Those who attend the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl featuring Pittsburgh and Michigan State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium may be at the forefront of the next type of in-game experience in college sports.
Working with a software development partner, the Peach Bowl will offer those attending a chance to win prizes. They will be as expensive as tickets to the 2022 College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl and as inexpensive as meals at Chick-fil-A by scanning a QR code with their smartphone and competing in games on the website http://peachbowlfanplay.com. Games and other activities include predicting events, trivia, Field Goal Frenzy and QB Toss, and social sharing of photos, among others.
The website is a continuation of a project that started with the two Chick-fil-A Kickoff games earlier this season. President Gary Stokan said they hope to continue it with next year’s two Kickoff games, as well as the playoff semifinal.
The idea of the interactive website was born from Stokan’s want to monetize the social and digital media elements, and potentially generate revenue from fan engagement.
“How do we take the fans in the stadium engage them more with our with our partners and brands, and bring some fun to the experience?” Stokan said.
Stokan and the software partners deemed the first rollout as successful during the Kickoff games played between Alabama and Miami, and Ole Miss and Louisville in early September. The software development company estimated that 20% of the people who attended the game scanned the QR code. Also 80% of those who scanned the QR code, which could be found at places during the pregame fan festival, played an average of 10 minutes during the Alabama-Miami game and 11 minutes during the Ole Miss-Louisville game. They described that engagement as excellent.
From that Beta session, Stokan and his team learned that they need to make the QR code more accessible.
During this year’s Peach Bowl, in addition to it being marketed to supporters of Pittsburgh and Michigan State, it will be found at the fan festival, at area hotels, as well as on the halo board and mega column of Mercedes-Benz Stadium before and during the game. The software supporting the games is web-based, meaning phones used can be either ios or android-based.
The interaction is important to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and the sponsors because they are able to communicate directly with those consumers.
Stokan said the next step is to get the QR code on TV to increase the opportunities for engagement. Next year’s Kickoff games will feature Georgia vs. Oregon and Georgia Tech vs. Clemson.
“We hope with next year’s Kickoff we can take it to the next level,” he said.
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