In college hoops, especially at this time of year for those schools left playing, timing is everything. Schools like Kentucky and Connecticut, on life support for an NCAA run just a few weeks ago, found a way to regroup and focus and make it to Dallas for this weekend’s Final Four, something that probably would have been unthinkable when Selection Sunday rolled around just a few weeks ago.
However with the improbable run, especially for the Huskies, came opportunity off the court as well in the form of a quick and cool activation with a long-time brand partner. Now it helped that UConn’s run last weekend happened not so far from home, at Madison Square Garden in New York. It also helped that UConn has always had a knack for innovative activation programs involving their loyal legions of supporters, and hence a new, easy and fun digital promotion was born, with the help of their partners at IMG College.
As part of the Huskies’ “Road Warriors” promotion with official partner Chevrolet, (the official vehicle of UConn Basketball for the past two years) a Chevy Sonic quickly painted with the school’s colors will make the trek from Connecticut to North Arlington, site of the Final Four this week. Alternating behind the wheel will be Erik Antico and Brett Greenfield, serving as the Chevy “Road Warriors” as they take Jonathan the Husky Dog and the Sonic cross country, covering a distance of 1,698 miles. They will be making the stops along the way and handing out UConn gear, and posting photos on social media.
Fans are following on the official UConn Athletics Facebook (facebook.com/UConnHuskies) and Twitter (@UConnHuskies) accounts, and have been encouraged to share their favorite Road Warrior moments with the hashtags #UConn and #BleedBlue.
The promo, created on the fly and with little lead time, was a great extra for the Chevy/UConn partnership. It showed innovation, a smart use of social media and a solid use of available time with little hard costs. It effectively conveys the largesse of the Huskies brands literally beyond its borders and will make for a great rallying point for all the UConn fans enjoying the ride to the Final Four. In an age where augment and virtual reality get a lot of the buzz, UConn, IMG College and Chevy should get points for a quick promo that was a little bit of a throwback but scored on many fronts.
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