Mystery Email Promotes Patriots Social Media Campaign

Author:

Amy Tierney

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The big mystery is finally revealed.

After a teaser email campaign and clever PR tactics fueled tremendous hype in the last couple of days, the New England Patriots unveiled the cloak from its new social media campaign, which encourages fans to play an interactive game on their smartphones to help all-pro defensive lineman Vince Wilfork find his lost 2004 Super Bowl ring.

The “Help VinceTrek” tasks fans to download and play SCVNGR , a location-based application developed for iPhones and Andriod smartphones. The application challenges fans to solve clues on their smartphones to earn points and become closer to solving the mystery of the lost ring.

Well, the ring isn’t really missing. It’s all part of the story the Patriots developed to entice fans to download Scvngr. The effort is part of a larger social media push to keep fans engaged leading into the 2010 season. During a fictitious press event, the Patriots revealed that an angry Jets fan stole the ring and is holding it for ransom.
 
“It’s a slow time heading into the season,” Stacey James, vice president, media and community relations, Patriots, told Email Institute. “The strategy now is to take advantage of the down period. There is a large population [of Patriots fans] that enjoys the interaction of social media. This gives us an opportunity for that.”
 
The “Help Vince Trek” campaign lets fans play Patriots challenges at more than 200 spots across New England. Players answer questions or submit pictures based on their individual locations and earn points. In turn, the Patriots will award daily and weekly prizes. The top overall scorer (and the person who “finds” Wilfork’s ring) will win lunch with a Patriots player and three guests at the end of the 2010 season.
 
The Patriots sent a teaser email this week with a catchy subject line to promote the campaign days before the promotion launched, compelling readers to visit Patriots.com. When eager fans tried to get a sneak peek before the campaign began, they came to a landing page, which read, “What are you doing here? We said 7/15/10!”
 
“[Our team] had a little fun with it,” James said of the email campaign.
 
See here for the landing page after the campaign launched.
 
Email is just a small piece of the promotion puzzle. In addition to email, the Patriots used Twitter and Facebook to promote the campaign. The Patriots have more than 40,000 followers on Twitter and more than 5,000 fans on Facebook. Wilfork also uses Twitter to stay in touch with fans.
 
The team’s social media outreach is an opportunity to stay in touch directly with fans, and so far the effort has been “fairly well received,” James said.
 
The team is working with SCVNGR , a Boston-based company that developed the game-engine platform. The platform lets organizations and schools create location-based games and challenges for smartphones.
 
“SCVNGR gives Patriots fans a new and unique opportunity to interact with the team and each other," Jonathan Kraft, president of the New England Patriots, said in a statement. "For 16 years our organization has invested in digital technology that enhances our relationship with our fans. Because we believe mobile gaming is the next evolution in social media, we've partnered with SCVNGR, a clear leader in this emerging space, on 'Help Vince' and other games."
 
James said the Patriots plan to send ongoing reminders via email and social media to remind fans how to play the game and to offer other campaign updates. The campaign is expected to last for a few weeks, he said.