ESPN: Bar Sports

CLIENT

ESPN, Inc., The Worldwide Leader in Sports, is a leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring the broadest portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities. The company, which celebrated its 29th anniversary on September 7, 2008, is comprised of seven domestic television networks.

BACKGROUND

Part of the ESPN family, ESPN 360 is a subscription-based service that provides exclusive broadband video content to subscribers. To reward and entertain them, ESPN sought to create a fun online entertainment destination. ESPN approached 15 letters with a clear challenge: build several easy-to-play, highly compelling and strongly branded casual games. Since they were interested in investing in and building a destination for their subscribers, ESPN also wanted to ensure that the project could easily extend over time with other games and interactive content.

THE SOLUTION

We came up with a collection of simple games that were set within the context of an ESPN Sports Zone, the franchise's sports bar concept. We developed a unique interface that allowed users to explore this environment and play three simple games: Air Hockey, Bar Curling and Coin Toss.

Using video, 3D animation, rich sound and intuitive game design, users could experience these compelling games within the context of the sports bar. The games also featured leaderboards and special digital downloads for those who reached achievement levels within a game. Since launch, the site has been a very popular part of the ESPN 360 website and has earned numerous honors and awards.

SUCCESS METRICS

ESPN Bar Sports was designed to build brand awareness and create stickiness to the site giving users a reason to visit, engage and return. Success was measured by the games' ability to build awareness, repeat visitation, viral pass-a-long and length of engagement.