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"New York Giants fans followed their team through an up-and-down regular season and dramatic playoffs to an eventual NFL championship in January. \nNow, the team is rewarding that loyalty in impressive fashion \u2014 with an augmented reality app that lets fans virtually try on and snap photos with the team's Super Bowl rings and trophy. \nUsing augmented reality to share championship glory with supporters appears to be a sports world first, and is certainly new ground for an NFL team. Fans can pose and snap photos with the franchise's four Super Bowl rings \u2014 including its most recent, from earlier this year \u2014 and with the legendary Vince Lombardi Trophy. \nFans are then encouraged to share their photos via Facebook and Twitter for possible prizes and inclusion on Giants.com and the team's official Facebook Page. The team's players will be presented their physical rings at a private Wednesday night ceremony. \n\"We're really trying each day and each week to figure out how to use social media as it grows and evolves to let us communicate and touch fans in a more meaningful way than they ever have before,\" Giants CMO Mike Stevens told Mashable in an interview. \nTo get started, download GoldRun, a free app for Android and iOS. After logging in, find the featured New York Giants image and click the camera icon. Then scroll through the four ring options and one trophy option to project them onto your photo. Use pinch gestures to shrink or enlarge the image, find a good pose, and take your shots. \nYou can share to Facebook and Twitter directly from GoldRun, or save the photos for yourself. Mashable got a sneak preview of the feature and found it easy and fun to use (see photos).\nThe Giants have been at the NFL's digital and social forefront in the past few years. Before last season's Super Bowl, the team held Google+ Hangouts for fans to chat with players. They were also among the first pro sports teams to experiment with Pinterest as a marketing channel, and have run many other successful online initiatives as well. Nilay Shah, the team's director of digital media, says breaking new ground with the augmented reality Super Bowl rings was an easy decision.\n\"This just seemed like the right thing to do,\" he told Mashable. \"We're taking something sacred to the organization and letting fans do something they couldn't do before.\" \nDo you think this is a cool idea that other teams should copy, or is it a flop? Let us know in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/05/16/giants-augmented-reality-super-bowl-rings/>