How would you like to drive sales 45% and achieve an all-time company high in product sales? And at the same time, create word of mouth about your product and make customers feel a connection with your brand? Sound too good to be true?
The video below is part of a marketing campaign called "Inspired Season" implemented by Gonzaga Universtity in Spokane, Washington. It has achieved all of the above.
The copy reads:
Please fill in your name and phone number to help inspire the Gonzaga Women's Basketball team.
So below, DO enter your name and number of the phone near you - your mobile or at your desk. (If you enter a fake information, you'll ruin the effect. Trust me).
In his book Zag, Marty Neumeier says... to stand out from your competition, when they zig, you should zag. Well, the Gonzaga Bulldogs women's basketball team is GonZagging.
I found out about this project from e-mail sent directly from Matt Beckman the Director of Marketing for Gonzaga University Athletics. He even addressed it with MY name on it. It wasn't a press release boiler plate, or a generic "dear blogger." So not only is Gonzaga connecting with their fans and supporters, but also reaching out to influencers like us!
Dan Heath, co-author of the best selling book Made to Stick, recently commented on his blog that this made him want to buy season tickets even though he lives 2,600 miles away from Spokane.
Sport marketers face the additional challenge of "fair weathered customers" we retail marketers don't experience. When Shop N' Save Grocery Store isn't doing as well as Safeway, customers don't stop going to Shop N' Save. However, when a sports team has a poor season? Fans (customers) complain, they're crabby, season ticket holders seek refunds, there are fights in the parking lot, and people stop buying tickets.
In a time with so much news about things that aren't working properly, it's great to see someone experiencing record sales. And how, with imagination and creativity (and not a big budget) they got it done.
Nice work to the Spokane-based agency behind the creative, Magner Sanborn. Well done, Gonzaga!
