May 4 2011 | Volume 9, Issue 25

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Mocs' Fans Not Off Limits to April Fools!

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga utilize non-traditional holiday to create buzz for upcoming football season.

CONTACT

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Ryan Peck
Director of Marketing and Promotions
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics
Phone: 213-742-7500
Email: [email protected]

ORGANIZATION

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics Department

PROGRAM TITLE

Mocs April Fools' Day Gag

OBJECTIVES

It is has become an increasingly difficult challenge for college athletic departments to remain engaged with fans once the season has come to a close. With kickoff for the 2011 football season over 5 months away, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga wanted to attack this challenge head on. The Mocs' Athletic Department was interested in developing an innovative marketing promotion that would create buzz within the community around the upcoming football season as well as selling football season tickets with a special one-time offer. The Mocs' marketing staff has found non-traditional holidays throughout the calendar year are an easy excuse to engage with fans, so the Mocs' wanted to leverage an upcoming holiday into a creative promotion that fans could utilize.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

During a brain storming meeting with fellow members of the UTC Athletic marketing staff, the idea of an April Fools Day gag was born. All staff members agreed it would be fun to partake in the national prank holiday, however understood it had to be done appropriately with the correct amount of consideration as to not create reactions counteractive to the intent. The marketing team presented their idea to the Director of Athletics who went through all the proper approval channels and once received the go ahead from the school's chancellor, a mere day in advance of April 1st, the gag was put into motion.

The UTC Athletic Departments' April Fools' Day Gag centered on a fictitious school "Green Initiative"; the gag being an alteration of the school's infamous blue and gold colors and changing them to be green and gold. The department created a press release that was shared on the school's athletic website, GoMocs.com, as well as on the department's Facebook and Twitter pages. The release included examples of the school's logo with the new colors, a quote from the Director of Athletics Rick Hart, and a new fall sports slogan, "Blue + Gold = Green". The release even stated the Mocs football team is already planning a "Green Out" for its home opener in September.

Once a fan clicked on any of the hyperlinks connected on the release, they were directed to a webpage that filled them in on the April Fools' Day Gag. As a reward for being good sports on the school's failed attempt to change to Green, those fans that choose to renew or purchase 2011 UTC Football Season Tickets on April 1st would also receive on free meal voucher with each season ticket. The meal voucher, a $40 value, is good for a hotdog, chips and a Coke at each of the Mocs' five home games in 2011.

This graphic was shown once fans clicked on any hyperlinks within the fake press release.

MEDIA

The Mocs April Fools' Day Gag was solely publicized online with help from their Media Relations department. There was a press release created that was hosted on school's athletic website, GoMocs.com. There were also updates via the Mocs' Facebook Fan Pages and Twitter Pages, including links back to the press release on the department's website. Additionally, once the gag started to create buzz in the community, local news stations picked up the story. Local News Channel 9 included a 2 minute spot of the gag on their primetime broadcast.

PARTNERS

No partners were involved in the implementation of this promotion.

RESULTS

UTC's Athletic Department was extremely happy with the results of the Mocs April Fools' Day Gag, with 31 season tickets sold over the entire day. Even though this might seem like a small return, understanding that their season ticket base is just over 2,600, there were no online sales recorded over the previous 10 days, and kickoff is over 5 months away, it was deemed a major accomplishment. Outside of ticket sales, the media avenues the Mocs' used to distribute the gag also saw a tremendous uptick. The gag generated over 2,000 website visits in just 16 hours it was live on the website, which is four times the amount of traffic a non-preview/recap story normally receives on the Mocs' official website. Additionally, the Facebook post received over 35 commented and 30 likes, numbers drastically higher than any day in the entire month of April. "At first I was somewhat hesitant about trying the promo out of fear from the backlash that potentially could occur." stated UTC Athletics' Director of Marketing and Promotions, Ryan Peck. "However, the reaction from our fans, the campus, and the community made the promo a huge success for our department in April - a time normally when the football buzz is minimal for the Mocs."

Local News Channel 9's coverage of the gag, view by clicking here.

LOOKING AHEAD

The Mocs' Athletic Department will definitely consider using this promotion again next year, however understand they will need to be creative in order to capture fans' interest and duplicate the buzz this year's gag created.

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