With limited budgets, limited time and limited fan interest teams seem to be coming back to finding old school ways using new school media to generate attention again. The result is seeing more and more fun promotions and projects designed to generate awareness and brand as much as actually directly put butts in seats. here are three recent examples that tie the Atlanta Thrashers, the ECHL Florida Everblades and a small NAIA school in Indiana, Taylor University , all together with some good promotion and buzz generation.
First up is the Thrashers, arguably the most pleasant surprise in hockey this season. However even with their improved on-ce performance, the team has struggled to fill Phillips Srena and gain marketshare in a town which has never been the best in all out support of its pro teams in the best of years. The resul.? The team created a great viral video of their mascot, Thrash, stealing the zamboni with an OJ-like chase through Atlanta. Trash was caught and the only way to avoid jail time is if fans purchase 5,000 tickets before Christmas. It was fun, showed that the team understands they need to find ways to move distressed inventory and created some solid buzz online for Atlanta. It's not highbrow entertainment, but it makes the most of the assets the team has and can hopefully take a humorous move to get fans motivated to come see a quality product.
Next up are the Everblades, forever looking to engage fans in the deep south and in the ECHL, several steps belo. the NHL but with a pursuit of providing minor league family entertainment much like its MILB bretheran. Of course the challenge is explaining a game which locals may not have grown up with at a time of year when kids are in school and very engaged in other activities, as opposed to the summer. The Everblades took to the time-tested tradition of the alternative jersey for the holidays, looking to raise money for charity by auctioning off the game worn uniforms after they were used in some December action. Instead of looking to the traditional alternate, the Everblades went to neon green with some holiday red thrown in, making for more of a mish-mosh of color than anything that would be a normal seller. However in got some buzz, made its viral rounds and probably generated more interest in the team and in the jersey sales than if the team just picked a traditional alternate uniform to wear. While they took some heat for poor taste, they grabbed space on yahoo and other sites and brought out more local media, again using minimal spend to get larger exposure in a tight market. Not pretty, but effective.
Last, take a look at Taylor University. The NAIA school in Indiana isn’t known as a sports powerhouse, but they are now known for a tradition called Silent Night. In short, the school picks a hoops game every year to fill their gym, and keeps everyone quiet until the team scores their 10th point of the night. At that point, as seen on the video, the house explodes wit raucous celebration, unnerving the visitors and hopefully leading Taylor to victory. Like other traditions like American University's salute every year to the fictional Phil Bender (a character that symbolizes the students desire to fill Bender Arena each year), Taylor found a very unique way to capture the student body and start a tradition that is all theirs. The result, with some solid nudging, was a video and a tradition that went viral and got the school some solid publicity on national news outlets, all at litttle cost in the digital world. Will it make Taylor a Division I power down the line or move the schools student-athletes to cult statu. No. It is a fun way to get support and take the project outside the walls of the gym. Nice job by Sports Info. Director Eric Smith to find a way to get publicity and make it grow.
None of these three involved large scale media plans and big budgets. They involved creativity, use of available assets and a committment to find ways to make the brand bigger than just the game. All fun efforts and all worthy of praise, especially in the holiday season. Here's to more inguity, whether it is from the highest leagues or the smallest colleges.
