Guardian Athletics
Challenge
In recent years, the sport of American Football has come under scrutiny with the rise of CTE related deaths. Guardian Athletics seeks to protect the sport of football and its players through education and their product the Kato Collar.
Design a strategy for a multi-touch point trade-show experience that leverages Guardian Athletic's presence in order to attract, engage, educate, and create a connection for further follow-up with interested attendees.
Solution
The guiding strategy for our multi-touch point trade show experience was:
All user experience touch points for Guardian Athletics will help football families to feel empowered and/or reassured so that they are able to keep their kids safe. We will do this by focusing on awareness and interaction.
The Approach
METHODS:
Secondary research
Stakeholder Interview
Journey Mapping
Prototyping
TOOLS:
Pen & Paper
Post-its
Sketch
Keynote
Quicktime
iMovie
Powtoon
Realtime Board
TEAM:
Kari Anderson
Spencer Sterling
Traci Shellum
Football Family Focus
Through analysis of secondary research data and a stakeholder interview our team discovered an opportunity to shift the primary focus of the trade show experience from coaches and trainers to football families.
Within the football family, parents represent a source of influence, have an emotional investment in the safety of their child, and are protective of their child’s future, all powerful motivators for the shift in focus.
A journey map highlighted the parallel experiences of the football family and the coach/trainer and identified a key interaction point between the family and the coach.
Journey Map Illustration by Spencer Sterling
Creating A Friday Night Lights Feel
To reach families and coaches alike, the trade-show strategy had to accommodate both audiences while keeping in mind the current business climate.
A dual purpose concept best described as a 'Trade Show in a Truck' emerged.
The traveling trade show provides an element of flexibility allowing the truck to 'pop up' at events large and small (High School and College football games) that are not part of the current and more formal trade show schedule.
The branded truck will increase brand awareness while traveling on the road and generate excitement with a 'tailgate' inspired feel.
Illustrations by Kari Anderson
Equipping Parents with Playbooks
The Parent's Playbook was created as an education tool to empower families to advocate for player safety while encouraging positive interactions between parents and coaches.
Subsequently Playbooks for Coach's, Trainer's and Player's provide similar education tailored to each user group to further encourage the movement of safety in football while also showcasing Guardian Athletics as a thought leader in the space.
Going Long
Individually, we created our own implementation plans with corresponding metrics (inspired by Google's Heart framework) to demonstrate the feasibility and sustainability of this strategy.
