Marshall University Marketing Plan

“Living Healthy with the Herd” Health Fair at “JAM THE CAM” 2010

January 10th 2010

Brian Canavan

Jane DeWitt

Isaiah Childers

Table of Contents

Marketing Objectives

Marketing Mix

Market Planning

Market and Promotion Implementation

Student Marketing

Results

Appendices

Marketing Objectives

Objectives

The primary objective for “Jam the Cam” was to have the highest attendance at the Cam Henderson Center for the Marshall Women’s Basketball team in the 2009‐2010 season.

To provide extensive exposure and publicity for the game sponsors we created partnerships with

To create a great TV atmosphere with the game being nationally televised on ESPN 2

To obtain community involvement and provide education to our fan base to assist in living a healthy lifestyle

Marketing Mix Strengths

Marshall University Athletics has a very loyal and strong following to begin with making it easier to build excitement around big games. The Women’s team is talented and is having a relatively successful season thus far. Everyone in the Women’s Basketball program is very involved and eager to help in any way possible. Finally, The Marshall Maniac student group is very dedicated to the Athletic Program which helps build excitement among the student body. Weaknesses

The regular fan base of Marshall Women’s Basketball is strong but smaller in size with the average attendance this year only at 318 with our high attendance being 422. The challenge was to attract fans that would not normally attend a game and allow them to experience the excitement of Collegiate Women’s Basketball. Opportunities

Creating and combining the first ever “Living Healthy with the Herd” health fair with Jam the Cam gave us the opportunity to increase community involvement by providing giveaways, education, and activities before the game in the concourse by over 17 organizations in the community. This also increased the amount of people that were marketing the game and getting tickets out to the community.

The game being Nationally Televised on ESPN 2 gave us the opportunity to get people excited about being part of a big game and really amped up the crowd when they were there. Threats

The date selected for the event was the best possible date because it was on National Television but the date and day of the week did pose a few threats to attendance. Huntington has a very strong religious demographic and Sunday is an important church day for many individuals in the community leaving them with other obligations. January 10th was also part of the first weekend of the NFL playoffs making it difficult to compete with for many fans. Football is very popular in the area and we had to worry about fans watching the games instead of attending our game. The final threat that this year’s game date in January posed was preventing us from combining the event with the Pink Zone game which is held in February which combined with the inclement weather posed a threat to not be able to obtain the numbers that were obtained last year when the event was held in February.

Market Planning To obtain our marketing objectives and have a season high attendance, we reached out to every available market in Huntington and the surrounding areas. Effective and efficient planning and implementation was used to create a successful event. The planning of the event started over two months prior to the event which allowed ample time to get businesses and organizations involved in the health fair and the game. We put together a four tier sponsorship package. Appendix 1 We had 21 businesses and organizations that were a part of the “health fair” and helped in marketing the event. These sponsors included:

The Rec Center

WV Asthma Education and Prevention Program

American Health Centers

Let's Get Moving

Susan G Komen WV

River Valley Children’s Daycare services

Drug Emporium(Healthy Life Market)

Make a Wish Foundation

HEART Program (St. Mary's)

Adolescent Health Initiative

Wellness Council of WV

Ebenezer Outreach

WIC program

Cooking and Culinary institute

Jazzercise

Panera Bread Company

University Bookstore

Rape Crisis Center

Jim’s Restaurant

WSAZ

93.7 The Dawg Radio

Sponsorship Tickets All levels of sponsorship included tickets that were distributed throughout the community one week prior to the event. Areas that were targeted were highly populated and used areas such as shopping centers, malls, restaurants, and businesses around campus. In turn, restaurants would place tickets on the bill when given to the table after a meal and businesses would place tickets at their registers for patrons to receive for themselves and their guests. Print and Media Advertising Print advertisements were placed in local newspapers and digital billboards were put into effect in the area. Television and radio spots aired the two weeks leading up to the event by the NBC affiliate WSAZ and The Dawg radio station. We also printed 11 by 18 posters that were hung at all businesses in the area and in and around the community. Appendix 2 The Herald Dispatch newspaper also ran stories about the health fair and game and provided us with advertisements the week leading up to the event. Email blasts were sent out to the student body and the alumni database to over 10,000 accounts. Jim’s Restaurant changed their placemats to include a special advertisement for the game and gave tickets to the patrons with their bill. A live radio feed was held at local Panera Bread to entice fans to come in and get food and complimentary tickets provided by Panera. Social Media Advertisements were continually put up on both the Marshall Athletics Facebook and Twitter pages and the Marshall Maniacs Facebook page. Our shoot for free text books and our shoot for free tuition promotions were centered around the student facebook page to increase student attendance. The giveaways including Marshall Gym Bags, Aluminum Water Bottles, and I love the Herd shirts were advertised on both pages giving us a chance to get more exposure to our sponsors and increase attendance to both the health fair and the game. Elementary School Visits Members of the Marshall Women’s Basketball team and Marco the mascot visited local elementary schools the week prior to the event. Each student was given a complementary ticket and various other prizes by the team. We also reached out to the Putnam County spelling Bee and gave out over 500 tickets to the children that participated.

Local High School Contact

Personal phone calls were made to high schools coaches who had their teams participate in Marshall’s Basketball Camp. Coaches were made aware of the date and time of event as well as tickets being sold for one dollar. If they wanted to make a purchase before Jam the Cam, they were directed to the Ticket Office to receive their tickets. Classroom on the Court

A reminder email was sent to the 19 instructors involved in our C‐USA Classroom on the Court program. The email was from our mascot Marco reminding students and teachers to come to Jam the Cam along with all the prizes that were to be given away. Students and teachers involved with the program already have a pass to enter any game for free and therefore were excluded for the elementary school visits.

Market and Promotion Implementation In‐Game Promotions

The game was filled with entertaining and exciting promotions at every time out and during halftime that we were able to align with our sponsors messages and goals. These promotions were provided by our game sponsors and the fans really got into the action. The presenting sponsor Panera Bread was given a signed game ball at center court right before the game to promote their new store that was opening in the community as well as a timeout game that gave out gift cards to winning students.

The promotions during the game were all tailored to the message of the sponsors including the West Virginia Asthma and Education Prevention Program’s Clean Airway program sponsoring a clean airways paper airplane toss and American Health Center’s fitness relay. All prizes for contestants were provided by the sponsors. We also had other student promotions including select students shooting for free textbooks and then for free tuition which were sponsored by University Bookstore. Halftime entertainment was provided by Illusionist and magician extraordinaire, Mario Orsini. (See pictures below)

T‐shirts were thrown to cheering fans at every time out to keep an electric atmosphere and select shirts had Panera coupons rolled in them. Herr’s chip company also provided their new baked chips to be thrown out at halftime along with the Hustle for your Herr’s promotion for two Kids at halftime. This introduction of their baked chips aligned with the Healthy Living theme of the game. The game was concluded with an autograph session by the team and locker room tours for children. Give‐Away Items and Pre-game Promotions

Tickets were sold at a reduced price of one dollar for all fans. In addition, 1,000 “I love the Herd” T-shirts were given out at the beginning of the Health Fair that featured some of our big game sponsors on the back of the shirt and 400 Conference USA Jam the Cam shirts were thrown out to the crowd and used for promotions during the game. Marco the mascot and the cheerleaders all wore the “I love the Herd” T-shirts to generate excitement with the fans.

The first 100 fans to show up to the Health Fair also received a Marshall Basketball aluminum water bottle. We also co-branded 100 Marshall gym bags which were given out by the West Virginia Asthma Education and Prevention Program at their table’s trivia game. Each of the organizations at the Health Fair provided tons of giveaways at their tables for fans attending the game. All fans with tickets to the game attended the health fair which was held the hour leading up to tipoff. The organizations also provided fun activities along with educational material such as an obstacle course for children and Nintendo Wii.

Student Marketing Student attendance was a big part of our Marketing Plan and was difficult because class was not in session yet from Winter Break. By joining forces with the Marshall Maniacs we were able to get a great student turnout. Student Promotions

There were multiple promotions to increase student attendance and promote an electric atmosphere for the ESPN 2 audience. The craziest dressed fans were chosen by the Marketing staff to compete in two separate promotions. The first was a three point shoot out with the winner receiving 500 dollars in free text books and the loser getting a Panera gift card. The second promotion was the craziest student was chosen to compete in a contest in which they had to shoot a layup, free throw, three pointer, and half court shot within 40 seconds to win free tuition from Marshall University. The contestant got close getting all the way to the half court shot which made the crowd go crazy. Student Give‐Away Items

In addition to these special “student only” promotions, the first 250 students in attendance received a Marshall Basketball Foam Finger and the students were able to get all of the other giveaways as well including the free shirt, water bottle, and gym bag. All students coming to the game also received a coupon to University Bookstore. These giveaways and promotions helped to increase attendance and involvement.

Results

The final result for Jam the Cam was a season high attendance of 2,109 fans. Not only was this by far the highest attended game of the year, it was a 500% increase in the next highest attended game and a 663% increase from the season average. Please note the chart placed below. Appendix 3

On top of great attendance relation to what the weather was for the weekend, the event generated great community involvement for the “Living Healthy with the Herd” Health fair. The organizations all had lines for their booths and were able to distribute great educational and promotional material. We have had an overwhelming response from the game sponsors about continuing the event next year.

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Appendix 3

Date Opponent Attendance

11/13/2009 Appalachian State 388

11/16/2009 Seton Hall 263

11/21/2009 Kent State 227

12/20/2009 UT-Martin 217

12/29/2009 Murray State 422

12/31/2009 Radford 347

1/8/2010 UCF 363

1/10/2010 USM* Jam the Cam 2109

Attendance Effects of Jam the Cam

Season Avg 318

Jam the Cam 2109

Increase from Avg 1791

% Increase from Avg 663%

Season High excluding Jam the Cam 422

Jam the Cam 2109

Increase from High 1687

% Increase from High 500%

Panera game ball presentation

Panera Director of Marketing Christie Mallett interacting with fans after game ball

presentation