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NBA?s Chicago Bulls shoot for fan engagement with mobile push

The National Basketball Association?s Chicago Bulls is expanding its mobile initiatives to engage its fans and open up remarketing opportunities.

The team tapped mobile marketing company Vibes Media to develop a mobile marketing campaign that lets fans text in to receive real-time game updates, scores and player statistics on their mobile phones. The Chicago Bulls wanted to be the first to offer their fans the ability to receive self-driven live game scores.

?The concept of our live scores and stats SMS feature is a first step toward allowing our fans to control the content they receive from us and when they receive it,? said Jeremy Thum, director of interactive marketing for the Chicago Bulls, Chicago. ?Until this point we have dictated the messaging that our fans receive.

?While we believe we have the most passionate fans in professional sports, not all will want to receive the same content and frequency of messages,? he said. ?For the live scores and stats specifically, the target is fans that need or want instant updates to their mobile device separate of any demographic.?

Vibes delivers hundreds of millions of mobile messages for clients such as Verizon Wireless, Best Buy, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Accuweather, Tribune, Gannett, Emmis Communications, Gray Television, BET, MTV, Research In Motion, Univision, Guess, Motorola and Entercom Communications, as well as NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB teams.

Bullish about mobile marketing
Vibes worked with the Bulls to create mobile functionality that pulls dynamic game information directly from the NBA?s game feed and distributes it via text messages to fans who text the keyword SCORE to the vanity short code BULLS (28557) during live games.

Additionally, fans who are interested in real-time statistics for a particular player can text the player?s last name to BULLS to receive a live stat update.

All the Bulls and whistles

Mr. Thum said that SMS has been a key component of the Bulls? digital marketing platform for three years.

Introducing this new functionality is intended to move the team closer to its goal of expanding mobile capabilities while allowing its fans control over the content they receive.

Mr. Thum claims that in a short time, the campaign has already attracted more than 4,000 unique users and continues to grow with each game.

In addition to updates, scores and player statistics, the Bulls send out coupons, offers and promotions to drive sales of merchandise, concessions and tickets.

?We have done all of the above prior to launching the new live scores and stats feature and will continue to do so,? Mr. Thum said. ?Our immediate term plans for communicating with opted-in fans will remain: pregame broadcast alerts, final score alerts, breaking news alerts and select ticket sales alerts.

?The next step for us is utilizing Vibes innovative platform to allow fans to customize this messaging, literally putting the control in the palms of their hands,? he said. ?Now in our third season with Vibes Media serving as our mobile messaging vendor, Vibes provides the messaging infrastructure and software necessary to grow and manage our mobile marketing database.

?Specific to the new live scores and stats feature, Vibes provided an innovative way for us to easily deliver the information through SMS.?

Final Take
Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief, Mobile Marketer