If you are a fan, no matter what, your team is going to stink at some point. It’s part of the ups and downs of the game; you win some, you lose some. However if you are a fan of the University of Oregon Ducks this year, every time you pick up a hard ticket for a football game, you will be reminded of a smell of a different kind.
In an era where hard tickets are becoming a thing of the past, and collecting stubs has become a quaint hobby rather than a rite of passage for sports fans, the Ducks took a fun and sponsored turn with their football tickets this fall. Oregon IMG Sports Marketing GM Brian Movalson’s and his cohort on the ticketing side, Jason Harris, came up with an idea to add a little scratch and sniff to their hard tickets as a way of providing some extra buzz and value to the Ducks fan experience.
Now it’s not like the folks in Eugene have been quietly sitting back with regard to enhancements in and around the athletic teams. From 30 foot long Heisman banners in New York to funky uniforms to court design to palatial facilities, Oregon has become a hub for driving ROI and innovation just like their friends and benefactors down the road at Nike have been for years. But scratch and sniff tickets? Why not.
The team at UO looked at everything that could make sense within the realm, literally, of good taste. “We looked at the scents and they had everything from blueberry, strawberry, chocolate, cheeseburgers, and a fresh bread scent,” Movalson says. Their choice? “Knowing Carls Jr. had a current marketing campaign focused on ‘fresh baked buns’, he called in AE Nicole Aliotti and asked, “What do you think about this for Carls Jr?”
The IMG team then went to the burger chain, and a deal was hatched, or scratched. This fall’s tickets smell like fresh baked buns. The school has over 20,000 season ticket accounts, which gives Carls Jr shot at making an impression over 140,000 should a season sub take a scratch. Not a bad reminder for the brand, and something which can easily be turned into a promo in and around home games for those looking for some tailgating or pre and postgame snacks.
Some may say the idea is a waste in a time when people want virtual tickets more and more, but Oregon and IMG College found a way to fill a need for hard ticket costs while providing a very unique ROI to a brand in a competitive marketplace, something which can probably be replicated with different scents and partners down the line and across the country. If scratch and sniff works, can a little sample tasting be that far away.
Nice score for the lemon and emerald and their sports biz partners.
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