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As the 2022 NFL season was coming to a close two Decembers ago, some teams were naturally ratcheting down their operations and planning for the offseason.
Kim Ferguson and the Baltimore Ravens were getting ready for the playoffs. And they had big plans.
After running successful WIT prize wheels and scratch-and-win games that fall, they were looking for something new. Something big.
“We’ve always said that we have fans everywhere,” said Ferguson, the Ravens’ Senior Director of Fan Development and Activation. “We look at our data and see these areas outside of Maryland that are so populated with Ravens fans, it’s crazy to us. We have all these Ravens Flock chapters that are growing and expanding.
“We were heading to the playoffs and we thought about the concept of how do you plant your flag.”
Flags are a big part of the Ravens’ in-game experience. They are a frequent fan giveaway and the weekly Maryland moment revolves around the state flag. Ferguson wanted to take that idea and digitally spread it around the country.
That opportunity came after a personal visit from WIT founder and CEO Vaidhy Murti at the Ravens’ stadium in Baltimore.
“We talked to Vaidhy about the idea of a way to show where people are located and give them something to share,” said Ferguson. “We wanted to show how that this Ravens Flock is one big community and not just Maryland and Baltimore. This would be an opportunity to allow displaced fans to feel a part of the playoffs.”
A collaborative brainstorm in a Ravens’ luxury suite turned into the the first iteration of the WIT Fan Map experience, allowing fans to enter their name and zip code and populate the U.S. map with Ravens’ purple, all while creating a shareable digital token to put on social media.
“We went through a lot of iterations on how exactly we wanted to show where people are and share it,” said Ferguson. “And the WIT team was great as always in working with us through each version.”
The new activation was a hit with the Ravens Flock, inspiring fans around the country along with influencers like celebrity chef Duff Goldman (who now lives in Los Angeles) and Ravens legend Vontae Leach (who lives in North Carolina) to plant their digital flag and share it with their followers.
But the Ravens weren’t done with their playoff map. They worked with WIT’s product team to create a new draft version where fans could programmatically create a digital shareable Ravens jersey with their name on it, joining the 2023 draft class on the Ravens roster.
“We are always trying to find ways to make an incredible fanbase feel even closer to the team and our community,” said Ferguson. “Both of those WIT experiences really helped us do that.”
So what did the Ravens do to follow that act this year? How about a Ravens-branded art wall for their 2023 playoff campaign.
They asked fans to create their own billboard with photo uploads into a custom art wall frame and then selected a number of lucky entries to be featured in real billboards in and around Baltimore.
But it all started with the Ravens Flock Map and a vision to expand the horizons of Ravens fandom.
Want to learn more about the WIT Fan Map or Art Wall experiences? Reach out to us now for more examples and demos.
