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Winner Story
Winnipeg Jets App: Fuelled by Passion
by Mirego
Hockey is inextricably linked to Canadian culture– so when Mirego was approached by the Winnipeg Jets to design a new app geared towards improving fan engagement, they knew they weren’t just handling a pro sports client, but a piece of local pride, fuelled by passion. Read how Mirego was able to delve into Manitoban history and integrate more than 10 APIs before going on to win 2023 Best in Show in Mobile Apps & Sites-Events, Mobile Features-Best User Experience, Gold and Mobile Apps & Sites-Sports, Silver.
How does Mirego define creative success?
We believe that a remarkable digital product is as beautiful as it is useful and reliable; It achieves business objectives while meeting user needs.
In our opinion, it is very hard to meet those objectives if our team confines itself to the office, making decisions based on mere assumptions. It’s crucial for us, with every project we undertake, to fully understand the organizations we assist and most importantly, their clients. To understand their aspirations, or to validate an intuition, we must reach out to them, observe them, and open the floor to meaningful conversations. Once a clear understanding of these aspirations is reached, the technological solution chosen for product development should adapt to all stakeholders’ needs, not the other way around.
What inspired the creative direction for the app?
As for most new project we dive into, our team hit the ground running at the outset of the project, engaging with all the organization’s internal teams as well as connecting with the team’s fans and the wider Winnipeg community. Right from the start, we were profoundly struck by the depth of pride the locals hold for their professional hockey team and its pivotal role in shaping the city’s cultural landscape.
For most Winnipeggers, the Jets are more than a hockey team. The pride of being a Jets fan is deeply intertwined with the pride of being from Manitoba or living in Winnipeg. A symbiotic relationship exists between the team and the city. One constantly fuels the other.
We quickly realized that our task wasn’t just to make another app to promote a sports team. We were aiming to create a loyalty app with a lasting impact, one that keeps users engaged over time, connects the fans to their city, and rewards actions that matter more than simple transactions.
Guided by this vision, we created the Jets360 loyalty program for the Winnipeg Jets, blending a smooth mobile digital experience with interactive real-world engagement. This allows fans to earn “pucks” (our chosen currency) by taking on various challenges. As fans progress through levels, pucks empower them to choose their rewards. They can exchange them for unique and unforgettable experiences, from meeting with players to accessing VIP areas and exclusive events.
Which aspects of the work are you most proud of?
Most loyalty programs reward users based on their spending: the more they spend, the more rewards they get. With the Jets360 program, we dared to deviate from this conventional approach, opting for a model that rewards spendings, but also emphasizes fan engagement.
Drawing heavy inspiration from gamification and the video game industry, Jets360 encourages earning Pucks through challenge completion, fostering engagement loops that enhance user involvement throughout their experience. While transactions like ticket purchases earn rewards, the program equally values non-transactional activities such as watching Jets games from home or your favourite bar/restaurant, or play hockey at local arenas. Completing challenges is at the core of the rewards system, which allows fans to earn and redeem pucks for exclusive experiences through the in-app Puck Store. Meanwhile, as they make their way through the different levels of the program, they unlock new challenges that will keep them engaged throughout the season.
Jets 360 stands out for its ability to transform casual supporters into passionate fans, creating a unique sense of belonging. The carefully selected rewards reflect the fans’ passion and dedication, making the experience more personal and meaningful.
We’re incredibly proud to have developed a digital product that values and rewards actions that make a real difference, including fostering active lifestyles, philanthropic efforts, and encouraging community and cultural growth.
Tell us about the biggest challenge for this project.
Implementing this project required us to overcome a wide range of technical and cultural obstacles. We integrated over 10 APIs from services like TicketMaster, NHL, AHL, and Disney, while linking the loyalty program to over 200 point-of-sale (POS) systems for seamless real-time communication.
Beyond offering live updates for the local hockey teams, the Jets and the Moose (AHL), this app enriches the experience for music and entertainment enthusiasts at events held at Canada Life Center and Burton Cummings Theatre with its digital offerings.
At Mirego, our enthusiasm for technology and the digital products we develop is the core of our identity. It’s the projects laden with significant technical hurdles and rich opportunities for innovation and learning that truly excite us. The Winnipeg Jets app perfectly embodies this spirit.
What does winning a w3 Award mean to you and your team?
When we started, we saw this new project with a professional sports team as a chance to show the levels of excellence we can reach at Mirego on a global scale.
It was also an opportunity for us to give Jets fans the mobile application we felt they deserved by treating every millisecond they interacted with it with the utmost respect and making it a memorable experience.
We wanted to build for these fans the best professional sports team app in the world. Because of the role the Jets play in their community. Because of the love these people have for their team and their favorite sport.
Winning a w3 Award confirmed that we were able to keep the promises we made to these fans and meet those very high expectations we had: to build the best sports team app in the world.
Just like Winnipeggers demanded a better digital fan experience, the 19th Annual w3 Awards deadline to enter has been extended to Friday, August 2nd due to popular demand from the w3 community.
Enter now before the season closes.