans have waited a lifetime for today! #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/CycVqrm17H
— Michael Koehler (@Killer_Koehler) September 10, 2017
Smooth… #PurpleFriday #ravensflock #facepaint @Ravens pic.twitter.com/poUM3MXBvJ
— Alex Bente (@theAlexBente) September 8, 2017
While the Ravens may claim that this is the ‘first of its kind’ in professional sports, it very much reminds us of a single team version of Nissan’s multi-team, award-winning NCAA ‘Die Hard Fan App’ activation from 2015 (see case study).
Plus, back in August 2017, MLS team Toronto FC also offered an AR fan face painting platform for its fans.
While a month or so before that, in June 2017, football’s global governing body FIFA used Facebook to enable football fans around the world to create shareable 3D AR face masks to support their sides during the Confederations Cup.
Regardless of the debate about who is first, AR is just one of several new tech-led, digital and broadcast innovations the Ravens are introducing for the new 2017/18 season. To enhance the gameday experience.
For example, this year will also see the team offer its fans a ‘Fan Mirror’: a full-size, movable, face recognition mirror located on the RavensWalk section of the M&T Bank Stadium concourse.
While in 2018, the club plans to install in-stadium cameras with facial recognition technology that will face paint fans sitting in the stands and project them on the giant RavensVision boards.
The team has also installed two 4K ultra-high definition video displays (with more to come) and added SkyCam to the game experience.
These additions are part of the franchise’s three-stage, $120m in-stadium improvement program.
Links:
Baltimore Ravens
https://www.youtube.com/user/baltimoreravens
http://www.baltimoreravens.com/
https://www.facebook.com/baltimoreravens
https://www.instagram.com/ravens/
https://www.snapchat.com/add/bltravens
http://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/mobile.html
