MLB

Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM) manages MLB.com: a site that offers over 1 million baseball fans the most complete baseball information and interactivity on the web.

Igniting fan passion and loyalty

MLB’s online games were already very popular but with the 2011 baseball season, the company wanted to increase fan passion and loyalty even more. To start with, they were looking to add player badges to the Gameday application: an animated version of a live baseball game with live stats and game highlights.

Player Badges

One badge for every active baseball player in the game (1,361 players total) was created and each of those badges needed a bronze, silver, and gold level. BigDoor helped with the learning curve, gave out sample JavaScript code, and offered technical support while I was coming up with the badge templates.

It only took a few days to get the system up and running. During live games, fans logged in to the Gameday app and earned badges for events that happened in the game. Like baseball cards, the badges became collectors’ items and fans displayed them in a special trophy room.

The Results

For the 2011 season, not only did MLBAM award over 5 million badges, but the fans grew to love them. Fans became so passionate about the badges that MLB received a few complaints if a fan didn’t earn a badge they were expecting.