Sensors, lasers and tracking linking to analytics and algorithms lay at the heart of IBM’s The Masters activation, as the US-based multinational technology and consulting giant reimagined The Masters’ digital experience through a set of internet-connected devices to capture golf ball trajectories and enable users of its app to follow the on-course action from smartphones, tablets and other web-connected devices.
IBM’s second-screen ‘The Masters’ experiences aim to bridge the physical and digital golf worlds to bring fans closer to the live tournament.
Bringing alive its ‘Internet Of Things’ skill-set, official technology partner IBM’s umbrella, web and app-led activation objective was to develop technology-based utilities that allowed golf fans to get closer to the game in real-time via insightful data analysis infographics for digital users.
Among its array of nifty tools, IBM’s key new 2015 technology, called ‘Track’, enabled the tournament’s tech partner to bring the millions of golf lovers unable to make a personal Augusta pilgrimage to be as close to the action as they can by literally tracking golf balls down the course.
That data is funnelled into an aerial map of each hole that lets viewers see how a given player navigated his way around the course.
How IBM uses sensors and lasers to track the Masters http://t.co/oOwguC0jgR @zackwhittaker pic.twitter.com/RuUWKFbBRf
— ZDNet (@ZDNet) April 9, 2015
‘Track’ debuted on the Masters’ highly visual website (with a homepage that offers an infinite scroll of widgets updating the action in real-time) and the accompanying mobile apps at start of play on the tournament’s first Thursday.
Each widget links to news stories, live streams, photos, videos, infographics,leaderboards, and more.
There are other smart features, including individual pages for each golfer (that offer scorecards, scoring summaries, detailed stats, historical data, and videos of a given player), plus a dedicated page for each of the 18 holes (that includes information like how the hole was designed, cumulative data, aerial flyover videos, and a 360-degree view that lets users click-and-drag for perspectives from the tee box, fairway, and green).
The brand’s official 2015 Masters digital platforms moved on from the era of one-dimensional scorecards and data tables, by showcasing real-time data from internet-connected laser sensors stationed right across the Augusta National course via fan-friendly visualisations.
Resulting in play-by-play, real-time visualisation that allows golf fans to interact with the tournament and see the ball’s course on every hole on its a simulated course map, the distance of each drive, and other match-relevant data nuggets within seconds of each and every swing of the club.
Other innovative technologies built into the offering include offering iPad users the benefit of using the internal gyroscope to visualise the play from any angle.
According to John Kent, Program Manager of Worldwide Sponsorship Marketing for IBM, the tech sponsor focused on keeping the website and apps simple and clean.
This was part of a joint rights owner/sponsor vision shared by Augusta National chairman Billy Payne and IBM who both tried to build digital platforms that carried forward ‘the aura of The Masters’.
‘He wanted us to create a delightful experience that showcased the beauty and tradition of The Masters,’ explains IBM Technology Manager John Kent. ‘There’s a lot of genuine excitement here, and we wanted to create that on the digital platforms.’
Thus IBM’s online leaderboard closely mimics the classic Masters on-course leaderboard at Augusta.
The website also has eight channels of live streaming HD video that offer crisp picture and almost no lag at all.
‘It’s more engaging for fans, it offers business value, and it helps to expand the audience,’ adds Kent.
This no-lag, no-crash digital offering is made possible by using multiple data centres and IBM’s cloud platform (which includes predictive software and analytics that take into account traffic data from previous tournaments and social media chatter about a given player).
Kent calls it ‘continuous operations’.
‘Our cloud technology allows us to scale up or scale down when we need it,’ explains Kent.
‘We’re trying to tell a story with the collected data,’ adds Noah Syken, IBM’s VP of global sponsorships. ‘It’s an entirely new way to experience a golf tournament.’
IBM promoted its digital activation at The Masters via a relatively low-key ad campaign that included TV and web video focused on data analysis, such as this ‘Bobby Jones Golf Swing’ film,
and supporting social media posts.
Breaking down the numbers on @JordanSpieth's performance at #TheMasters: pic.twitter.com/JYjYyQcZ6R
— IBM (@IBM) April 13, 2015
Download the official app of #TheMasters, powered by IBM. iOS: http://t.co/jlduJlpJtY Android: http://t.co/mUMFr07v5Q pic.twitter.com/rJPVxFaw7B
— IBM (@IBM) April 8, 2015
Comment
Crucial in designing ‘Track’ and IBM’s other Masters web and mobile properties and tools is that the team remained primarily focused on ‘telling the story of the Masters’ as it is the sporting and human story rather than the technology that truly counts for fans.
And yet for all this cutting-edge technology, what exactly does IBM get in return for its development of the official US Masters’ website and apps?
A minute IBM logo is placed in the top right hand corner of each digital display, a small amount of airtime and very little on-site branding.
Does this really satisfy the Fortune 500 company as it seems to?
IBM has partnered with Augusta National Golf Club since the 90s and its experience of sports sponsorship partnerships dates all the way back to the 1962 Olympics.
In 1996, IBM helped the tournament launch its first website and its digital activation has simply snowballed with the rise of the social-media fuelled, interconnected world.
Of course, for IBM, this approach to activating its global flagship sponsorships (an elite set of premium properties that also includes major tennis events like Wimbledon and The US Open and rugby union ones such as the RFU) gives the company an opportunity to showcase our capabilities in front of the world.
Links
The Masters ‘Track’
http://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/track.html
The Masters Website
The Masters App
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-masters-tournament/id309025938?mt=8
The Masters Livestreams
http://www.masters.com/en_US/watch/index.html
The Masters News
http://www.masters.com/en_US/news/articles/2015-04-10/five_things_for_friday_at_the_masters.html
IBM Website
IBM Twitter
