Rainier Industries Puts Fans Back in the Stands
Mandy Lincoln, the Director of Marketing for the Mariners, approached our team at Rainier Industries with an innovative idea to connect fans and let them contribute to the season even though they will be viewing games from home. “This is all new to us. We’ve never developed a website for a client like this and we’ve had to move quickly, but it’s been really fun”, said Matt Cutchin, Display Director with Rainier Industries.
A few months later, our team successfully developed the website allowing fans to order their custom cutouts, also known as “Mariners Seat Fleet”, and began printing, cutting, and preparing them for T-Mobile Park. The Mariners recently announced their excitement towards launching Mariners Seat Fleet to the community. According to our team at Rainier Industries, 8,000 fans have already participated in the Mariners Seat Fleet.
Matt Cutchin, said, “We’ve seen everything from folks you’d recognize from television, celebrities. We’ve seen medical workers that are being honored and supported. We’ve seen lots of pets, lots of dogs!” We have seen a handful of creative fan cutouts that include fan’s pets dressed in Mariners gear, kids who are excited to see their face in the stands, and even cats!
How It Works
For just $30, fans can purchase an environmentally friendly cutout of themselves that will experience the action at T-Mobile Park this season while they view games safely at home. In addition, the Mariners will donate a percentage of each purchase to non-profit organizations supporting COVID-related relief efforts in the community. To add to the excitement, if a Seat Fleet cutout ‘catches’ a foul ball, the Mariners will mail the baseball to the fan.
How Other MLB Teams Are Participating
In a similar fashion, we duplicated our work and partnered with the Philadelphia Phillies to create the website for the Phillies Game Face Fan Photo Cutouts. Fans simply submit their images online and pay $40 to secure their spot in the stands. Like the Mariners, a portion of net proceeds will benefit Phillies Charities, Inc., the charitable arm of the Phillies organization serving the communities of the Greater Philadelphia area.
Similar teams that are also participating in fan cutouts, like the Milwaukee Brewers, said, “We miss our fans and wanted to come up with a creative way for them to participate in the action this year.” MLB fans across the country have seen exciting opportunities to claim a “season-pass” to their favorite MLB team, through virtual stand-ins and fan cutouts. Not every MLB team is participating in fan cutouts, however, many teams are using this opportunity to fill their stands with fans while raising money for local charities supporting COVID-related relief funds.
Opening Day 2020
The Seattle Mariners had their 2020 opening game on Friday, July 31st. Instead of seeing thousands of fans tailgating and crowding T-Mobile Park, the Mariners heard cheering from virtual stand-ins and saw smiling faces from fan cutouts in the stands. There’s no doubt that home games will feel different for the Mariners and their fans, though I think we speak for everyone when we say, we’ll continue to cheer on the Seattle Mariners with the same excitement from home. It’s easy to join the Mariners Seat Fleet. If you’re interested, cut out some time in your day to upload your high-resolution photo, then tune in to the Mariners games and find yourself in the T-Mobile Park stands.
To order your fan cutout, visit, https://www.mlb.com/mariners/fans/seat-fleet.