WCRA
Innovative technology delivered ahead of timeline and under budget
Review Summary
- Entertainment
- Mobile App Development
- Mobile Web Platform
- 10-50 employees
- Austin, Texas, USA
“They were very easy to work with, thorough, stuck to our budget, and delivered everything promptly.”
– Scott Davis, Vice President, WCRA
4.5/5 CLIENT REVIEW
Our team helped provide an engaging, accessible, and hassle-free experience to rodeo athletes and fans with the first in a series of custom designed applications. In doing so, we equipped the WCRA to further the sport of rodeo by reinvigorating athlete, fan, and sponsor engagement.
“They did a great job of communicating at every level, whether it was related to budget or development. They have effective processes in place that allowed us to closely monitor the project and were very transparent in their approach. We gave them a tight budget on this project and they managed to come in below it — while launching ahead of schedule.”
Scott Davis, Vice President, WCRA
Summary
The Problem
Needed a mobile app to simplify the qualification process for rodeo athletes seeking access to big-prize competitions
How We Helped
DEVELOPMENT
The Virtual Qualifier app — the first and only existing mobile app for rodeo qualifications
TECHNOLOGY
Amazon S3 Cloud Storage
The Outcomes
The Problem
Rodeo is a passion for ropers, wranglers, barrel racers and cowboys competing at events across the country. For most, it does not pay as a full-time job; yet, for the love of the sport, many will go to great lengths to compete in big purse rodeos, enduring what is often a time-consuming, tedious and costly qualification process.
While the sport is much loved by participants, their families and thousands of towns west of the Mississippi, a huge opportunity remains to bring rodeo passion to millions more. In partnership with the Professional Bull Riders Association, the World Champions Rodeo Alliance seeks to advance the sport of rodeo for competitors, stakeholders and fans, bringing rodeo to people and places who have no current exposure to the sport.
Traditionally, rodeo athletes seeking to qualify for large, big-prize events must register and physically appear at a qualifier event. These qualifier events usually charge an entrance fee of $500 and require athletes who don’t live near the competition site to incur the added expense of travel and lodging.
Not all who participate in qualifier events win the chance to compete for the biggest prizes at finalist rodeo events. For cowpokes and wranglers, rodeo is a gamble. While it’s worth it to some, the risk is simply too high to attract the wide array of talented riders who would otherwise participate.
PBR and the WCRA hope to change that. In the next year, they will host four new rodeo events offering $50,000 guaranteed prize money. The vehicle for getting this money into the hands of the world’s best rodeo athletes is the Virtual Qualifier app.
How we Helped
The plan was to reinvigorate the rodeo industry by:
“They were very easy to work with, thorough, stuck to our budget, and delivered everything promptly.”
Scott Davis, Vice President, WCRA
Results/ROI
We partnered with WCRA to create the Virtual Qualifier app — the first and only existing mobile app for rodeo qualifications. In conjunction with WCRA’s 50K rodeo events, the app invests in the longevity and growth of rodeo, nationwide.
By registering through the app:
- Athletes can qualify for the four major rodeo events by participating in any rodeo, anywhere, anytime. WCRA tracks athlete performance via the app, assigning points to determine who qualifies for the $50,000 events.
- Competitors are able to earn money incrementally for their rides.
- Athletes can engage fans and sponsors via social-sharing from within the app.
- After an event, athletes can review the points they earned from their rodeo performance and see how they rank relative to other registered athletes.
Through the power of technology, the WCRA is fundamentally changing the financial dynamics of the rodeo qualification process. The result is greater prize incentives, easier access to big competitions and a more equal playing field among rodeo athletes.
Gallery
Client Review
Background
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the vice president of World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA). We produce events in a competitive system within the rodeo business.
Opportunity / Challenge
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
The rodeo industry is a bit behind in terms of embracing technology the way other sports have. We hired Praxent to create mobile platform solutions for some of our challenges and increase our efficiency in administering events nationwide.
Solution
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our initial goal was to create a native app platform for utilizing this data but during our discovery process, Praxent recommended a mobile web platform that ended up being a better decision due to the short length of our project timeline.
We have a large database of information related to the rodeo industry and our goal was to provide a mobile platform where users could access that and also input further information. The app allows them to share dates of upcoming events, final scores, and so on. We also used the data to create a leaderboard that calculates and awards points across to competitors numerous disciplines in the sport. In addition, users have the ability to purchase memberships, pay entry fees, and register for events from within the app.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We received a referral from other members of the tech community in the Austin area. We interviewed six different prospective companies and selected Praxent because they seemed like the best fit for our organization in terms of approach, professionalism, and presentation. We also liked their confidence in their ability to deliver under a tight deadline.
How much have you invested with them?
Between $200,000–$1 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in March 2018 and launched in early May 2018.
Results & Feedback
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve introduced brand new tech-related concepts in the industry, which has been rather groundbreaking. Adoption has been steady and increasing, so all indications suggest that we’re on a good upward trajectory.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
They did a great job of communicating at every level, whether it was related to budget or development. They have effective processes in place that allowed us to closely monitor the project and were very transparent in their approach. We gave them a tight budget on this project and they managed to come in below it — while launching ahead of schedule.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They were very easy to work with, thorough, stuck to our budget, and delivered everything promptly.
Ratings
4.5
Overall Score5.0
Scheduling
On Time / Deadlines
4.5
Quality
Service & Deliverables
They did great work but perfection is hard to achieve.
4.5
Cost
Value / Within estimates
5.0
NPS
Willing to Refer
