In December 2013, Eastern Washington University Athletics became one of the first sports properties to leverage SnapChat for a campaign to engage 18 to 24-year old college football fans.
Applying the principle of communicating with its fanbase where they are (as opposed to expecting them to come to the property), the athletics department aimed to provide fans a unique ‘behind the curtain’ view of Eastern Football on game day to help them feel more personally connected to the program’.
With its team playing a home game in the FCS quarterfinals, the marketers turned to Snapchat’s new Stories feature (which allows followers to see a ‘running story’ where each picture on the timeline has a 24 hour expiration date) to give users a full day to follow the game-day story in real-time.
Exclusive pictures and videos from behind the scenes – from players in the locker room, to coaches on the sidelines and fans in the stands – told the inside story.
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Follow-up research showed an open rate of 70%, found the audience was 50% 18 to 24 year-olds (80% under 35s) and that 15% of followers were more interested in the campaign than the game itself.
While the campaign’s SnapChat follower base was only 200, the EWUA marketers argued that it was about the depth of interaction and engagement more than the number of eyeballs.
Links
EWUA Website
http://www.goeags.com/landing/index
SnapChat Website
