FanSection Blog

Anyone following Monday Night Football on ESPN.com yesterday might have noticed a couple front page blurbs about Greg Reynolds, who would have won $1 million from ESPN had the Packers prevailed in a game that was close until the 4th quarter. ESPN’s “Beat the Streak” Contest is sponsored by Progressive, and ESPN has done a really good job of integrating the contest into their user experience.

To win the contest, players have to correctly pick the outcome of 25 straight games — probably mostly events broadcast on the ESPN network of TV channels (including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ABC). Mr. Reynolds had picked 24 straight correctly going into last night, the second straight day someone has been eliminated on the 25th game. ESPN.com integrated the story into its normal news coverage, which is ostensibly what most people come to the site to consume.

For example, ESPN typically runs a story about on-going Monday Night games as their front page lead article and image, with a short blurb about what’s going on, and links to related analysis or commentary around the game underneath. Last night during the game, they mentioned the contest in that blurb and included a link to all his previous picks underneath.  After the game they included this underneath the front page blurb:

Streak buster: Pack’s loss costs California man $1M | New leader

Over the past couple days, three people have had streaks ended at 24, and each of these stories made the front page of ESPN.com above the fold in the news section that is typically reserved for the latest headlines. The module for the game itself is also above the fold top right in space that is typically reserved for interactive stuff, like video highlights.

On the whole, the contest has demonstrated a really compelling way to integrate a partner’s brand into the user experience, something that we try to do with the FanSection sports communities here at Watercooler.  This is example is one that we’ll definitely keep in mind as we further develop our own social games, such as the prediction game and trivia challenge.