“The power of social media is that it forces necessary change.” – Erik Qualman
Let’s be real. Today, spring games are less about football and more about the branded experience. The truth is many college football coaches can live without them…but can the brands they work for? Will Bronco Mendenhall’s decision to not hold a spring game, opting instead to hold an open practice for fans, cost his University of Virginia football team an ACC title this year? Unlikely. What it does do, however, is forgo a valuable opportunity to tell a brand story. A chance to impress upon potential fans, key media and visiting recruits, that which makes the Cavalier football program unique.
On the flip side, while Virginia skipped its spring game, the University of Georgia invited local celebrity, Ludacris, to perform in front of an SEC spring game record of 93,000. Georgia’s previous spring game attendance record was just under 47,000. Quite the increase, though some people weren’t happy with Georgia’s decision to invite the rapper to their event. That’s where I’m confused. While Virginia is clearly focused on bettering its football team this spring by adding additional practice time, Georgia is clearly focused on…bettering its football team. Wait, how can that be? What’s the difference? The difference is Virginia is building for the next twelve months, while Georgia builds for the next twelve years. Will Ludacris improve the Bulldogs’ red zone offense this year? No, of course not. But, his involvement with the program might help convince an 18-year-old to play football in Athens. His performance may put more butts into seats at next year’s game, as fans begin attending the Georgia spring game as much for the experience, as they do for the outcome. And, perhaps most importantly, Ludacris’ performance got the media talking. That’s why it matters. In the world of social media, conversation is king.
At the end of the spring cycle, UVA will have garnered little more than local news coverage of its open practice, while UGA’s spring game, thanks to Ludacris’ involvement, has been written about by the likes of ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, CBS Sports, SB Nation and USA Today, to name a few. The average person will scoff at the artists “absurd” rider and the $65,000 Georgia paid Ludacris for his fifteen-minute performance, while the average marketer will look at the coverage it earned and deem it a steal.
Spring games aren’t just about football anymore. Today they’re about brand building, creating conversation and storytelling. If people aren’t talking about you, they aren’t thinking about you. Wake up.
“I Have An Idea…” is a series written for College AD by the author of Brands Win Championships, Jeremy Darlow.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.