Advancements in technology have changed every aspect of human life. Technology has affected how people communicate, shop, travel, and spend their leisure. Today, one can connect to anyone and anyplace in microseconds without physical movement. Besides, one can engage actively in events thousands of miles away and still get the same experience as those on the ground. Businesses have not been immune to the technological changes in the world. Technology has heightened competition to levels never experienced before. Consequently, companies have been forced to adopt the emerging trends in communication, commerce, and customer engagement to maintain relevance in the dynamic markets. Sports have been at the center of technological changes, from how fans get information about their favorite games to how they watch games. One of the main technological advancements in the sports industry is the augmented reality (AR). This paper will address how augmented reality has affected the sports industry and its relation to the experience economy, the creative economy, the engagement economy, and the branded economy. Further, the paper will discuss Xperiel AR Company and its usefulness to sports and major league teams and its effectiveness in the future.
Augmented reality has significantly impacted the sports industry and changed how fans consume and enjoy different sports. Augmented reality provides better experiences for fans and business opportunities for service providers who give augmented reality solutions (Joshi, 2019). The use of augmented reality in sports range from on-field decision making, training, broadcasting, marketing, and fantasy sports for fans (Joshi, 2019). Augmented reality has eliminated human errors in the sports fields, thus improving fans' experience and satisfaction. As Joshi (2019) explains, human errors in sports can significantly impact the outcomes, so augmented reality enables officials to review misjudged decisions on the field promptly. Therefore, augmented reality has increased the accuracy of sporting decisions and improved the fans' watching experiences. The hawk-eye system is the most applied augmented reality system in tennis, badminton, soccer, and volleyball. It enables the officials and coaches to predict the ball's trajectory or other sports items (Joshi, 2019). With the hawk-eye system, coaches can guide players in real-time, making sports appear more authentic than traditional systems.
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Augmented reality has improved how players train as it provides a real-world environment during training and records data on the players' performance. Through AR, the players' training practices can be analyzed remotely, minimizing the chances of risky procedures that can cause injuries. Joshi (2019) argues that self-monitoring helps players to understand their style of play and the areas in which they can improve. Also, AR enables players to study the opponents and develop countermeasures to improve the play. Therefore, AR has improved competition in sports making them more entertaining. Besides, AR has changed how sports are broadcasted throughout the world. The majority of fans rely on broadcasted sports for entertainment. Essentially, fans who follow sports remotely are much more than those who attend the games live. AR had enabled 3D graphics and interactive content such as in-depth analysis of most sports using video replays and field data (Joshi, 2019). Also, fans can stream live matches regardless of their geographical locations.
Augmented reality has also changed sporting marketing, advertisements, and sponsorships. AR avails platforms where sporting individuals and clubs can showcase their services and products to potential customers and sponsors. Considering that augmented realities make sports more appealing to fans through broadcasts and stadium stimulation, it can increase sales by selling sporting merchandise (Joshi, 2019). AR also uses the perimeter boards and screens in stadiums to advertise partnering organizations through ads and videos. Moreover, augmented reality enables fantasy sports that strengthen the bond between sports and the fans. While fantasy games provide a virtual experience where one can manage players and get entertainment, they also offer advertising platforms to companies through ads.
Augmented Reality and the Experience Economy
The modern economy has changed its offering from goods, services, and commodities to include experiences. Experiences are distinct from services as they primarily extend the value of the economy. That is, for customers, experiences go beyond the goods or the services they purchase. Experiences cater to the emotional and psychological well-being of the customers. The main target in the experience economy is staging unique sensations (Pine and Gilmore, 1998). The economy of experience requires organizations to utilize the service as the stage while the goods should be used as the props necessary to create an event that will stick in the customers' minds. The primary task in the experience economy has been to create a design that will command a fee and produce income. The experience economy is standard in the entertainment industry as customers expect to get value for their money. However, selling experiences in the entertainment industry has gone beyond just theaters, parks, and stadiums to include new technologies such as the augmented reality (Pine and Gilmore, 1998). Technologies such as the augmented reality have enabled customers to have real-time and 3D visualizations that create memories. Augmented reality makes customer participation possible, increasing the customers' sense of value and the willingness to pay for the experiences.
Augmented reality involves the customers in creating the performances that give the experiences. Essentially augmented reality helps businesses meet the four realms of an experience, including passive participation, absorption, active participation, and immersion (Pine and Gilmore, 1998). For example, augmented reality in sports creates a vibrant stadium with fans' chants and active engagement through mobile phones and computers, which is different from a fan who watches the same event on television. As Pine and Gilmore (1998) state, new technologies like the augmented reality mix memorabilia in the sale of goods and business that increases sales for the memories they bear. The importance of augmented reality in the experience economy is the engagement of all five senses of the customers.
Augmented Reality in the Creative Economy
The creative economy sorts people into social classes, changes the composition of the existing groups, and creates new ones. Customers' economic functions are the grouping factors that determine which category the customers belong to. Financial functions include customer preferences, lifestyles, values, shopping habits, and consumption habits (Florida, 2012). The creative economy has two classes, which include the super-creative core and the innovative and creative professionals. On the other hand, the super-creative core comprises scientists, engineers, professors, actors, designers, and architects. The super-creative class designs consumer products and production strategies that change the market structure. Besides, the super-creative solve problems and identify opportunities that drive organizations forward. In the second class, the creative professionals include workers in the knowledge-intensive industries such as finance, health, legal, high-tech, and business management (Florida, 2012). The creative professionals are tasked with solving technical problems and testing the efficiency of new procedures and proposals in industries.
Augmented reality relates to the creative economy as it provides a new experience in decision-making. Organizations that use augmented reality have better access to market data that influences management and organizational decisions. Furthermore, augmented reality gives the creative class a better visualization of an element before it is manufactured. Through augmented reality, the creative class can see, hear, feel, and relate to how a product will be even before it is actualized. The creative class values explained by Florida (2012), including individuality, meritocracy, diversity, and openness, can be monitored and upheld through AR.
Augmented Reality in the Engagement Economy
Advancements in technology and specifically smartphones and 4G data connectivity, have changed customers' behavior globally. Modern customers have different tastes for content compared to their predecessors. Sports and television audiences have changed, but the value of sports and entertainment in society has remained. However, the engagement economy demands that the fans cease to be passive participants and be considered customers with choices and power to change events (GSCI, 2021). Unlike in the past, where entertainment platforms were few and audiences were glued to their televisions at home or in public space, smartphones offer a broader scope of entertainment from music, games, comedy, and social media. Therefore organizations must engage with the customers to maintain relevance since the hours people spent in front of their televisions are fewer. To engage the audiences, organizations require technologies such as the augmented realities to estimate the sizes of the fan base, geographical scope, fans' preferences, and monetize fan attention (GSCI, 2021). Augmented reality avails the audience's data that is critical in policy formulation and decision-making. Augmented reality enables sporting organizations to create fan engagement interfaces that connect fans to the services offered in the organization. Augmented reality gamification in football is where fans can engage with players and find more accessible guide maps to the stadiums. For instance, AR-enabled fans in Khalifa Stadium scan their tickets and find the appropriate entry gate and the allocated seat during the FIFA Club World Cup of 2019 (GSCI, 2021). AR enables fans to co-view live matches with friends and families through shared online connections by Sceenic and BT Sports organizations. Therefore, with AR, consumers can engage and interact remotely and still a worthwhile experience, especially with the social distancing and movement restrictions placed during the covid-19 pandemic.
Augmented Reality in the Branded Economy
The laws of demand and supply have been diversified in the modern market due to technological changes and new customer preferences. Today, organizations need to provide more value to their customers to retain loyalty. Besides, today's customers need to be engaged and feel valued before committing to a particular organization or business. Unlike in the past, where customers were passive, today, customers are in charge of the business in organizations. Customers are more interested in the brand that serves them, and hence, they search for information from social media, blogs, and other digital platforms. Besides, engagement includes employees, partners, prospects, and loyal customers. Branding consists of the new rules of engagement: listen, learn, act, create engagement, do not let anyone else define the organization's stands, realize that everyone has an influence, guard content, and move with the trend. Augmented reality enables organizations to engage with the customers by creating a digital persona and determining the appropriate engagement strategy. Customer data provided by AR is vital to understand the nature of the customers for better engagement. Besides, AR helps organizations develop Key Personal Value indicators that help them stand out in the markets and create engagement and experiences.
Xperiel Company
Xperiel Company is a technology company initiated by Alex Hertel and his brother Philipp Hertel. Xperiel seeks to connect the world digitally through the Real World Web (RWW). The Real World Web provides a physical experience of the whole world digitally. According to Alex and Philipp (2017), Xperiel fills the cyberspace between the digital and physical world by people's e-mails, Google searches, Facebook, Twitter, and all digital tools. Xperiel connects cars, homes, stadiums, restaurants, stores, and schools with virtual reality, World Wide Web, Twitter, Facebook, E-mail, and AdTech (Alex and Philipp, 2017). Xperiel company offer augmented reality (AR) with operates in the intersection of the physical and the digital world. Alex and Philipp (2017) note that AR's strength is its ability to create a powerful experience that can operate independently by combining the physical and the digital worlds. The augmented reality provided by the Xperiel Company is different from virtual reality. Virtual reality replaces the physical world with a digital world, while the augmented reality enhances the real world with digital aspects. Alex and Philipp (2017) summarize that AR lives in the Real World Web while virtual reality lives in cyberspace. The AR will work with the Internet of Things (IoT) to connect the internet to the real world and create a physical-digital ecosystem with new services and experiences.
The services given by the Xperiel Company will change digital marketing and consumer experience. First, Xperiel providers tools for advertisers to reach the consumers. Traditional advertising has lost value as most customers find the popping ads annoying and irrelevant. Therefore, organizations that use online ads are at risk of losing instead of gaining probable customers. Therefore, Xperiel offers highly immersive and engaging advertisement tools, including augmented reality and IoT (Graves, 2017). Through customer data, organizations can identify potential markets and the most effective advertisement tools to reach consumers. Besides, Xperiel provides high-tech in sports stadiums and arenas (Graves, 2017). Through AR, Xperiel enables better fan engagement and experience, which improves attendance, sales, and income.
Furthermore, Xperiel has made it easy for people to develop cloud-based device-agnostic applications. The applications have contextual awareness and can engage with the physical world and online triggers (Graves, 2017). Graves (2017) describes triggers as activations that signal Xperiel tools to create immersive and customized experiences for customers. The experiences can be delivered through phones, wearables, VR, and any digitally connected device. Essentially, Xperiel provides simplified graphical programming languages that enable non-technical customers to create applications within one hour. Xperiel helps organizations to add value to their IoT resources by monetizing experiences.
In entertainment, Xperiel has enabled teams and organizations to create intelligent venues. Innovative venues are essential in entertainment since they match the technological changes in the entertainment industry. The Consumer Technology Association and the Sports Innovation Lab report explained that brilliant platforms should prioritize speed, security, and sustainability (Sports Innovation Hub, 2018). Xperiel AR’s improve the speed of mobile services such as mobile payments and indoor maps to meet the customers’ expectations. Also, the Sports Media and Technology report established that the fans' expectations are higher since fans have retained the in-venue expectation even when following live coverage of games remotely. That is, fans expect to have the same feeling regardless of where they are streaming sports from. Besides, security threats have increased, and intelligent venues are expected to have the highest-order security systems, considering the high number of regular attendees. Xperiel tackles the security concerns by ensuring transparent ticketing, safety in numbers, and secure access management (Sports Innovation Hub, 2018). On sustainability, innovative venues provide an experience of the platforms of the future which are durable and comfortable. The financial sustainability of the intelligent venues is guaranteed by ensuring that the venue is multi-purpose. Xperiel turns stadiums and arenas into entertainment and commercial districts. Also, the fans provide data that can be utilized to increase revenue for entertainers. Therefore, Xperiel facilitates the creation and management of smart venues through augmented reality to increase attendance, security, data collection, and analysis.
Xperiel has been used in major league teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers. Los Angeles Dodgers leveraged the augmented reality to change their ballpark into a digital ecosystem that can connect fans to the venue (Sports Innovation Hub, 2018). The AR system at Los Angeles Dodgers intended to increase revenue through fan contests and AR experiences. Xperiel has also partnered with the Sacramento Kings to enhance the fans’ experience beyond the court via their mobile phones. Other basketball teams such as the New York Jets and LA Kings have used Xperiel to utilize their digital investments and develop interactive applications that can work in all devices and operative systems (Califf, 2018). Then I called It predictive game, which Xperiel developed for the New York Jets, allows fans to scan barcodes of sponsored merchandise to get extra points in the game, thus keeping them engaged (Booton, 2017). In some applications, fans can predict real-time actions as the games go on the court or field. Through AR, NBA fans can predict if a particular player will score and how he/she will score based on the real-time data given on the apps. Besides, fans can receive midweek updates about the following games and the status of the players available. Xperiel has also funded the Italian Football League-Series A to develop Real World Web (RWW). According to Califf (2018), Xperiel announced a $7million sponsorship in Series A to diversify the company’s scope beyond sports technologies. Xperiel intended to integrate RWW platforms, augmented reality, and IoT devices into the teams’ stadiums to improve the fans’ engagement strategies. Besides, Xperiel has been involved in other projects such as developing augmented reality t-shirts (Booton, 2017). Additionally, the company develops video boards that are installed at the MetLife stadium that entice fans to capture the merchandise on their phones (Booton, 2017).
Sacramento Kings' CTO, Ryan Montoya, stated that Xperiel's determination to link the next-generation technology with instant data and sensors in a device with agnostic applications would transform the future experience, especially of customer engagement (Califf, 2018). Califf (2018) projects Xperiel’s non-video game market for augmented reality to expand beyond $23.4 billion by the year 2025. In the future, Xperiel is expected to grow significantly as many companies and organizations will be seeking the most efficient ways to use new technologies to create and improve interactive customer experiences. Since consumer expectations are changing exponentially, Xperiel will be important in the future to provide more engaging platforms. New technological programs will keep organizations relevant in the then more competitive world.
Win Reality
Win Reality is an organization that uses virtual reality technology to develop real-life skills for professional softball and baseball players. The digital organization focuses on software that helps the players improve and develop their skills in reading pitches and their approach to the plate. Win Reality specializes in developing tools that provide the users with the natural feeling to improve their intangible senses. The designers created Win Reality to help the hitter accurately discern pitches, recognize the contrast between a ball and a strike, and decide when to make their swing during the provided period (Moore, 2020). Additionally, the Swing Tracker feature will allow users to gain bat path insights, contact points, projected hit range, launch angle, and barrel speed. Ultimately, the training offered by Win Realty will help professional players improve their fundamental life skills at the comfort of their homes/training facilities.
The working principle in Win Reality's tools works like an application or any virtual reality game. Users get into the virtual baseball/softball arena after attaching the headset and controller. The technology behind the virtual training aims at designing real-life experiences. The high-tech software specializes in the reality of the flight path formed by incoming pitches. Besides, the simulation displays all the significant variables such as the pitcher’s arm slot and delivery. Win Reality also allows users to implement academy programs or coaching tools according to the users’ preferences. Some aspects are integrated into the software, such as weekly reports and leaderboards that will help trainers and coaches create a competitive environment for players. The platform offers many potential workout routines that can benefit the players; with such features in Win Reality, the software will not provide recreational benefits and programs. Players looking to improve and develop their more refined sense of pitch performance, identifying the type of pitches during a game and timing, Win Reality can offer incredible results. Therefore, the software aims a correlating softball/baseball skills learned in the digital platform to real-world skills.
Win Reality goes further to increase the accuracy of swing techniques and data collection of information more accurate. Research teams from Performance Science, Software Engineering, Innovation, and Data Science segments, in collaboration with professional softball and baseball players, worked together to test the software's accuracy (Nicolella, 2020). Win Reality used Diamond Kinematics to calibrate the accuracy in swing path trajectory. The teams selected from the Win Reality fraternity worked together to evaluate the most accurate bat sensor. The Win team that conducted the research relied on motion capture equipment, laser measurements, and high-speed cameras to assess the accuracy of a particular sensor. Researchers claimed that Diamond Kinematics could provide reliable and accurate training sessions to the users. Designers then developed calibration models that utilize Diamond Kinematics and Oculus tracking to provide precise performance during natural swings.
The collaboration of Diamond Kinematics with Win Reality proves that new digital innovations produce programs that can improve the sports section. The two organizations use virtual technology to deliver consistent, beneficial, and accurate performance among softball and baseball players. Some of the benefits from the program include providing revolutionary training techniques, more confidence, and taking live batting to home zones. Ultimately, the program focuses on improving real-life skills and perceptions using virtual technology.
In conclusion, augmented reality has linked the physical world and the digital world with the Real World Web. Unlike the World Wide Web that utilized cyberspace, the Real World Web perfects the real world using digital experiences. Augmented reality has been widely used in sports in decision-making, broadcasting, training, and advertisements. For the fans, augmented reality enables them to stream live games and share the experience with friends and families remotely and still get the same experience as those in the field. Augmented reality relates to the experience economy, creative class, engagement economy, and the branded economy in creating a more customer-centered business approach. Xperiel is a technology company that develops augmented reality for sports teams and organizations. Xperiel facilitates the development of customized applications that the teams can use to engage their fans and increase income. Furthermore, Xperiel facilitates the development of smart venues that ascertain customer engagement, security, faster processes, and sustainability. Xperiel has partnered with teams such as Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Jets, LA Kings, and Sacramento Kings to create engaging customer experiences where fans can predict results and take pictures of barcodes of promoted items to get more points in their AR games. Xperiel has also funded Series A and is expected to promote more customer-centered platforms since customer expectations change drastically.
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