Promoters of minor league sports teams are known to be whizzes at marketing. But the Lehigh Valley IronPigs have come up with a way to take that effort to a new level — specifically, the groin.
The team this season will have video games activated by men and boys urinating. And the Pigs have managed to pair the games with men's health messages.
It's a marketing dream that, in a sublimely appropriate match, will occur in Coca-Cola Park.
The owners of the urinal gaming system say the east Allentown ballpark will be the first sports arena anywhere to have the game. Lehigh Valley Urology Specialty Care will provide the marketing messages.
"It's real," said Jon Schaeffer, director of new media for the IronPigs. "It's been months in the making."
One game console will be installed in each of the three field-level men's rooms and another will be in the men's room on the club level. The virtual action will be on a video screen above and separate from the urinal, where the real action takes place.
It works this way: As a patron approaches the urinal, sensors detect his presence. A quick video or message appears on the screen, but as the individual steps forward, it's "bladder up." The game kicks in. The sensors track the individual's stream, and when that stream hits a target, points are earned. The first will be a downhill skiing game where the goal is to hit penguins. Now, those must be some angry birds.
Captive Media, the British company that created the system, said an average game lasts around 55 seconds. Seem long? Not when you consider that the park sells 32-ounce Cokes and beers to help you wash down your peanuts and Cracker Jacks.
After getting their score — and washing their hands — players can enter a code on a smartphone and report their score. They then can view their position on a leaderboard online, and high scores will be displayed in real time on digital boards in the stadium.
"An ordinary, boring trip to the washroom becomes the highlight of the evening," said Ed Gundrum, an international salesman for Captive Media.
The game is in operation in bars and clubs in 13 countries, mostly in Europe, though a nationally known chain of bars will soon have the game in its men's rooms. Gundrum declined to name the chain.
http://articles.mcall.com/2013-03-26/sp ... deo-screen
Seriously... it's a fun idea.... but completely terrible at the same time.
Bathrooms at sporting events are normally horrible after the first 15 minutes. We as men are pigs, and the floor gets gross. I can't imagine how bad it will be with people waiving their dicks all over the place.
