MLB players promote dedicated social app with Lucktastic games

Brief:

The Major League Baseball Players Association, the collective bargaining representative for players in the league, granted a license to sweepstakes app Lucktastic to create free scratch cards that feature star baseball players. MLBPA Fun Packs will be released each week for the remainder of the 2017 season, according to a release made available to Mobile Marketer.
Each Fun Pack will be active for one week, refreshed daily and feature three star players. Lucktastic players will have the chance to win prizes including signed jerseys, baseballs and other exclusive items. The games urge fans to engage with players in the MLBPA’s Infield Chatter mobile app, a social community “By the Players, For the Fans.”
The Fun Packs will feature top players such as Paul Goldschmidt, Chris Sale, Matt Holliday, Carlos Correa, Clayton Kershaw, Evan Longoria, Charlie Blackmon and Joey Votto. Lucktastic reaches 7 million U.S. consumers including about 3 million Facebook fans.

Insight:

Lucktastic, which was developed by games company Jump Ramp Games, doesn’t cost anything to play, but it does ask users to view video ads or to download apps to become eligible for sweepstakes prizes. Its privacy policy also says the contact information it collects, including email address, may be used to send advertisements from the company and third parties. In other words, players should have a good spam filter.

Rewards-based ads can help marketers incentivize mobile users interested in fun content to view an ad. In the case of the MLBPA, it is looking to appeal to Luckstastic's users with content about baseball players to encourage them to download the organization's app.

The MLBPA’s Infield Chatter mobile app that’s being promoted with the campaign on Lucktastic doesn’t have any ratings on the App Store. It resembles Twitter in that people can follow other users and post comments, but the content is sparse and fans aren’t showing up. Stars like Chris Sale and Clayton Kershaw can’t be found on Infield Chatter, and a notable hitter like Jose Altuve only has 433 followers. Fans can easily have the same functionality on Twitter or other social media platforms that have bigger audiences and more robust content.

The MLBPA started the app in April, when more than 1,000 baseball players signed on as registered users. At that time, it was said that players could use the platform craft their personal brands beyond the purview of their teams and MLB. They can directly amass fan bases not tied to organizations they don’t control, learn about what’s appealing to those fan bases and float business ventures that might not be appropriate within the bounds of their regular work routines.