The Boston Celtics Team Up with Molecular to Create "3-Point Play" Facebook Game

Interactive Game Designed to Engage and Entertain Fans, Help Team Gain Strategic Insight into Increasingly Important Facebook Fan Base

BOSTON, Ma. – October 27, 2009 – Famed NBA franchise The Boston Celtics (www.celtics.com) and Isobar interactive agency Molecular, Inc. (www.molecular.com) have teamed up to launch a first-of-its-kind interactive Facebook application for fans. The application, called “3-Point Play”, is part of the team’s broader interactive marketing strategy, which aims to harness and draw insight from the enthusiasm of 430,000+ Celtics fans participating in the team’s massive Facebook community (http://facebook.com/celtics).

How the Celtics’ Facebook 3-Point Play works:

  • Fans compete against their Facebook friends and Celtics fans from around the world, challenging each other to accurately predict the statistical output of their favorite players each game by Points, Rebounds and Assists
  • Prizes are awarded throughout the season, with top winners competing for highly-coveted playoff tickets
  • 3-Point Play is ready to tip off, launching on the Celtics’ Facebook page ahead of the regular season opener on October 27 against the Cleveland Cavaliers
  • As fans make their picks, the Celtics glean greater insight into their online fans’ behaviors and preferences

"Celtics fans are following the team in large numbers on Facebook and 3-Point Play allows us to bring something new to them as the season begins," Boston Celtics CMO Shawn Sullivan said.  "At the same time, the power of social media will allow us to capture key information that enables us to enhance and grow our fan interactions online."

3-Point Play is the newest component of the team’s growing menu of digital media offerings, which include the team’s official Twitter feed (@Celtics has 20,000+ followers), its official YouTube page (http://youtube.com/bostonceltics), and GameTime Live, a first-of-its-kind in the NBA interactive game-tracking and blogging application found exclusively on Celtics.com.

Molecular Senior Vice President Scott Savitt said, “Our goals in creating 3-Point Play were, first, to create an online experience that would resonate with fans and keep them engaged throughout the season, and second, to design a marketing tool that would help the Celtics get to know their Facebook fans even better, allowing them to create a more relevant and compelling marketing strategy for this community of digital consumers.”

For more information on all of the team’s social media activities, visit Celtics.com.

About The Boston Celtics

A charter member of the Basketball Association of America (which evolved into the National Basketball Association) since 1946, the Boston Celtics have won a record 17 NBA Championships, including eight (8) in a row from 1959-1966, and have won NBA titles in three different eras. In addition, 31 former Celtics players, management or staff have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In December 2002 the team returned to local ownership for the first time since 1963. For more information on the Celtics, log on to www.celtics.com.

About Molecular

Molecular is a top interactive agency that partners with results-driven companies to create highly effective, cutting-edge digital design solutions grounded in research and tied to business results. Since 1994, Molecular has directed successful Web initiatives for the national leading brands, including Nikon, Old Mutual, HumanaOne and Reebok. Headquartered in Boston, Molecular is a company of Isobar, a global network of digital marketing companies.  For more information, please visit www.molecular.com.

About Isobar

Launched as a digital division of Aegis Media in May 2003, Isobar is the world’s largest digital marketing network and is uniquely structured for an interconnected digital world. Isobar provides the vision, infrastructure, tools and processes that link a network of some of the very best digital agencies in the world - all fully owned and driven by a clear vision of the future business world. For more information, please visit www.isobar.net.