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Home Screen of FanPlay Application
Inspiration
The FanPlay mobile app came out of the e-Stadium IoPT Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) research program under Dr. Edward Coyle, a group of 25 students designing and building technology for stadiums. The e-Stadium VIP is the oldest VIP at Georgia Tech at 18 years old, and has tried to commercialize three different products in the past without success. In the past year, new students on the team with a background in business and startups have shifted the VIP from a technology-centered design process to a user-centered design process. We quickly found through competitor analysis and market research that the old technology in development did not have a market, but that the fan-engagement experience market was wide open and ready for the taking. In Fall 2018, we began conducting market research around fan-engagement, and identified a need for an interactive experience to increase fan attendance.
What it does
FanPlay is a fan engagement experience employing both the mobile app and the Jumbotron for fans to play interactive games. The games are designed to create competition between home fans and away fans, and the games are uniquely social because they do not require to look at the phone screen to participate.
How we built it
We build a robust database employing the original Internet of People and Things research by a former graduate student at Georgia Tech which allows for large amounts of data to be collected at one time. We then used Xcode and Android-Studio to make two FanPlay mobile apps that collect sensor data on a user's phone for the interactive FanPlay games.
Challenges we ran into
Gaining access to the Jumbotron at football games. We needed to commercialize the product through marketing revenue to afford the Jumbotron. Instead of paying for the Jumbotron, we are pursuing a mutually beneficial relationship with IMG Sports to exchange Jumbotron time for ad revenue that increases in value due to FanPlay's ability to say how many eyes are actively looking at an ad on the Jumbotron during our mini games.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Building a robust database, conducting market research, changing to a user-centered design process, designing an intuitive front-end UI, and beginning to form a partnership with IMG and Georgia Tech Athletics.
What we learned
How to use prototyping tools and animation tools such as Adobe XD, Illustrator, and After Effects to effectively communicate our ideas to the judges.
What's next for FanPlay
Launch a beta version in Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium in Fall 2019 as a testbed to show improvement in fan-engagement, attendance, and ad revenue. Expand to other college football stadiums, eventually expanding to professional sports, and then to other sports such as NASCAR.
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