TCS Wins Two Stevie® Awards for 2019 TCS New York City Marathon App
Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS), a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, has won two Stevies in the 2020 American Business Awards®, the nation’s premier business awards program, for the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon app. TCS received a Gold Stevie® in the category Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year and a Silver Stevie in the category Best User Experience.
More than 3,800 nominations from U.S. organizations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small and in virtually every industry – were submitted this year for consideration, and more than 230 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select this year’s Stevie Award winners.
With the latest wins, the TCS New York City Marathon app has now received two Gold and two Silver Stevie Awards in the Mobile Marketing Campaign of the Year category over the last four years.
“We have been the title and technology sponsor of the TCS New York City Marathon since 2014. Each year, TCS strives to make it the world’s most technologically advanced race through immersive and lasting experiences that spark engagement from the participants and their support communities, whether local or around the globe,” said Michelle Taylor, Global Head, Sports Sponsorships, TCS. “Winning four Stevie Awards over the last four years is a testament to our continued commitment to enhancing the world’s greatest marathon experience with cutting-edge and purpose-built technology.”
The 2019 TCS New York City Marathon app was created by TCS Interactive, an award-winning iconic design and digital experiences group within TCS, in collaboration with the marathon organizer, New York Road Runners. The app highlights that were recognized by the judges and contributed to it winning the awards include:
The most downloaded marathon app ever, exceeding 492,000 downloads and representing a 12.4 percent increase compared to the prior year.
On race day, there were 120,000 active app users per second and average user time was over 26 minutes.
The first marathon app to offer augmented reality (AR) capabilities. This feature unlocked surprise-and-delight experiences including inspirational messages from 2017 TCS New York City Marathon Champion, Shalane Flanagan, when used on race bibs and offered animated racecourse facts when used on mural artwork created by a local NYC artist. These features were developed by TCS’ XR Lab, a cutting-edge group dedicated to the development of XR technology to solve real-world problems.
Spectators had the ability to track an unlimited number of runners with the live, on-course app tracking feature and of the world-record 53,600+ finishers, nearly all were tracked.
For the first time ever, runners’ splits were recorded at every mile starting at mile 3, in addition to 5K splits.
There was a nearly 70 percent increase in the creation of race-day itineraries, which included recommended viewing locations, runners’ estimated arrival times, and directions for race spectators.
“In the 18th Annual American Business Awards, organizations continue to demonstrate their commitment to innovation, creativity, and bottom-line results,” said Stevie Awards President, Maggie Gallagher. “This year’s Stevie-winning nominations exemplify persistence, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and compassion. We celebrate all their inspiring stories.”