Gonzaga Needs YOU! to Support Women's B-Ball
To sell tickets for its women's basketball games, Gonzaga University produced a well-executed online campaign that makes your attendance feel vital.
Pop a name and phone number into the Inspired Season microsite. (The marketing team told us this data isn't kept.) Later, when the girls need some pre-game pep, the coach calls you to pontificate on how important your presence will be to them.
The neat thing is, you can see him calling, then talking once you've picked up your phone. Whether or not he manages to get in contact though (say you don't pick up at all), he'll rush to the locker rooms, tell the girls you're coming and send them onto the court in good spirits.
The video fades to an ad where you can buy season tickets for just $75. Dan Heath, author of Made to Stick, claims he wanted to buy a pack after engaging the campaign, even though he's, like, 2,600 miles from Spokane.
Comments
Clever (if not original idea) Found this while searching for successful sports viral campaigns. From marketing sherpa:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/viralawards2008/4.html
"Sporting Portugal created a website that let users submit their name and telephone number to become part of an interactive ad. A video showing a well-known soccer coach stressing out in a locker room ended with a phone call to the submitted number with the coach encouraging the visitor to come to the stadium because “the team needs you.” The idea attracted plenty of blog coverage and more than 610,000 people to the site in two weeks. The all-time record for season ticket sales was shattered on the first day of the season."
The ending is actually different if you don't pick up.
Yeah, Like many sport promotions, new concepts evolve from old. Same concept...two different videos...Gonzaga just put a cool college spin on it. It was fun to watch.