College football marketing and public relations: Week 1 hits and misses

September 4, 2014

BradPaisley_CCDAfter five straight days of watching college football, which began with last Thursday night’s surprise rout at South Carolina by Texas A&M, I woke up Tuesday morning with Lil Jon’s “Turn Down For What” in my head…except the words I heard were “Third Down For What.” That’s because University of Tennessee, in a brilliant marketing move, spoofed the song and played it every time the other team was on third down. There was no missing it, even on television.

It got me thinking about some of the wins and misses I saw in terms of marketing, promotion and public relations in the first week of the college football season. Here, I give to you the best of the best and the worst of the worst.

The hits

University of Tennessee’s “Third Down For What”

Taking advantage of a new SEC rule this season that allows for longer periods of amplified sound between downs, Tennessee created a parody of the popular Lil Jon song, “Turn Down For What,” that played on every third down on defense. Not only has it taken me all week to get this song out of my head (and thanks to this blog, it’s back), but it did what it was intended to do: the fans in Neyland Stadium cheered at the top of their lungs on every third down and the place was electric. True home field advantage at its best. I’ve also seen interviews with several of the football student athletes this week, and they all agreed it gave them an extra boost of energy and excitement.

I do think Tennessee is missing out on an opportunity to capitalize on this stroke of marketing genius, however.

Read more »

 
 

Which Final Four team does Twitter best?

April 3, 2014

Twitter_logo_blueThe college basketball season reaches its pinnacle over the next few days with the Final Four on Saturday and the National Championship on Monday. In addition to final practices and traveling to Dallas, intercollegiate athletic departments have been busy pumping out school spirit via social media.

Perhaps in no industry is Twitter as important as sports. According to Nielsen, who launched Nielsen Twitter TV Ratings in the fall of 2013, 50 percent of all tweets about television in 2013 were about sports events. In addition, sporting events accounted for 12 of the top 20 most-tweeted-about television broadcasts.

It comes as no surprise then that every major intercollegiate athletic program is on Twitter. Indeed, most departments have multiple Twitter accounts – one for each sport and one for the entire department. For Florida, Kentucky, UConn, and Wisconsin, their men’s basketball accounts have been in overdrive throughout March Madness, but particularly since their teams secured spots in the Final Four last weekend.

So, who’s doing it best?

Read more »

 
 

Get INKsights in your inbox

Archives