Bringing the madness home with a USA TODAY Sports AR basketball game

Opportunity

In 2021, as college basketball fans were still sidelined by the pandemic, USA TODAY Sports saw an opportunity to reimagine how audiences engage with its Bracket product and content. We wanted to give casual fans a way to feel a part of the action, even from their living rooms. With AR storytelling emerging as a new frontier in content engagement, we set out to extend our existing Bracket product beyond the screen and into our reader’s physical space.

Approach

Together with USA TODAY’s Emerging Technology team, I led the creative and marketing strategy for Couchketball: a web-based AR game turning any living room into a playable half court. Gameplay included progressive rounds of hoop-shooting challenges and a final score screen and ranking with built-in score sharing tools to spark competition and repeat play among friends and family. Launched just ahead of Selection Sunday, Couchketball offered a fun, interactive gateway to draw in casual users and convert them into participants of the full USA TODAY Sports Bracket experience.

Impact

Thousands of baskets

Users across the nation shot thousands of hoops, who were then served with messaging around playing the USA TODAY Sports Bracket product.

Bracket product lift

Lift in annual core Bracket product play, with new users coming from Couchketball

Trade recognition

Coverage in the emerging tech trades for innovative use of a web-based AR platform and alignment to basketball bracket season