Building Fan-Worthy Digital Content Experiences
Challenge
Facing uncertainty from COVID-19, minor league baseball teams like the Iowa Cubs and the Reading Fightin’ Phils were faced with challenges like social distancing that made them have to re-engineer the ballpark experience.
In an era of social distancing and uncertain attendance, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to print and then hand out game day programs was not feasible. These teams looked for a modern, efficient way to keep fans and sponsors engaged with the team.
Solution
Both teams moved their printed programs to fully digital, mobile-friendly versions. After exploring the market and assessing the options, both teams selected Nxtbook Media.
The Iowa Cubs selected Nxtbook’s PageRaft platform for a modern, digital-first experience and the Reading Fightin’ Phils selected nxtbook for a more traditional flipbook experience, created easily from a PDF. Watch the video below to learn more.
Director’s Cut (8 Minutes)
Theatrical Cut (3 Minutes)
Benefits
- Teams saved tens of thousands of dollars versus printing traditional programs while NOT losing any sponsorship dollars.
- After the initial transition, fans and sponsors loved the new digital gameday programs.
- Teams are able to update articles and sponsorships more often.
- Teams are able to provide precise analytics and performance data back to sponsors.
- Lead time for program design is greatly reduced without the need for printing.
Key Quotes
“You guys were the best thing that married everything that I wanted the experience to be for this mobile product.”
“It’s been nice to be able to pull it up on your phone and have it wherever you go. And a lot of that information is way more up to date than we could ever do with a print program.”
Matt Evers, Graphic Designer, Iowa Cubs
“The cost for us was a pretty big savings. We were printing close to 80,000 programs. So to be able to drop that and save a significant chunk of money, helped us a lot. And we didn’t lose any advertisers doing that, so it was pretty much all found money.”
“In minor league baseball, rosters change pretty much every day. To be able to change it each day and keep it updated for our fans, they were pretty, pretty excited about that!”
Andrew Nelson, Director of Client Fulfillment, Reading Fightin’ Phils
We’re excited about the work these teams are doing with our plaftorms. We’re working with many other clubs/sports around the world. Learn more about the benefits of using nxtbook and PageRaft for your digital programs and contact us below to see if we can help you!
