One of the thrilling aspects of attending a baseball game is the opportunity to catch a home run ball. Even a foul ball sparks excitement; not only for the fan who makes the catch, but also for the fans in the immediate area. If someone makes a bare-handed grab or manages to save their nachos in the process, it’s not uncommon for an entire stadium to applaud the fan’s effort.
Back in 2011 while at a Seattle Mariners game, IdealSeat cofounder Joel Carben noticed how the thrill of catching a foul ball was not isolated to the one who made the catch and thought to himself, “that’s a marketable experience.”
The idea was to offer baseball fans an opportunity to purchase game tickets based on their likelihood of catching a foul ball, or a home run ball if they’re really lucky. By considering the fan’s experience as more than simply watching a game, IdealSeat identified previously untapped moments of engagement thus offering a unique value proposition to baseball fans.
By breaking down the baseball fan’s journey map and highlighting potentially marketable touchpoints, IdealSeat created a supply for an unmet, unaddressed demand.
Having established their key differentiator, IdealSeat faced the challenge of bringing this concept to life.
Enter data.
Tracking and analyzing the frequency of foul ball location is conceptually simple. However, considering the MLB’s regular season is 162 games played by 30 teams, the data-collection logistics become a nightmare.
Despite it being a tall order, the IdealSeat team managed to collect enough reliable data to confidently project the likelihood of foul ball activity by seat location allowing fans to expand their ticket purchase decision criteria beyond the standard metrics of price and location.
By expanding the scope of a baseball fan’s experience beyond the typical game, food and merchandise categories, a new perspective was established and it immediately resonated with sports fans across the country.
With over 150,000 engagements in its first year and currently boasting over 1 million data points around the MLB fan experience, IdealSeat has expanded its operation from a direct ticket seller to a B2B service provider strengthening the experience of a fan’s preferred ticket vendor.
This is a great example of how customer journey mapping, data analytics and data-driven marketing can be the game-changers your company is looking for. To read more about IdealSeat, CLICK HERE.
If you’d like to discover your own unique value proposition and grow your customer experiences from good-to-great, we want to show you the way. For over 30 years we’ve refined our proven approach of tailoring data-driven strategies to our client’s unique objectives. We can do the same for you; click here to get the conversation started.
