The following was produced by Joe Favorito. Joe has over 30 years of strategic communications / marketing, business development and public relations expertise in sports, entertainment, brand building, media training, television, athletic administration and business. He is a producer of award winning and cutting edge programs designed to increase ROI and minimize cost.
The Baltimore Ravens have always been about the blue collar, the grind it out with success on and off the field. Even in weathering controversy, from Ray Lewis to Ray Rice, their fans have stood by them as a team and a city, that bleeds purple and black. Well connected and loyal for sure. Innovative? Now that also fits, as the team worked with Swyft media to last week launch one of the first emoji keyboards for a pro sports team. The figures are fun, diverse and interchangeable and in a world where teams are becoming more social media savvy every day, will become the standard for fun engagement going forward.
I asked Swyft Media co-founder and vice president Evan Wray, who has worked with brands like MillerCoors, Sony, Interscope Records and SEGA among many others, about working with the Ravens as a first pro sports project, and how the project can grow.
.@SportTechie We’ve got a pretty sweet keyboard ourselves. ? @ESPNdirocco @jamisonhensley @darrenrovell pic.twitter.com/J5fqfA6xbp
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) July 23, 2015
This is Swyft’s first keyboard for an NFL team? If yes, why and how did the Ravens become first on board for you? What makes their brand special and more engaged than others?
Yes, this is the first NFL team for Swyft, but we are in talks with many more. Swyft has previously worked with over 300 brands such as Disney, NCAA Schools, Minions, MillerCoors, and L’Oreal to name a few. Swyft and The Baltimore Ravens were introduced by a mutual partner. The Baltimore Ravens were a perfect fit for the Swyft Emoji Keyboard as they have one of the most loyal fan bases in the world and their Digital Marketing team understands how important mobile messaging is in reaching and connecting with those younger fans.
How does an NFL license fit into the keyboard? Can the Ravens do this outside of getting an NFL approval?
While Swyft does have licenses with a tremendous amount of sports teams (over 50 NCAA schools for example), this partnership was directly established with the Baltimore Ravens.
Other than the visual engagement, what is the financial value proposition for teams to start an [emoji] initiative?
The Swyft Emoji Keyboard is all about driving continued engagement where fans are spending the most time, mobile messaging. We are bringing the Baltimore Ravens directly into the conversation with tens of thousands of loyal fans. The Swyft Emoji Keyboard has all sorts of built in tools to drive ROI for the Baltimore Ravens, everything from video and gif support, to sending updates to fans about a new product or ticket sales via push notifications. For example, 1800Flowers created a Swyft Emoji Keyboard around Mother’s Day to drive sales on mobile. This was one of the largest traffic drivers to the 1800Flowers mobile website. At the end of the day, Swyft is enabling the Baltimore Ravens to build and reach an engaged audience within the mobile space.
The launch has gone well, do you have numbers to project for usage once camp starts?
The Baltimore Ravens fans have exploded and their voice is being heard all over with their new Ravens Emoji Keyboard. We saw over 43,000 app downloads in under 36 hours! In addition to just the download number, usage is key. We are seeing each person sending 6+ Ravens emoji per day right now. Every time a Ravens emoji is sent that continues the ripple effect among Ravens fans.
Do you have the ability to create player-specific emoji’s with this partnership?
We are working very closely with the Baltimore Ravens marketing team and will be continually updating the keyboard, especially as the season kickoff for the Ravens nears. We are already getting some great feedback on what to add next!
How quickly can you turn around new ones to the marketplace? For example, if there is an amazing or unexpected play can something be turned around in seconds or hours?
New Swyft Emoji Keyboards typically take anywhere from 2-10 days from conception to launch using our proprietary technology platform. Once they are live, we can update the emoji keyboard in real-time to include whatever the Baltimore Ravens or any other brand would like. Couple this with push notifications and a real time analytics dashboard and you are looking at a very powerful and insightful tool for engaging fans.
Are these more for uber or casual fans and why?
The beauty Swyft Emoji Keyboards is that they are available across all Apple and Android devices and compatible with virtually any messaging app or social network such as iMessage, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat and more. Both uber and casual fans alike can enjoy the Baltimore Ravens Emoji Keyboard.
What brands have used emojis to effectively market to consumers?
Over 300 top tier brands have used the Swyft Platform to reach consumers on mobile. Some of our brand partners that have done a great job with this are Disney, Universal Studios, L’Oreal, Miller Coors, NCAA Schools, Gwen Stefani, Fox Entertainment and of course the Baltimore Ravens, among others. Reaching consumers on mobile is a requirement for any brand that is looking to truly connect with their fans, and Swyft’s Emoji Marketing platform is a great way to do that.
With a traditionally older and male fan base, can the Ravens use the platform as a way to engage younger fans or are these geared more to an already socially engaged fan base?
The Baltimore Ravens can definitely use the Ravens Emoji Keyboard to connect with their younger fan base. It’s all about speaking their language and engaging with fans where they are spending most of their time. On average fans who use messaging apps are spending more than 30 minutes per day on these platforms. Connecting with young consumers through mobile is currently a pain point for most brands and Swyft has some great products to solve this, such as the Swyft Emoji Keyboard.
How will the Ravens integrate the emojis into their digital and fan engagement campaigns?
The sky is the limit here. We’ve done everything from contests, videos, giveaways, and in-stadium promotions all driven by the Swyft Emoji Keyboards. We are really excited as to what the future holds for the Ravens Emoji Keyboard but most importantly how much the fans will love it. It’s the new digital swag!