Before their game against the Detroit Lions this past Sunday, the Chicago Bears kicked off a new four-year partnership with Visa, the team’s exclusive credit card sponsor. Yet the franchise activated the sponsorship using a new technology cutting at the intersection of sports in 2016 — virtual reality.
The out-of-the-box creative initiative not only allowed fans to experience being on the gridiron next to their favorite players, albeit virtually, but also gave Visa an opportunity to discuss with them its new Chicago Bears credit card launched with other team partner, PNC.
STRIVR Labs, a California-based virtual reality company, assisted the team in using 360-degree cameras to capture footage from an August practice. The series of vignettes showed quarterbacks Jay Cutler and Brian Hoyer taking snaps under center while other videos illustrated wide receivers catching passes and players hitting blocking sleds.
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Bears Vice President of Corporate Partnerships Doug Carnahan credited General Manager Ryan Pace and Head Coach John Fox for their buy-in of the new wave of technology and allowing for the footage to be filmed.
These fans are getting into the game. Literally. Our friends @Visa and @PNCBank are hooking you up with a #Bears 360 video experience. pic.twitter.com/8PJfAYKQEH
— Chicago Bears (@ChiBearsPromos) October 2, 2016
“It feels like the organization is all pulling in the same direction (when) Pace and Fox say yes to this in an era where they don’t have to at all,” Carnahan told ChicagoBusiness.com.“This allows us to capture some footage that we think no one else can get.”
According to Cody Karutz, Head of Creative at STRIVR, integrating virtual reality into the overall fan experience, like the Bears did with Visa and PNC, allows teams to form a deeper relationship with fans and “create for each fan the sense that they are intimate with these players that they support and this team that they support.”
Chief Executive Officer Derek Belch confirmed STRIVR previously worked with Visa last year for a New England Patriots integration in addition to an experience at the 2016 NFL draft.