Article

MLS's Houston Dynamo energize fans with digital signage

Interactive digital signage engages and entertains fans, and also helps the team and its sponsors engage with fans.

August 1, 2014 by Christopher Hall — w, t

Fans of the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer got a real-life kick out of a recent digital signage deployment at the team's BBVA Compass Stadium home.

MVP Interactive, a marketing and technology company that specializes in creating unique and interactive in-venue experiences for audiences,and BBVA Compass, one of the country's 25 largest banks, recently rolled out an interactive digital signage Gaming Wall that gave fans at the stadium a change to take real-world penalty kicks against a virtual version of the team's goalkeeper.

The Gaming Wall, sponsored by BBVA Compass, is located inside the stadium concourse and features nine 47-inch HD digital signage screens totaling 60 square feet of touchscreen surface area, along with four high-definition cameras and a Microsoft Kinect camera. The interactive feature was manufactured by Peerless-AV.

Fans teed up to kick at an imaginary ball, and saw it zip toward, and hopefully past, Dynamo goalie Tally Hall. To start the action, fans touched the screen to activate it, and then receive two practice kicks and five chances to beat the virtual goalie in under a minute. The embedded cameras captured the speed of each kick and points were awarded based on the speed and success of each attempt. After five shots or 60 seconds, the wall displayed the leader board for the evening. After their turn, the player can input their email address on a nearby tablet to receive an email with images of their shot attempts.

Either way, @tallyhallgk wins. Take your shot vs Tally at @BBVACompass Section 114. #ForeverOrange https://t.co/rnqhm4I5By

— HoustonDynamo (@HoustonDynamo) July 21, 2014

The Gaming Wall is just the latest in-venue digital signage experience from BBVA, MVP and the Dynamo; the trio has previously deployed a digital signage "Morphingstation" that transformed visitors into makeup-wearing super fans last year or more recently into the team's mascot, an anthropomorphic fox named Dynamo Diesel.

Interactive digital signage such as the Morphingstation or the Gaming Wall enhances the in-stadium fan experience, and helps fans coming to the stadium to see games, as opposed to watching on TV or picking another entertainment option. These kinds of "added attractions" are becoming more and more common in sporting venues everywhere.

Houston Dynamo Partnership Activation Director Kristen Gambetta told Digital Signage Today her team works to enhance the fan experience.

"We try to give fans as many reasons as possible to come to the stadium and to get there early, so anything unique that adds value to the game-day experience is beneficial for the Dynamo," she wrote in an email.

But the benefits from experiential installations such as these go beyond just entertaining fans while they're in the stadium. They also help increase engagement with fans for the team and its sponsors, and also helps collect loyalty and contact information.

"The installments made by MVP Interactive, provide both the Dynamo and BBVA Compass multiple benefits," Gambetta wrote. "It serves as a data collection piece for BBVA Compass and the Dynamo, and it raises awareness of the partnership. The Gaming Wall also serves as a traffic driver to the BBVA Compass retail team that is within the same activation area signing up fans for credit cards on game days. We have found that the gaming wall has substantially increased the dwell time in the area through analytics that MVP Interactive is able to provide us through the technology."

In its first weekend of activation, hundreds of unique emails were captured and nearly half of the users who played the game posted their action shots on social media, creating a reach of more than 20,000 social media impressions, according to an announcement from MVP.

Also, MVP's embedded audience measurement technology revealed that onlookers spent an average of 30 seconds watching the wall, which was set against BBVA Compass branding.

"We're always looking at ways to connect with people's passions through the latest innovations in technology," BBVA Compass Sponsorship Activation Manager Nicole Self said in the announcement from MVP, "and the Gaming Wall is a fun, interactive way for the bank to tap fan's enthusiasm for the Houston Dynamo, as well as raise our brand awareness."

Watch a video of this year's earlier Morphingstation deployment below:

About Christopher Hall

---

None

Connect with Christopher: