Boosted by sports interest and AI, Stagwell expands AR platform with first MLS partnership

On the heels of its previous collaborations, ARound is focused on making its platform more accessible via web and broadcast, while continuing to turn fans from “spectators into participants” of the game, explained Josh Beatty, founder and CEO of ARound.

“We knew that to be a part of MLB [and] NFL, we really had to move from a standalone app to be an easily embeddable app, or even web[-based],” Beatty said. “So everything we’re doing in augmented reality, we’re able to take that, not only in mobile, but actually bring it to broadcast cameras — and the actual cameras and stadium can now display our augmented content.”

This also comes as the rise of AI and sports marketing meet to reinvigorate interest in augmented and virtual reality content, which had been pushed to the background of cutting-edge tech when generative AI burst onto the marketing scene. With the use of AI, for instance, AR and VR platforms can quickly identify key moments, like game highlights, and produce content that would garner the most engagement. The latter isn’t happening yet on ARound, but Beatty said it is on the horizon as the platform develops.

The AR experience will continue throughout the soccer season, which runs until the fall, and offers fans a chance to interact throughout the games. It includes different effects synced up with the game, as well as a game that lets users hit targets for points, along with other contests to win a Target gift card. This marks ARound’s first integration of its stadium AR technology in an MLS pregame celebration, as the company hopes to capture fan attention and branch out through live events, sports and educational opportunities in the future.

Game day engagement

As AI gets better, experts see ways for it to actually enhance AR and VR personalization and measurement. After all, AI relies on the use of large data sets.

ARound reports current user engagement of an average of more than 15 minutes per game — which Beatty describes as significant, especially given how a lot of mobile and social content interactions are very “fleeting” now. The AR experience allows fans to become a part of the game and connect, rather than just passively consuming content, he explained. Beatty did not provide an estimate of ARound’s user base.

“Especially on your phone, when you swipe something off, it’s gone forever,” Beatty told Digiday. “What we’re showing is that, first, there’s a permanence to a place that exists and people interact with our content — it’s something that is much more memorable and meaningful than exists anywhere else.”

Evan Entler, vp of digital media at MLS team Minnesota United, said this is one of the new ways the franchise looks to “push the envelope and enrich the fan experience through technology.” The Loons Liftoff game in the app, for example, is a blend of technology, storytelling and community experience that adds to the “game day experience rather than distracting from it,” Entler added.

Where AI comes in

Currently ARound uses AI to help tag highlights of a game and other potentially engaging content, as well as process data from sports Application Programming Interface (API) integrations. It also leverages Stagwell Marketing Cloud, the agency’s software suite for marketers, and combines other immersive technologies to create content at the venue. (ARound was the winner of Stagwell’s annual Shark Tank-like innovation competition.)

The platform ingests the real-time sports API data, including game, fan and audience stats. When the AI flags key moments, such as a home run during a baseball game, it brings in the appropriate content and brand experiences to match those moments. The goal is to use the AI to create personalized experiences that feel connected and focused on individual fans — and ARound is preparing to make greater use of generative AI to produce larger amounts of content.

“It’s more bringing up the right experience at the right time, but we are in the perfect platform for generative to take hold,” Beatty said. “We’re just not quite there yet.”

Other agencies are similarly working with multidimensional or experiential content, as brands explore this potential alongside AI developments. This month, the U.S. Tennis Association and IBM Watsonx platform partnered to bring fresh features using generative AI to produce real-time match reports, long-form articles with the USTA editorial team and include AI voice commentary at this year’s US Open tournament.

Integrated digital agency Mekanism has been exploring Snapchat and Meta’s tools to create immersive and interactive content for its clients, which include Charles Schwab and Alaska Airlines. It previously developed an Instagram lens for Keystone Light that used AR to let people enter a brand world.

Jeff MacDonald, director of the AI Lab at Mekanism, said one of the most challenging and costly aspects of AR and VR has been creating assets and customizing these experiences for the end user — but AI can improve this.

“This is where AI really shines,” MacDonald said. “We can now generate assets rapidly and tailor experiences more effectively, making them not just more efficient to produce but also more personalized and impactful for the user.”

Matt Quinn, managing director of multidimensional experience company Journey, cautioned that neither AR or AI will “move the needle … in isolation” — because they both have limitations. AR requires people to use a piece of hardware “between themselves and the outside world,” while VR or AR are very bandwidth-intensive, he explained. Rather, the future may lie in using bits and pieces of each technology to merge these experiences.

“Instead, brands should use it all — physical design, AR, VR and increasingly AI — to build multidimensional, multi-sensory experiences that bring our physical, immersive and virtual worlds together,” Quinn said.