Driving Mobile Activity with Interactive Fan Games
How the AHL’s Manitoba Moose leveraged call-to-action experiences to climb up the national app rankings.
Abby Ilchena | Mar 2019
We have an app, now what? How can we get our fans to download our app and engage with our digital offerings? These were questions the Manitoba Moose marketing team were asking themselves when they released their app in 2016. A few months after launch, they were sitting at #356 in the national app store.
Enter in Fannex’s interactive call-to-action mobile games and contests…
On December 30, 2016, the team started running Check-In To Win, where fans are prompted to “Check-In” to their section, row and seat number through the Moose app to enter for a chance to win in-game prizing. This is the first step to engaging with their fans and conditioning them to interact with mobile on event day. Soon after they began running this activation, the team saw an incredible spike in downloads; over a two week stretch of home events, the Manitoba Moose app rose from #356 to #16 App Store rankings.
Throughout the remainder of the season, fans were eager to check-in once they arrived at the venue. They knew that once they arrived at their seats, it was time to pull out their phone and Check-In To Win on the Manitoba Moose app. With consistent promotion of this activation, the app continued to rise in the rankings and eventually reached #7 in the nation’s sports category, edging out even major league teams’ apps! The Moose’s parent team, the Winnipeg Jets, saw how successful the Moose were with connecting mobile into their event production and decided to incorporate Fannex shortly after.
Since the launch of their app, the team has continued to develop their interactive audience. On average, 25% of in-venue attendees are participating in live interactive games and contests. With effectively timed PA call-outs and unwavering execution, fans have become accustomed to interacting with mobile on event days, resulting in a consistently high level of engagement. Over the course of the past year, there was 10,389 downloads – increasing the all-time number to approximately 35,000 total downloads.
By incorporating call-to-action games, the team also saw a dramatic increase in app usage on home event days. Before the team began running Fannex activations, there was an average of a 38% increase in app activity on any given game-day. However, once the team implemented production controlled mobile engagement, they experienced over a 330% increase in app usage!
“A goal of ours is always to have more fans see our content – there’s value with that in ticket sales and partnerships revenue. Interactive games like Check-In To Win result in fans spending more time in our app, which allows us to engage with them about upcoming games, offers and promotions.”
-Annie Chipman | Marketing Manager, Manitoba Moose
In addition to Check-In To Win, the Moose continue to run a variety of mobile activations that engage audiences, including a sponsored Shuffle animation, and a team branded Trivia game. These customized games allow the Moose and their partners to connect with fans in a more meaningful and experiential way.
The Moose’s consistent execution of interactive fan games goes to show the power of call-to-action experiences on mobile. The team continues to have a high rate of mobile interactions and have been using this success to create new and lean-forward experiences for their fans.
Fannex is a fan experience platform that adds real time control of fan mobile devices to video production systems. Producers can draw on a Fannex library of customizable games and experiences, or add a mobile element to existing activations. The Fannex platform has been used by over 30 teams and buildings in North America, and in over 1000 events.
Driving Mobile Activity with Interactive Fan Games
How the AHL’s Manitoba Moose leveraged call-to-action experiences to climb up the national app rankings.
Abby Ilchena | Mar 2019
We have an app, now what? How can we get our fans to download our app and engage with our digital offerings? These were questions the Manitoba Moose marketing team were asking themselves when they released their app in 2016. A few months after launch, they were sitting at #356 in the national app store.
Enter in Fannex’s interactive call-to-action mobile games and contests…
On December 30, 2016, the team started running Check-In To Win, where fans are prompted to “Check-In” to their section, row and seat number through the Moose app to enter for a chance to win in-game prizing. This is the first step to engaging with their fans and conditioning them to interact with mobile on event day. Soon after they began running this activation, the team saw an incredible spike in downloads; over a two week stretch of home events, the Manitoba Moose app rose from #356 to #16 App Store rankings.
Throughout the remainder of the season, fans were eager to check-in once they arrived at the venue. They knew that once they arrived at their seats, it was time to pull out their phone and Check-In To Win on the Manitoba Moose app. With consistent promotion of this activation, the app continued to rise in the rankings and eventually reached #7 in the nation’s sports category, edging out even major league teams’ apps! The Moose’s parent team, the Winnipeg Jets, saw how successful the Moose were with connecting mobile into their event production and decided to incorporate Fannex shortly after.
Since the launch of their app, the team has continued to develop their interactive audience. On average, 25% of in-venue attendees are participating in live interactive games and contests. With effectively timed PA call-outs and unwavering execution, fans have become accustomed to interacting with mobile on event days, resulting in a consistently high level of engagement. Over the course of the past year, there was 10,389 downloads – increasing the all-time number to approximately 35,000 total downloads.
By incorporating call-to-action games, the team also saw a dramatic increase in app usage on home event days. Before the team began running Fannex activations, there was an average of a 38% increase in app activity on any given game-day. However, once the team implemented production controlled mobile engagement, they experienced over a 330% increase in app usage!
“A goal of ours is always to have more fans see our content – there’s value with that in ticket sales and partnerships revenue. Interactive games like Check-In To Win result in fans spending more time in our app, which allows us to engage with them about upcoming games, offers and promotions.”
-Annie Chipman | Marketing Manager, Manitoba Moose
In addition to Check-In To Win, the Moose continue to run a variety of mobile activations that engage audiences, including a sponsored Shuffle animation, and a team branded Trivia game. These customized games allow the Moose and their partners to connect with fans in a more meaningful and experiential way.
The Moose’s consistent execution of interactive fan games goes to show the power of call-to-action experiences on mobile. The team continues to have a high rate of mobile interactions and have been using this success to create new and lean-forward experiences for their fans.
Fannex is a fan experience platform that adds real time control of fan mobile devices to video production systems. Producers can draw on a Fannex library of customizable games and experiences, or add a mobile element to existing activations. The Fannex platform has been used by over 30 teams and buildings in North America, and in over 1000 events.