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Putting on your game face easy as 1, 2, 3

The Eagles are tearing it up on the field this year. If you’re a fan, now you can put your game face and share it with the world, or at least your social media contacts.

Float Hybrid and YinzCam have partnered to bring augmented reality face painting to three NFL teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles.

The hometown team, along with the Broncos and the Texans, have introduced augmented reality face painting to let fans virtually paint their face in team colors. Using their teams’ app, fans can apply different face paint designs and helmet filters, as well as take selfies and share photos with friends on social media, all from within the team app.

The feature is the result of a partnership between mobile app and software developer YinzCam and San Francisco digital agency Float Hybrid. The duo worked with Bud Light and select NFL teams to have the feature ready for the start of the NFL season.

“Fans are looking for fun, new ways to get involved with their favorite teams, and augmented reality allows us to provide a highly engaging, interactive fan experience,” says Brady Kellogg, senior vice president of Corporate Partnerships at the Denver Broncos. “We are constantly exploring ways to enable fans to feel more connected with new technologies, applications and fan experiences.”

The Broncos were the first to pilot augmented reality face painting at the end of the 2016 season, and its success in driving fan engagement led the team to bring it back for the 2017 season.

Face painting has become an essential part of American sports culture. As the NFL and its sponsors look to connect with the younger generations, they will need to provide experiences that leverage the technologies and devices on which these generations rely.

“Phones have become the primary method of interaction,” says Ryan Mortimer, director of Digital Innovation for Anheuser Busch. “The onus is on us as innovators to provide experiences that resonate with the way these fans communicate and participate. The augmented reality face painting feature does just that.”

The feature uses facial detection to apply digital face paint masks in real time. Responsible for designing the various face paints, Float Hybrid studied countless images of fans across each participating team to understand which designs would resonate most with the local fans.

“AR Face Paint capitalizes on some of the most beloved and fun trends in mobile to provide all fans, whether in the stadium or at home, a way to showcase and share their fandom,” says Keith Bendes, vice president of marketing and strategic partnerships at Float Hybrid.

AR Face Paint is available for free in the Broncos 365, Eagles and Texans team apps from the App Store and Google Play.

Fans can “paint” their faces using the Eagles team app. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO