Georgetown Lets Fans Experience What It’s Like to be a Millennial

Georgetown Athletics uses millennial themed promotion to increase fan engagement

By: Jada Brown


Editor’s Note

Dear Faithful Readers,
These days it seems like everyone is talking about millennials and how to engage this next big group of consumers. Along with talking about millennials,  always come the millennial stereotypes, like how millennials always want a participation trophy just for showing up or that we only communicate through our phones.

This week we wanted to bring you a story about a creative promotion that used these millennial stereotypes to engage fans of all ages. Georgetown Athletics used their “Millennial Day” promotion to poke fun at the millennial generation while increasing ticket sales and generating outstanding social media buzz.
Enjoy the read!

Cheers,

Ashlee Tsukushi
Marketing & Communications Manager
ashlee@sports-forum.com

P.S. – Don’t forget to stay engaged with us on social media! Follow @NatlSportsForum on Twitter and Instagram and like us on Facebook!


PROGRAM TITLE

Georgetown Millennial Day


OBJECTIVES

Georgetown University was looking to increase fan engagement with their men’s soccer team with a goal of getting people to attend the much-anticipated match against UCLA. With the university being located in the heart of the Nation’s capital and a competitive sports and entertainment market, they needed a creative idea that would get their men’s soccer team at the forefront of people’s minds.  Known for their clever past promotional ideas, such as hosting “Dad Bod Day” where all fathers got in free, they knew one of the main ways to spark attention for this game was to come up with a fun idea that fans would want to participate in. They came up with the idea of hosting “Millennial Day” where they would honor millennials by poking fun at the stereotypes people have of the generation.


PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The University’s original promotion idea was having a  “throwback to youth soccer” themed game where fans could relive their childhood and receive orange slices, and juice boxes after the game. When brainstorming more ideas, someone suggested giving all attendees participation trophies and thus Millennial Day was born. Going off the widely held belief that millennials do the bare minimum yet still want to be rewarded for their work, the Georgetown Marketing Team came up with a list of other stereotypes, trends, and interests amongst millennials to build into a marketing plan that would entice fans to come out to the game.

Leading up to the game, Georgetown’s marketing campaign was done in true millennial fashion. They posted on all their social media sites using captions consisting of millennial lingo, lots of hashtags, and a heavy use of emoticons. Playing off of millennials’ love for music festivals, Georgetown had their graphic designer make an ad of what Millennial Day would entail that mirrored the look of a music festival lineup. They also advertised that free admission would be given to anyone who has had three different jobs in the past three years.

On the day of the game, the celebration of the millennials started right upon entrance into the stadium. Fans were greeted with a compliment to boost self-esteem. There were also various stations set up around the stadium, such as a “dabbing” area where fans could partake in the popular dance in a “judgement-free space”, a no-talking area where only fans could only communicate via cell phone, and of course, a zone where the Georgetown mascot, Jack the Bulldog, was available to take plenty of selfies with all the fans.

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PARTNERSHIPS

The successful event was put on solely by Georgetown University.

RESULTS

Georgetown’s goal for Millennial Day was to boost fan attendance and increase awareness of the men’s soccer program and the success of the Millennial Day did just that. Not only did walk up ticket sales trend higher than normal, but the number of advanced tickets sold were double that of a usual match. Overall, there was a significant increase of fans at the game amongst both students and non-student fans. The awareness of Georgetown Men’s Soccer was increased not only in the local area but also on a national level. The campaign was talked about all over social media, with even ESPN tweeting about it on their official account. The story was picked up in states such as North Carolina and Nevada and was covered by their local news stations. With the promotion being covered on multiple media outlets from SportsCenter to national newspapers like USA Today, Millennial Day helped Georgetown garner the attention they were looking to receive.

LOOKING AHEAD

As of right now, the school has no plans to repeat Millennial Day, despite the positive reaction they received. However, they are focused on coming up with new unique ideas that will receive the same attention and participation from fans in hopes of selling more tickets for their sport programs.


CONTACT

For more information, contact:

Chris Grosse, Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing, Georgetown University
cdg44@georgetown.edu


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