MapQuest and MLB.com are collaborating on digital video, in-app integrations and other content intended to enhance baseball and travel experiences, including an original online video series and Gameday Guides that are available from smartphones.

With baseball season mostly taking place during summer, when many consumers travel more frequently and use services such as MapQuest to help them get there, the new partnership makes a lot of sense for both brands. The ?Key to the City? original video series offers game attendees local recommendations while helping them navigate around the city.

?Major League Baseball is America?s national past time and the season takes place predominantly over the heavy summer travel months ? peak season for MapQuest across all devices,? said Brian McMahon, general manager, MapQuest, Denver. ? Looking at our data, we know that millions of our users are searching for and routing to baseball related events.

?The official partnership is a great way to offer our users more great data, enhance their experience and expand our user base,? he said. ?We are collaborating with MLB.com on a variety of video, article and in-app integrations that enhance baseball and travel experiences.

?The "Key to the City" original video series was co-created by MapQuest and MLB.com and serves as a perfect synergy, as it helps fans make the most of game day with smart local discovery recommendations and gives them the ability to use our existing products to help them find the best way to navigate to and from the places they want to go. Additionally, super fans can customize our free, redesigned navigation app with the team themes available for in-app purchase."

App-to-app experience
While MapQuest is best known for its maps and directions, the partnership with MLB.com is an example of how the company is looking to deliver more meaningful experiences for users.

With baseball and travel two of the top searches for the MapQuest community, the company is also delivering MapQuest-powered mapping and directions through an exclusive app-to-app experience with the MLB.com At the Ballpark smartphone app. The content is also integrated into MLB.com and all 30 MLB team responsive, mobile-optimized Web sites.

MapQuest partnered with MLB.com to launch the initial integration just prior to opening day on March 29, 2014, including the in-app team themes and customization.

The original video series and Gameday Guides were launched this week.

Customized ballpark content
The Key to the City video series is hosted by Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre comedian Matt Fisher and including five-minute episodes on what to do on game days in select baseball towns, including tourism attractions, local hangout and hidden gems. The content can be found on gameday.mapquest.com.

Featured cities include Denver, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and Boston.

MapQuest also offers customized ballpark content, including Gameday Guides for all 30 MLB teams. The guides feature articles created by MapQuest?s editorial team with area travel experts on MLB ballparks and cities.

The guides include history and key information, best offerings near the stadiums, in-stadium food offerings and deals, tips for best experiences for families and where to go after the game.

?With 40 million multi-platform users, we know consumers may do initial research and planning from a desktop before switching to a mobile device, or they may just be on smartphone for the entire experience,? Mr. McMahon said.

?All of our MLB integrations include responsive design for a great experience on desktop, tablet and mobile phones and portions of the content will be integrated into our free navigation apps as well,? he said. ?All of this great content from MLB.com will make our experience better on all platforms and we will continue to innovate on all platforms as well."

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York