Gopher Football in Prime Time
For the 2015 season, Gopher Football would have a Jerry Kill-era record 4 games on primetime TV against great opponents. Instead of creating the generic stadium shot/time stamp/TV logo graphics, I asked if I could have a few extra minutes with the design team to help us stand out. And these were born, making the Gophers stand out among stadium after stadium graphic.
Greetings From Orlando
The first January 1 Bowl Game since the 1960s. We knew we had to blow it out. While we had the event information, game day coverage, and team activities covered, what could we do to integrate the fans? This promotion was crafted out of the old school postcard look- then we opened it up to the public. Fans could send in their photos via Twitter and we would input those user generated images into the "N" and send it right back to them on Twitter. They got a personalized postcard with our branding, we had an interaction piece that went above the normal bowl game souvenirs.
Q&A Sessions with student-athletes
One of the hardest times to keep people engaged with sport social media is in the off-season. Sure there are events to still be covered, but how do you keep people interacting with the players? Give them a direct line to them. We hosted bi-weekly live chats with select returners, and the were always entertaining. By spreading them across Facebook & Twitter, we were able to keep the conversations going so there were no lulls in the questions and the student-athletes got to pick and choose what they answered. A perfect off-season promotional piece to keep people's eyes on Gopher Football.