Tag Archives: Sports Marketing

Best Sports Marketing Promotion

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Having once been in the business myself, I love sports marketing. I still follow trends and I especially love watching how it plays out on gamedays in stadiums and arenas worldwide. However, for the recent cool promo I really like, I had to look no further than the athletic department at the school I work for.

Chanticleer Athletics has partnered with a local Bojangles restaurant on a very engaging and interactive halftime promotion. Once the halftime presentations and acts are through the public address announcer directs the attention of the crowd to the video screen. A message then comes up and fans are told to tweet it as fast as they can. The PA guy notifies the crowd that the first person to tweet out the text will win a $100 gift card while the second place person will receive a $50 gift card. Of course the message is a Bojangles advertisement that includes the local Bojangles Twitter handle (@GSBojangles).

This was the message that you had to tweet out at yesterday's game.

This was the message that you had to tweet out at yesterday’s game.

Once that message appears, you can pretty much hear the entire stadium deep in thought tapping on their phones. I participate and put myself under great pressure to tweet it out as soon as possible. Any little type of error while I type that impedes my progress causes me great frustration. When the message disappears from the video board, you can hear a collective groan from the crowd.

You bet I participate in the promotion! Sadly, even having a great vantage point on the sidelines didn't help me to win. (Thanks to Kevin Olivett for taking the sneaky photo).

You bet I participate in the promotion! Sadly, even having a great vantage point on the sidelines didn’t help me to win. (Thanks to Kevin Olivett for taking the sneaky photo).

The winners are announced over the public address system…both real name and Twitter handle, a big deal for people who are obsessed over building their followers. At the first game where this promotion was ran, the winners were even recognized in an on-field presentation with the Bojangles mascot. The social media leverage for Bojangles increased even more as the winners sent out Tweets and photos saying how cool the experience was.

At the Chant football game on September 27, the Bojangles promotion had its debut. This is the winner of the $100 gift card.

At the Chant football game on September 27, the Bojangles promotion had its debut. This is the winner of the $100 gift card.

If I was a business owner, what the Grand Strand Bojangles is doing right now is exactly how I would be spending my money. I would partner with a sports team or another entity that draws big crowds and do whatever I could to promote my social media networks. The fact that Bojangles is getting word out on their #1 social channel in such a creative and high profile way makes their investment even more impactful.

Seth Horton (left), Bojangles representative (center), and the Bojangles chicken (right) look on as tweets start to pour in at the September 27 game.

Seth Horton (left), Bojangles representative (center), and the Bojangles chicken (right) look on as tweets start to pour in at the September 27 game.

I tip my hat to Seth Horton and Kevin Olivett of Chanticleer Athletics and the Grand Strand Bojangles team for thinking up and executing such a great promotion. I love seeing this type of stuff. By the way, the Chanticleer football team won again yesterday and now boast a record of 8-0. When the polls come out tomorrow, the Chants will be the #2 team in the country (FCS). Purchase your tickets now for the next home game (11/15 vs. Monmouth) and not only watch some great football but also participate in the @GSBojangles Tweet-Off. Don’t Blink.

Three “Perks” of My Job

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Working in intercollegiate athletics is a lot of fun. Don’t get me wrong, it is a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours but it is worth it. I get a lot out of what I do, most importantly a job that I look forward going to each and every day as well as an opportunity to connect and work with a wide range of people.

Besides the major components of what makes my job so great there are also the little things that make working in college sports just a little sweeter. No, I am not talking about an endless supply of free tickets, summers off, or an office overlooking the football field that so many people think I get (I don’t receive any of the three). I am talking about the very minor things, perhaps things that only matter to the nerdy and sports-obsessed person like myself. Yep, throughout my four years working fulltime in intercollegiate athletics I have accumulated certain items that I value. In tonight’s blog post I want to share the three items I have an overabundance of that I consider perks of the job but most other people would consider junk.

T-SHIRTS

If I wanted to, I could wear a different Griz, conference, or promotional t-shirt for each day of the year. I don’t have enough space in my bedroom closet to store all the t-shirts I have received over the past four years so I have a living room closet that is filled with folded up shirts. You have to see how this happens though. We host any sort of tournament, we get a shirt. We have a white out or a maroon out, we get a shirt. We have a pink game, heart disease game, coaches vs. cancer game, or any cause awareness game, we get a shirt. We have a milestone game, rivalry game, or championship game, we get a shirt. We have an athletic department special event, we get a shirt. We have special initiatives in marketing that we want to push (i.e. social media, spirit squad, etc), we get a shirt.

This is not to even mention all the other shirts that come our way. Different sports will sometimes give me shirts. One time we found a few boxes full of long sleeve shirts out in storage that we didn’t even know we had (each staff member got a shirt). Many times I will get shirts for helping out other entities on campus. A t-shirt collection can build quite quickly.

I try to give shirts away to my family members and friends, and many times I am successful. However, the rate that I give them out just doesn’t match the rate that I receive them.

Me with a stack of t-shirts that I own from work. I am wearing a Play 4 Kay shirt in this photo.

Me with a stack of t-shirts that I own from work. I am wearing a Play 4 Kay shirt in this photo.

CREDENTIALS

You meet anyone who works in the event industry and most likely you will at one time or the other see their vast credential collection. Employees in intercollegiate athletics are no different as many of us need issued credentials to do our jobs, both at home and away events.

Now compared to some of my seasoned superiors, I have a pathetic credential collection. But it is definitely starting to grow. I have accumulated most of my credentials through working gameday for both Griz football and basketball, doing football road travel, and then various odds and ends events. My most treasured credentials are definitely my NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament creds.

Credentials are important to me just because they show where I have been. They also serve as a memory of that particular season or event. I hold them closely.

 

A few of my credentials I happened to have around my place.

A few of my credentials I happened to have around my place.

 

PROMOTIONAL ITEMS

Growing up as a kid I always wanted to go to giveaway days whenever we went to a sporting event. It didn’t matter if it was a single baseball card or a magnet, I wanted a free souvenir out of the experience. I remember going to Mariners games and freaking out that we had to get to the dome/stadium extra early because only the first 20,000 fans would get the item. Never mind that we could have gotten to the game after the first pitch and still have gotten the trinket, I needed to be 100% sure.

Fast forward 20 years to the career I am in right now and I can say that promotional items have lost a little bit of their luster for me. After you order, get ready, and pass the items out over and over again the intrigue starts to fade a little. You also start to wonder about the sanity of people when you encounter individuals who are 10x more obsessed about getting the giveaway item than I was back in my youth.

Out of the many items that usually come in a single shipment, I try to save one for myself as both a memory and as an example if we ever bring that item back again. I have rally towels, backpacks, growth charts, mini balls, sunglasses, foam fingers, cheer cards, leis, hats, and many more items. Granted most are in storage but I still utilize some of the promo items on an everyday basis, such as the backpacks and sunglasses.

Some classic promo items. I love using the backpack!

Some classic promo items. I love using the backpack!

 

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So is my job cooler than yours?! I like to think so but obviously one’s satisfaction with his/her job is relative. I can say though that more than likely I have a greater amount of t-shirts, credentials, and promo items than you! WHAT NOW?! Don’t Blink.

Sports Marketing at its Finest

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We do a lot of cool, fun things in the marketing department at Grizzly Athletics. So many, in fact, that I don’t have the time to write about each one as they occur on a daily basis. However, when we do something extra cool, I do try to shine some light on it. This morning, Christie and I plus our army of interns set out on The University of Montana campus and hid 200 wallets over one of the most scenic places you can go to school at.

But before I go on about our morning, I do want to give credit to the inventor of this crazy idea. Kenny Dow, the marketing director at Portland State, thought up this concept while thinking of ways to increase attendance at Vikings’ sporting events. Don’t ask me how all the elements came to him but they did…and then he implemented it. Because Kenny’s idea had great success with the PSU students, and because he used to work for the Griz, and because Christie and I respect him so much, we borrowed his idea. Thanks, Kenny!

So what we did was we ordered a bunch of wallets for cheap. We then slapped Griz emblems on them and then we filled them with coupons for free frostys, free chili, free t-shirts, and a chance to win an i-pad (sorry for using the word “we”…I actually did diddly squat when it came to the preparation of the wallets…thank you interns!). In order for students to redeem the coupon for the free t-shirt and to receive entry into the drawing, they had to come to tonight’s Griz basketball game and turn in the wallets they found.

This morning at 7 a.m. we had seven of our eight interns show up to hide wallets. We met in our offices and then walked to The Oval, the center part of The University of Montana campus. After taking some pictures, the interns plus Christie divided into four teams of two people each. Each team took one of the four quadrants of the campus. Since I was the official photographer I acted as the rover and roamed from team to team, taking pictures and watching the hiding strategies of each group. Our marketing team hid wallets on benches, in trees, on the ground, under plants, and on top of signs. They hid them inside the library, the dining center, the University Center, the lecture halls, and the business building. They hid them in cacti, inside doors, and on statues. Yes, a great job was done by our team scattering the wallets in creative hiding places all across campus.

Our interns setting out to go wallet hunting!

Our interns setting out to go wallet hunting!

The interns met back in the office after the distribution of the wallets and they were all excited. They chatted happily about where they hid their wallets. They talked about encounters they had with the few people who were on campus at the time who had no idea what was going on. They explained why they either decided to hide their wallets in tough to find places or in spots where they would more easily be found. Everyone had a wonderful time this morning, including Christie and myself.

I am lucky to have such a great group of marketing interns!

I am lucky to have such a great group of marketing interns!

After the distribution of the wallets was complete, I transitioned into my main duty of the whole operation…connecting the promotion with social media! When we arrived back inside and out of the cold, I started to relay the rules and purpose of the wallet drop to our followers/fans on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Using lots of the photos I took, I tried to make sure that the students who had not found a wallet now had the heads up to find one while conveying at the same time to the students who had already found one what they needed to do to totally optimize their wallet discovery. After the ground rules were set, we started to have a little fun. We encouraged students who found a wallet to take a picture of them with it and then either post it on our Facebook page or Tweet it at us. Those who did so won one of our coveted social media t-shirts. We got a great response and once again it reinforced the power of Griz Social Media.

McKell and Andrew found a great spot to hide a wallet!

McKell and Andrew found a great spot to hide a wallet!

Finally, game time arrived. The student section filled up extremely fast as it was full fifteen minutes before the game was to tip off. From my vantage point at the music table, I could see lots of people with the shirts we were giving out for returned wallets. Things inside the arena started to pick up and I kind of forgot about the promotion for a little bit as I worked the game and watched our first place Grizzlies tangle with Sacramento State. But as things slowed down a little bit once the game entered the second half, I was able to quiz our intern Andrew on how many wallets were returned. When I asked him he said “Uh, only about 20.” Disappointment filled me. But then he added, “But we got a whole bunch of t-shirt slips back, well over 100.” You see, besides all the coupons we put in the wallet, we also put the basic rules of the promotion as well, much like the ones I put out in social media. However, on that sheet of paper we mistakenly omitted anything about students needing to return their wallets at the game in order to redeem their coupons/get entered to win the i-pad. So, what happened was that students found the wallets, took the goodies out of them, stashed the wallet in their apartment/dorm, and then just brought the paper coupons to the game. While we felt a little dumb because we would have definitely liked to get the wallets returned so we could just use them again next year instead of buying a bunch more, we got the satisfaction in knowing that the promotion worked. People found the wallets and then came to the game.

Word on the street is that the wallets did not last long at all after they were hidden.

Word on the street is that the wallets did not last long at all after they were hidden.

Right now as I write this, I only have Andrew’s estimation to go on in terms of quantifying our success. But soon I will have a more specific number to report and I will share it with you. The success of the wallet promotion combined with a great home win by the Griz and then topped off with the Lady Griz winning the Big Sky Conference championship has me grinning ear-to-ear right now. But what makes my smile extend even further is having the knowledge that our team of interns, working primarily free of charge, would sacrifice precious hours of sleep in their warm beds to help us hide wallets on a freezing Montana morning. Thank you so much Andrew, Brian, Gianna, Kylie, McKell, Mike, and Zach. Don’t Blink.

I had a great time hanging out with a great group of hard working, motivated young adults today.

I had a great time hanging out with a great group of hard working, motivated young adults today.