OVERVIEW
This marketing plan targets our key groups: students, alumni, season ticket holders, sidewalk alumni, and the general public. A pleathorea of different tactics are used, all of which have been carefully devised to reach those target market groups. Considering the budget constraints, this plan uses more Human Capital than Fiscal Capital, which is essentially our raw man power. Additionally, two personal connections are utilized in terms of entertainment, celebrity judges, and campus departments & resources are planned to be utilized as well. This
approach will be more favorable because it will widen the scope of the effort, ultimately involving more people who are more likely to attend because they have a vested stake in the Bearcat Bowl because of their participation in the marketing efforts.
FINANCES
The advertising budget for this campaign is $500.
INITIAL BUDGET $500
Item Quantity Total Cost
Magnets - 2" x 3.25" 1000 $(214.93)
Phase 1 21 Days $(105.00)
Phase 2 6 Days $(150.00)
Vinyl Banner Sheet - 3' x 10' 1 Sheet $(30.00)
Balance $0.07
EVENTS
CAMPUS AMAZING RACE
The campus amazing race has the potential to become a wonderful promotion for years to come. The objective is simple, set up stations around Campus that offer clues, puzzles, etc. Each station will be operated by two hosts, which are
members of the spirit squad. Additionally, spirit squad members will greet
participants at the finish line in front of the Lindner Athletic Center brick walkway. This event will appeal to families and urban adventurers, and also double as a great tool for the UC admissions department because it would provide an opportunity to teach people about the campus and its significant features. This event will be free and be held on the main southern portion of UC main campus.
The Campus Amazing Race will be planned and organized by the Planning Student Organization of DAAP. This is an organization that focuses on spatial correlations, historic significance, and urban design – they will not only know how to get people to circulate most efficiently, but also be able to showcase the
Universities many great features, like the fabulous architectural design by many world-famous architects.
Clues will be printed 8 to a page and distributed in 1/8th strips. The prints will come from UC Departments, who our charismatic Senior Associate Athletic Director Mike Waddell, will visit in person to ask for a contribution of 100 – 150 prints. The clues will be distributed by the spirit squads at the checkpoints. The first three families to finish will be honored at Half Time of the Bearcat Bowl.
TAIL GATE FEST
Tail Gate Fest will be an opportunity for anyone with a vehicle to tail gate in the parking lots for free prior to the game. The lots that will allow free tailgating are the baseball stadium lot, the upper lot of University Park Apartments, as well as the street-level lot in front of the Lindner College of Business. This event will be marketed to everyone; however, especially alumni.
Our University Spirit Squads, mascot, as well as small quartets of the band will travel amongst these tail gating areas and entertain the guests. The Band members should not be in their full uniform since we are trying to convey a casual, fun atmosphere.
There will also be Tail Gate Champion competition, judged by celebrity judges from the Cincinnati Bengals. Players Chinedum Ndukwe, Frostee Rucker, Keith Rivers, and Kyries Hebert will visit with all the tail gaters and determine who has the best tail gate. The competition will be marketed towards student groups with houses, such as fraternities and sororities, as well as local businesses. This cannot be open to everyone, for the winner will be presented with a 3 x 10 vinyl banner. The banner will be created by the DAAP Industrial Design screen printing studio; consequently, $30 will be spent to purchase a vinyl banner for them to print on. DAAP supplies the paint.
The winner will receive the banner to hang on the front of their home as a trophy; this can become a ritual for our program.
ENTERTAINMENT
Pre-game
Through a personal connection with DJ Skillz, the main DJ of 101.1 the Wiz, he has agreed to perform his Saturday set live from the Lindner Center lawn. Additionally, he has requested a player to call in to his show on April 23. In-game
To truly set the mood, we will try to have a DJ playing during the Bearcat Bowl, almost like And-1 Basketball. This will add a truly dynamic element to the game. The DJ is a UC student and well-known local DJ by the name of Clockwork. Speakers will be borrowed from CCM and Clockwork has his own turntables and computer. He will be set up in a ropped-in area of the student section, below the south endzone videographers.
MEET & GREET
Thirty minutes following the football game, 2010 season ticket holders will be offered a 1 hour meet and greet with players in the plazza level of the Lindner Center. Surrounded by Bearcats memorabilia, fans will have a unique opportunity to interact with the players in a casual atmosphere. Additionally, fans who have not yet purchased their season tickets may be more apt to do so the day of the event since it will grant them access to the event.
The cheerleaders and mascot will also attend and Athletic Department interns will offer free photos of fans, players, mascot, and cheerleaders which will be
displayed on GoBearcats.com
BASIC MARKETING STRATEGIES
- Register the event on the official University Calendar.
- Register the event with the local event listing web sites – MetroMix & ZipScene. - Contact Cincinnati USA to list event on their web site
- Contact admissions department and encourage the scheduling of large tours on the day of the game.
DETAIL ORIENTED MARKETING
PROJECT: ADVERTISING THAT STICKSTarget Group: Families
Concept: Use the football players as speakers to talk about the importance of education. As parting gifts, the players will distribute and sign Bearcat Bowl magnets.
Needs: x1,000 – 2” 3.5” Bearcat Bowl Magnets @ $214.93
Implementation: send groups of 4 football players to 12 separate elementary schools to give motivational speeches on the importance of education. The schools will be selected based on a list of factors: Median House Hold Income, Cultural Barometers, with the inter-city schools, only schools that are located on a direct bus-line to the university would be selected. Additionally, suburban schools would be targeted, as well as schools on the west side of Cincinnati, an area with well established football traditions, as well as a higher likely hood of life-long Cincinnatians. The appearances of the football players would provide multiple opportunities for earned media coverage.
The magnets, will be distributed to the students at this time and they will also double as autographable items. Naturally, the students will return home with their magnets, which will hopefully end up on their fridge as an ever present reminder of the Bearcat Bowl.
Logistics: Football players will be selected by marketing extraordinaire Mike Waddell for participation. Four players will attend 15 different schools. Broken down into teams of two, players will address classes around 30 in size. It is estimated that players will distribute 960 magnets, assuming they distribute 64 magnets per speaking engagement. However, suburban schools have smaller class sizes; consequently, fewer magnets will be distributed. The surplus magnets will be handed out on the actual gameday.
PROJECT: ADBOOKING Target Group: Students
Concept: Utilize Facebook advertisement on a pay for impressions basis to drive traffic to www.bearcatbowl.com.
Implementation: Set up marketing campaign with Facebook, payment required with credit card.
Logistics: Pay for impression advertising is capped at a certain amount each day. Beginning on March 29, we will spend $5 per day advertising, Beginning on April 18, we will increase the Facebook advertising budget to $25 per day. PROJECT: BUZZUMNI
Target Group: Alumni
Concept: Present script to the University Alumni Association to use in their fundraising efforts. The modified script will include an invitation to the Bearcat Bowl Tail Gate Fest as well the game.
Implementation: We will need to tap the resources of our best salesman in coming up with a catchy pitch for the telemarketers. The key reason why we will press the Tail Gate Fest is because we want to focus on issues of culture. It should appear that this type of thing, a scene where alumni and UC fans gather, socialize, and have fun. While this does not meet our immediate goals of driving season ticket sales, it does reinforce the community aspect of our program; we want the alumni to feel like they are actually part of something that is physical. There is nothing more physical and in-the-present than a great tail gate party. It will work great to welcome our Alumni back to Clifton.
Logistics: Arrange through Alumni Association, devise sales pitch, and deploy new pitch on April 4, 20 days prior to kick off.
PROJECT: LISTBLAST
Target Group: University Students, Faculty, and Staff
Concept: Send emails inviting all university students, faculty, and staff.
Implementation: This has the potential to be very effective because we will send one email to the nearly 60,000 people with @uc.edu email addresses. The email will contain an invitation and link to www.bearcatbowl.com.
Logistics: The first email will go out to all of the departmental listservs (easily attainable through UCit), on Sunday, April 18 – 6 days prior to kick off. The second email will go out on Thursday, April 22 – 2 days before kick off.
PROJECT: PERSONAL INPUT
Target Group: University Students, Parents of Students, and Athletic Department Staff
Concept: Require student athletes to make 7 phone calls per night to invite their friends and family to the Bearcat Bowl. The goal is to input the information in hopes of saturating the social streams with the information.
Implementation: Have coaches ask their players to participate and ask staff to participate. Athletes will fill out “leads” with the person they called each day and turn in to their coaches. Realistically, some athletes will not take the task very seriously; however, others will take the assignment really seriously and may perhaps call more than seven people per night. Ideally, the process will work by introducing new forms of information into the student social streams. That way, when someone asks, “whats going on this weekend,” there is a greater likelihood that someone will recall the information they were presented. Additionally, if they see some of the emails and online ads they will be more receptive to them since they have already had the information injected into their thought process through a direct source.
Logistics: Provide coaches with spreadsheets for athletes to fill out and instructions. The athletes are to begin on the evening of Sunday, April 18 – 6 days before kickoff. The information collected will be destroyed, it is just important that they believe their coaches may look into whether or not they completed the task.
PROJECT: AIR WAVE INVASION
Target Group: suburban commuters who listen to 700 WLW
Concept: have players, coaches, and athletic director call into 700 WLW during the allotted time, many of the calls will not be coordinated.
Implementation: people will call into the radio station to pester the host. The radio station will be told ahead of time that a list of UC players may randomly call in during their show.
Logistics: Contact Sherry Roland of 700 WLW to share what we are going to do – anyone can call into the station, so they cannot decline our idea. Additionally, work with Sherry to arrange in-studio appearances on Friday, April 23.
These magnets will be presented by the football players and
autographed during school apperances. Ideally the children will return hope and add their prize on the fridge.
The magnets will cost a total of $198.95, plus $15 for shipping, which totals
$213.95. This translates into $0.21 cost per unit. While the cost is relatively high, they have a far greater likelihood of making an impression on families than other tools at our disposal considering the budget constraints.
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING
Phase One:
- March 27 – April 17 - $5 per day limit
- Estimated to be seen by over 14,000 people at UC per day. - Total cost of $105 Phase Two: - April 18 – April 24 - $25 per day limit
- Estimated to be seen by over 47,000 people at UC per day.
- Total cost of $150 Facebook advertisement. On week of
event, ad will rotate to say: “This Saturday” as well as other date
specific messaging. Total views could reach 576,000, which equates to $0.00044 per banner impression.
Bearcatbowl.com– Deployed 27 days prior to kickoff. I have volunteered my time to create this website with a flash clock, email, & mobile form in the interest of saving time and money. Pages include an intenerary of gameday events, and contact page.
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