February 4, 2004

Volume 3, Issue 1

Lobos Bring in the Dough

Pizza Hut program helps UNM sell 700 season tickets

Recapping the NSF 

The 2004 National Sports Forum was held in Greater Chicago January 26-28th...and the verdict is in...this year's conference was the best Forum ever!

In attendance this year were multiple industry leaders including: Don Garber, Commissioner, Major League Soccer; Tom Fox,  VP Sports/Event Marketing; Len Komoroski, President, Cleveland Cavaliers; Andy Dolich, President, Memphis Grizzlies; Ted Phillips, President & CEO, Chicago Bears; Brian McKenna, Commissioner, ECHL; Jim Delany, Commissioner, Big 10 Conference; and Tom Meeker,  President & CEO, Churchill Downs Inc.

Contact: Darren Dunn, Associate Athletic Director of Corporate Development [email protected]

Team: University of New Mexico Lobos

Program Title: Pizza Hut Meal Deal

Objectives: There were two main objectives for this program:
* Increase ticket sales at football games
* Attract potential season ticket holders

Program Description: Whichever way you slice it...the University of New Mexico and Pizza Hut have teamed-up on a new program that has fans reaching for their wallets! The program is called the "Pizza Hut Meal Deal" and here's how it works...

Pizza Hut purchased 700 football season tickets from the university at half price...they then turned around and offered the tickets as a special promotion to customers who ordered a specific meal deal which included a Pepsi product at local restaurants. Fans that had purchased the meal deal were then able to buy season tickets at half-price when they redeemed their receipt at the Lobo's ticket office. This meant that the Lobos were able to get 100% of the revenue for the tickets, as Pizza Hut covered half the cost and the fans paid for the other half.

With the program, the Lobos were also able to add new names into their season ticket holder database...giving them the ability to send renewal notices as well as information on other UNM sporting events.

Media: UNM advertised the promotion on the school's website, through various press releases and on PA announcements at other university events. Pizza Hut employee's passed out refrigerator magnets on campus that had a student discount and advertised the promotion with box-top coupons.

Sponsor: Pizza Hut and Pepsi are the proud sponsor of the "meal deal" promotion. Both companies have benefited greatly from the program because they've successfully been able to tap into the UNM market. Through this program Pizza Hut and Pepsi have been given access to UNM's student population which has helped them drive tremendous amounts of traffic into local Pizza Hut restaurants near campus!

Results: The Pizza Hut meal plan was such a success, that all 700 ticket packages sold in the first two days of the promotion! The response was so overwhelming that Pizza Hut had to remove the box-top coupons in order to not disappoint fans after the tickets were sold. Since the deal, fans have been calling months in advance to find out information on the next promotion and hoping to reserve these popular tickets in advance.

Looking Ahead: Due to the positive reaction by the fans, the university and Pizza Hut have extended the promotion to women’s basketball. Pizza Hut has purchased 500 season tickets for women's hoops in hopes that the program will carry over.
 

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