CWU Football Marketing Plan

7/31/2019 CWU Football Marketing Plan

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CWU Football Campaign Winter 2012

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Work Summary

The work below represents a complete marketing and SWOT analysis done for Central

Washington Universitys Football program.

This work was completed during the capstone class (COM 470) for public relations majors at

Central Washington University.

Six people worked on this project for a total of three months.


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Table of Contents

Case Description 2

Primary Research 3-4

SWOT Analysis 4-5

Focus Group Analysis and Plan of Action 5-6

Identification of Publics 7

RACE Outline 8-14

RACE Discussion and Justification 14-15

Budget 15

In-Kind Donations 16

Calendar 17

Evaluations and Strategies 19

Appendix A- Collateral Pieces

Appendix B- Survey


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Appendix C- PowerPoint

Case Description

The Central Washington University football season is held fall quarter from September to

November. In the upcoming 2012 season there are five home games scheduled. Tickets are free

for students with Connection Cards, and non-students are charged $12 for general admission.

Tailgating space is provided outside the stadium for fans, as well as a beer garden inside for fans

over 21. This client was in a need of a new campaign design because of stagnating attendance

and retention rates and a lack of spirit and participation. We felt this was an achievable campaign

for us to accomplish due to our public relations background. In our search for secondary

research, we found past seasons statistics on Wildcatcatsports.com, along with schedules, player

information, and other relevant news. We also examined their social media presence, and

determined that their already existing accounts are outdated. With this initial research, we went

on to plan our campaign accordingly.


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Giveaways have historically been the most effective Public Relations strategies.

The biggest obstacle is a lack of resources. His current budget is nonexistent.

Attendance is not the largest factor the campaign should be focusing on for next

season.

SWOT Analysis for Central Washington Football:

Strengths:

Survey indicated strong attendance

Crowd attends regardless of record

Has a large diverse community to appeal to

Beer garden

Strong alumni community

Easy to attend, central location

Free for students with Connection Card

Weaknesses:

Day and time of game can be conflicting with peoples schedules Lack of school spirit

Crowd interaction can be disrespectful

Weather huge factor in attendance

Many people leaving before game is over

Lack of fresh promotional ideas

Opportunities:

Capitalize on potential and already existing sponsorships by outside businesses

Offer tailgating for all ages

Incentives to stay until the end of the game Increased crowd participation and team spirit

Promoting good sportsmanship within the crowd so that everyone can respectfully

participate

Strategic giveaways towards end of game

Better overall promotion to bolster school spirit

Promotional during game contests team with school clubs


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Social Media

Cat Pack club and attendance

Threats:

Other CWU events

Weather

Indifference

Lack of interest

Scheduling conflict

Lack of sponsorship

Little school spirit

No fan participation

Focus Group Analysis and Plan of Action

From our survey results we found that there was strong attendance, however many people

didnt stay past halftime. Because of this we are going to focus on getting people to stay the

entire game and participate more frequently. People cited various different reasons for why they

leave during the game such as boredom especially during halftime, lack of interest in football, or

wanting to go eat or drink outside of the stadium. We have discussed different options about

how to bolster attendance throughout the game and keep people at the game until it ends.

Possible end of game raffles, contests, and other opportunities for free things may keep people

interested in attending the full game. We also want to focus on capitalizing the use of sponsors to

be able to bring in an opportunity for more giveaways to attract all age levels of students.

According to our surveys, there is more attendance with younger students, such as freshmen

and sophomores who when they do attend a game they stay until the end more often. Because of

this, we are also going to focus on getting more juniors and seniors to go and stay the entire

game.


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With our focus group surveys we found that upper-classmen hold recreation aside from the

game, such as tailgating as a higher priority than staying the entire game. With this we have

decided that if we somehow can incorporate a more holistic tailgating approach to get everyone

involved as well as keep them entertained we would be able to keep attendance and involvement

high. This could happen by pre game rallies to get everyone excited to participate during the

game.

Another important objective taken from our data is the importance of creating a more spirited

atmosphere for fans. People would be more likely to stay at a game if there were activities and

events specifically for the fans. Because of this we have thought of numerous activities that

would be put in place to help accomplish this, for example the Wellingtons photo contest, and

halftime games.


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Identification of potential publics:

Central Washington University Community: The students of CWU are our primary focus forthis campaign. Students make up the majority of those in attendance at football games.Traditional students average ages range from18-25. Through our research we have found thatthis group has strong attendance rates, but lack the spirit and participation the AthleticDepartment would like to see at games.

Ellensburg Community: The residents of Ellensburg attend games but not as frequently asstudents or other members of the CWU community. Their participation is also important inmaking a game or season successful in terms of spirit in and participation. For this reason, theyare our secondary public.

Sponsors of CWU Football: These are companies and organizations that donate monetarily andmake in kind donations to the program. This is a very small portion of the business community inEllensburg. The football team, as well as the Athletic Department would like to see an increasein football sponsors. These sponsors could help with more giveaways and opportunities for fanparticipation. Sponsors are interested in promoting their business but would like to see morerecognition, by increasing sponsor awareness; this may also increase overall football

sponsorships.


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RACE Outline:

GOAL: Increase and secure overall attendance throughout the entire game.

Objective 1 :Increase upperclassmens (junior, senior) full attendance throughout the

entire game by 10%.

S1: Incentives to improve attendance and crowd participation

T1: Create Cat Pack

o Promote with signs, flyers, table tents around campus in

SURC and residence halls

Get in touch with publicity center and promotions

o Spread with social media, add to Wellingtons facebook,

and twitter accounts to get the word out

o Cat Pack t-shirts to show they are part of club

Use t-shirt as incentive to join club

T2: Designated Cat Pack area at games where students that are

part of the Cat Pack spirit club sit specifically.

o Show club member spirit, gain crowd awareness of club to

bolster club numbers, and create more spirit

T3: Each home game there is one specific give away to add to

students collection of CWU to build on each other so that they can

show more spirit and participate. Giveaways will be done in the

third quarter to encourage retention.

o T-shirts: First game regular home game

o Glasses: Second game regular home game

o Pom Poms: Third game regular home game

o Noise Maker: Homecoming game


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T4: March to Tomlinson Stadium, a pep march from the SURC

through the dorm areas to stadium w/ marching band, cheerleaders,

Wellington.o First 100 people to join in receive a free t-shirt

S2: Half-time games and entertainment to increase retention through

halftime

T1: CWU has Talent

o Prior to games auditions will be held for talented students

to show off during halftime, or sing the national anthem.

Students will be selected by a team of judges, madefrom an assortment of students.

o Students chosen to perform will get the opportunity during

the first five minutes of one home game half time.

T2: On-field competitions during halftime

o Student vs. Wellington race

o Horseshoe game

o Kick a field goal

o Water pong

o S3: Beer Garden/Tailgate

T1: Advertise/Update Beer Garden

ST1: Announcements during game

ST2: Promote new event of Beer of the Game

o Flyers with Iron Horse Brewery Sponsorship

o Iron Horse Brewery decides which beer it will be

ST3: Purchase a collector mug for the beer and get $2 dollars off

your first beer


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o Mug will have Iron Horse information on it

ST4: Add food to menu

o Offer more of a selection for alcoholic beverages and bar

munchies

ST3: Social Media and Advertising

o Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare, Website

ST4: Alcohol deals through Iron Horse Brewery

o Sign outside of Iron Horse Microbrewery Dont forget to

visit our Beer Garden

o Attendee purchases reusable mug/cup, bring to beer garden and receive $2 off

first beverage

o Deal doesnt begin until midway of game

Beer Garden open throughout game, discount after halftime

o New mug/cup sold every home game

Cup shows logo of sponsors but different emblem

S4: Contests

o ST1: Wellingtons photo contest, post to his official facebook page

After post, entered in a competition for best photograph with Wellington

Winner receives a coupon/voucher for upcoming home football

game

o ST2: Have CWU trivia on Wellingtons facebook and twitter accounts

Each week during the season trivia will be posted and the first person with

the correct answer will get a coupon for the Wildcat Shop and anopportunity to be a contestant in one of the half time games

Objective 2: Increase Underclassmen Attendance by 5% from last seasons attendance.



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T1: Create Cat Pack






o Cat Pack t-shirts to show they are part of club



part of the Cat Pack spirit club sit specifically.o Show club member spirit, gain crowd awareness of club to



students collection of CWU to build on each other so that they can

show more spirit and participate. Giveaways will be done in the







Wellington.

o First 100 people to join in receive a free t-shirt


halftime

T1: CWU has Talent




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Students will be selected by a team of judges, made

from an assortment of students.

o

Students chosen to perform will get the opportunity duringthe first five minutes of one home game half time.



o Horseshoe game

o Kick a field goal

o

Water pong

S4: Contests




game

o

ST2: Have CWU trivia on Wellingtons facebook and twitter accounts Each week during the season trivia will be posted and the first person with

the correct answer will get a coupon for the Wildcat Shop and an

opportunity to be a contestant in one of the half time games.

Objective 3: Increase fan participation during games


T1: Create Cat Pack





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o

Cat Pack t-shirts to show they are part of club



part of the Cat Pack spirit club sit specifically.

o Show club member spirit, gain crowd awareness of club to



students collection of CWU to build on each other so that they canshow more spirit and participate. Giveaways will be done in the







Wellington.

o First 100 people to join in receive a free t-shirt


halftime

T1: CWU has Talent



Students will be selected by a team of judges, made

from an assortment of students.

o Students chosen to perform will get the opportunity during

the first five minutes of one home game half time.


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o Horseshoe game

o Kick a field goal

o Water pong

S4: Contests




game

o ST2: Have CWU trivia on Wellingtons facebook and twitter accounts

Each week during the season trivia will be posted and the first person with

the correct answer will get a coupon for the Wildcat Shop and an

opportunity to be a contestant in one of the half time games.

RACE Discussion and Justification:

The strategies presented in our RACE outline are ways to increase the attendance,

retention and participation of the students at Central Washington University football games. It is

our goal create more attendance and retention but take that a step farther than that and have the

students get involved, and be more spirited as fans. Our idea of the Cat Pack club is one of the

best ways to reach a diverse community of students and bring them together to create a solid

base of student fans enthusiastic to participate.

Our surveys help to guide our strategies and tactics. Our original goal changed through

our research process as we began to realize the true needs of the athletic department. Once we


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realized the needs we reassessed and refocused our focus groups to better serve our Central

Washington University student community.

Aside from the Cat Pack, we have put in a variety of other ways to get students

involved. Contest ideas such as Wellingtons facebook photo contest, CWU Has Talent, and

halftime games are a way to get different groups of students involved with some element of

CWU football. All age levels of students have several new opportunities to get involved other

than simply watching the game from the stands. Our goals are to create a positive, respectful and

fun atmosphere for all of the CWU community.

By partnering with the Iron Horse Brewery as a sponsor for the beer garden we can use

their name as promotion of the beer garden and bring in more students over the age of 21 who

are outside of the stadium tailgating during the game. Also this can help bring in more of our

secondary audience, the Ellensburg community.


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Budget:

$3500/2012 Season

Observer Newspaper Half Page Quarter Page

Price $500 $250

Occurrence Run Once Run three times

Total $1,250

The Pulse Online Magazine 3x3 Advertisements

Price $150

Occurrence Run once

Total: $150

T-Shirts CWU Football T-Shirt

Price $8/shirt


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Amount 250 shirts

Total $2000

Total Estimated Cost For Season

$3,400

In-kind donations:

T-shirts from sponsors with sponsored business insignia

Concessions stand discount coupons to hand out for people who win in contests

Souvenir cups to be used for Beer of the Game promotion with Iron Horse Brewery

Calendar:

Spring Quarter 2012 (April-June)

April 1: Secure by this date who is going to maintain all social media accounts, if noone is presently in charge appoint someone from our campaign to take over. If

someone is already the account manager, make sure we establish a partnership with

this person and ensure they are jump-starting the accounts by tweeting daily and

posting statuses on facebook.

April 1: Make sure there are available check-ins for CWU football on foursquare.

May 1: Begin strengthening social media accounts, gain new friends of Wellington on

facebook as well as followers of twitter accounts such as @cwu_football and

@WellingtonCWU to gain awareness of the upcoming season in the fall of 2012. It

may take awhile to gain the amount of followers and friends wed like so starting this

early in the quarter prior to the season can help bolster our numbers.


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May 1: Launch idea of Cat Pack spirit club for next year, keeping people informed

and updated about what the club is, what they do and how to get involved. Also

launch a twitter account to give updates about the club, @CatPackSpirit

June 1: Evaluate social media accounts popularity and continue to add new followers

to get the message out.

June 1: Have strategic plan set in place of when and where we plan to advertise new

events as well as prepare all materials to be ready to be distributed in early fall 2012.

Summer Quarter 2012 (June-August):

Promote throughout the summer for the upcoming season by adding a countdown to

social media accounts, use hash tags on twitter to be used to trend and easily follow.

Continue to prepare advertising materials, finalize what will be used and how it can

be used most effectively.

Have advertisements up in Residents Halls encouraging incoming students at

orientation to participate in new activities such as the March to Tomlinson Stadium,

half time games, etc.

Fall Quarter 2012 (September-December)

Week of September 17, 2012: Prepare for launch of ad campaign throughout

campus, such as campus ads, SURC table tents

First week of class: Student Intranet posting, Cat Pack signups begin

Week prior to first home game: get everyone involved knowing that new events are

being held, making when and where info very available easy to spread by word of

mouth.

Sunday before first home game: Begin airing Meet the Team videos online on

YouTube, one per week of each home game.


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First home game day: Pregame pep rally to show off and inform about all the new

events and promotions being held before and during each home game.

Week following first home game: Start Wellingtons facebook photo contest

Throughout season:

o Countdown tweets for each game; social media campaign continues to gain

momentum.

o Select winners of photo contest each week following a home game, post to

Wellingtons facebook.

o Informally monitor attendance, crowd participation and spirit at games

Evaluation Strategies:

Objective 1: Increase upperclassmen (junior, senior) full attendance throughout the entire

game by 10%.

Post campaign survey of upperclassmen, giving them questions about their attendance last year

versus the current season

Open ended questions to see attitudes on new events, also how attitudes about old events have

possibly changed due to new promotion strategies

Team with Wildcat Tickets to see if ticket sales increase in this particular class grouping

Put together post campaign focus group to discuss in detail the same topics we discussed in the

pre evaluation focus group.

Do you follow any football or CWU twitter accounts? What about Wellingtons facebook

Have you heard of Cat Pack? If so how?

If yes, did you participate in the Cat Pack?

What do you think of the new events?


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Have a post season meeting with the athletic department to see how they viewed the season in

terms of success and attendance rates

Measure twitter followers and Wellingtons facebook friends as a way to evaluate social mediaawareness and attention success

Number of views and likes of Meet the Team videos on YouTube to be linked to other social

media accounts (facebook, twitter) that will be put up weekly

Number of participants in the Wellington facebook photo contest

Number of participants in Cat Pack, peoples awareness of this football spirit club

Objective 2: Increase Underclassmen Attendance by 5% from last seasons attendance

Post campaign survey of underclassman

Focusing on their views of the newer pregame events put in place to help increase attendance in

their age range

Do you follow any football or CWU twitter accounts? What about Wellingtons facebook

Have you heard about Cat Pack? If yes, how so?

Team with Wildcat Tickets to see if ticket sales increased in this particular class grouping

Put together post campaign focus group to discuss in detail the same topics we discussed in the

pre evaluation focus group.

Have a post season meeting with the athletic department to see how they viewed the season in

terms of success and attendance rates

Use twitter followers and Wellingtons facebook friends as a way to evaluate social media

awareness and attention success

Number of views and likes of Meet the Team videos on YouTube to be linked to other social

media accounts that will be put up weekly

Number of participants in the Wellington facebook photo contest

Number of participants in Cat Pack, peoples awareness of this football spirit club


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Objective 3: Increase fan participation during games

Meet with Athletic Department to discuss how they view the success of new ways to increase fan

participation

Surveys to students about increased participation

Surveys to football game staff to see their views on fan participation

Count Cat Pack attendance during games

Count fan participation and involvement in sponsored events, games, and contests

Number of fans taking part in pregame rallies such as the Spirit Walk to Tomlinson Stadium

Appendix A: Included in the collateral packet:

Example Brochure:

These brochures are going to be passed out throughout the SURC and put on the tables to

highlight the new events associated with football games.

Meet the Team story board idea for a video:

There will be a contest where students are asked to submit questions they want to ask the

football team.

Once the questions are selected we would interview the team individually and ask them

the questions.

This would be a promotional video placed on Wellingtons facebook, twitter accounts

and other social media outlets.

The purpose is to make the students get involved with the team so that they know who is

playing during the games.

Press release:

General Press Release about the Cat Pack and the new March to Tomlinson Stadium

that will occur before every home game next season.

o The point of this would is to involve students living in the dorms, showing them

an easy way to get involved and show school spirit.

Social Media accounts:


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o The social media accounts for CWU football are lagging and need updates. We

took screen shots of the current twitter and Facebook accounted, they are

followed by ways to update them to become a success promotional tool.

Flyer schedule:

o A flyer that shows the current seasons schedule to be added to orientation

packets and to be put up on poster boards on campus.

Documents

CWU Football Marketing Plan