NFL training camps are now underway, which means that football season is tantalizingly close. And for Minnesota Vikings fans who want to watch their favorite players prepare to start the season, that means making the trek down to Mankato, MN where the Vikings have held training camp for decades.
And to help capitalize on this annual flood of purple and gold, the Greater Mankato Convention and Visitors Bureau has created a SCVNGR promotion called Jared's Journey (after Vikings star player Jared Allen). Jared's Journey will challenge fans to explore the community, completing challenges and earning prizes along the way.
This is a win-win for everybody. The Greater Mankato Convention and Visitors Bureau gets people into parts of Mankato that might otherwise be missed by football fans while building buzz for the upcoming football season, which is great for the Vikings.
And although the Vikings aren't the first NFL team to use SCVNGR to help connect with fans, they are one of the early adopters of this location-based fan interaction. Regardless of the success of the promotion, it will give the team valuable experience for future social media promotions.
Even more importantly, this gives a football geek like me a chance to talk about my favorite team.
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sports. Show all posts
Monday, August 2, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Can Social Media Save Soccer?
Tomorrow, the U.S. and England will face off in a much-anticipated soccer match in the 2010 World Cup.
And while the world is in a near-frenzy over this and all of the World Cup matches, the fact is that soccer hasn't achieved the same level of fandom here in the U.S. that it enjoys around the globe.
But the major difference between this year's World Cup and previous tournaments is that social media has never been as prevalent as it has been over the past few months, whether it's location-based services, mobile apps or the explosion of Twitter and Facebook use.
There's been a wave of new Soccer-themed social media tools and games, from mobile Droid apps that give the latest play-by-play of the matches to a huge increase in World Cup-related Twitter traffic.
And even though to me "football" will always be the sport about quarterbacks and helmets, I am interested to see if these new opportunities for fan engagement can help elevate the sport as a whole in a country dominated by touchdowns, hoops, and bases.
And while the world is in a near-frenzy over this and all of the World Cup matches, the fact is that soccer hasn't achieved the same level of fandom here in the U.S. that it enjoys around the globe.
But the major difference between this year's World Cup and previous tournaments is that social media has never been as prevalent as it has been over the past few months, whether it's location-based services, mobile apps or the explosion of Twitter and Facebook use.
There's been a wave of new Soccer-themed social media tools and games, from mobile Droid apps that give the latest play-by-play of the matches to a huge increase in World Cup-related Twitter traffic.
And even though to me "football" will always be the sport about quarterbacks and helmets, I am interested to see if these new opportunities for fan engagement can help elevate the sport as a whole in a country dominated by touchdowns, hoops, and bases.
Labels:
social media,
sports
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)