Despite NYSE #FAIL, MasterCard Check-Ins Look Like A Hit

An otherwise cool check-in campaign involving old Yankee stadium seats delivered a major #FAIL this week at a location near ClickZ’s offices. MasterCard’s Facebook-driven “Check In To The Ballgame” effort involves 20 seats taken from the New York baseball team’s former stadium, which was demolished last year. They are located around New York City at popular spots like Katz’s Deli, Junior’s, Murray’s Bagel’s, and the New York Stock Exchange.

City dwellers and tourists are being encouraged to hunt down the seats and scan a QR code to be checked into Facebook Places. A location-specific short link can also be utilized to check in. Either action will enter them into the chance of winning tickets to attend a Yankees game this season while seated in MasterCard’s Batter’s Eye Café. In a month-long campaign created by digital agency R/GA, the seats have fun names like Chin Music, Triple Play, and Doubleheader.

But at the NYSE, which is down the street from our offices, most people wanting to participate in the contest are being served a change-up worthy of Yankee hurler C.C. Sabathia. The Yankees Stadium seat (pictured) at the location has been placed roughly 10 to 15 yards behind the security gate in the front of the building. Hence, the only people who can access it are NYSE employees.

R/GA said the stock exchange’s regulations caused the situation. “That is the only chair with any type of obstruction,” a spokesperson explained via an email.

The initiative is part of a larger MasterCard Priceless Cities program, which focuses on how the credit card firm can enable fun and unusual experiences. New York is the first city spotlighted by the program.