Louisville Slugger is an iconic brand with a rich history in Canada. The promotional program needed to befit Louisville's stature as a purveyor of premium baseball equipment; however, the Z- 3000 is only a slight improvement from the previous version. Despite this, it needed to create an oversized sense of excitement.

Given the target's love of slow-pitch, their intense competitive spirit and their desire for the latest and greatest gear, the brand and its agency Taxi knew that a virtual slow-pitch game where players set their price with the swing of a bat would be, well, a hit. The softball community in Canada is a small but mighty group of hyper-competitive weekend warriors who like to "geek out" on the latest and greatest gear. Gaming for this group has typically revolved around Major League Baseball, so there was an opportunity to appeal to this tight-knit group and generate excitement and awareness for the upcoming launch of the new Z-3000 bat from Louisville Slugger.

Introducing ThePricelessBat.com, a social networking game where consumers were given the power to set the price of the new Z-3000 bat. Using a smartphone's accelerometer and a computer, players could virtually bat with the new Z-3000. The phone was used as a bat while a video on their computer showed a pitcher. The farther they hit the virtual ball, the less they paid for the bat. And, of course, the more they shared and incited the competitive spirit among friends, the more chances they had to top the leaderboard and take home bragging rights.

The promotion needed to create a sense of anticipation and engage the target in an experience they would share with like-minded players. Over 23% of the limited supply of Z- 3000 bats were sold on launch day in stores across Canada.

In addition to sales, the excitement and anticipation for the bat was evident across the web and social networking platforms. Social network mentions of Louisville Slugger increased 132% and social network mentions of the Z-3000 increased 450% (week over week) for the duration of campaign. The social network share rate was 16% (percentage of viewers who shared on Facebook or Twitter), and conversion/participation in the game was 44.37% (registered players vs. unique visitors). Participants were engaged for over three minutes of playtime, a true testament to the game's use of innovative technology.