Wisconsin Athletics Marketing

32 33 University of Wisconsin Athletics 2013-14 Marketing Team of the Year Submission IN WHICH THREE PILLARS DO YOU FEEL YOUR CAMPAIGN WAS MOST SUCCESSFUL? We believe our entry par cularly excels in the areas of Fan Experience, Innova on and Social Media. Improving our fan experience has been arguably our top priority in 2013-14. Our staff iden fied a 20-point plan which served as our roadmap for the year. This plan helped garner the strong support of our administra on and led to substan al resources commi ed to this end. While there was not a "magic bullet" in our plan, collec vely by diligently following the plan and staying on course, the marke ng staff was able effec vely u lize these resources to substan ally make an impact of the gameday environment. With regard to innova on, we believe the implementa on of a formal Fan Advisory Council and internal MarComm teams are possibly one of, if not the, first efforts of their kind in college athle cs. The former has provided us with invaluable informa on and built goodwill among our fans. The la er has greatly improved communica on and sense of teamwork among two offices with primary external responsibili es. It has made our efforts more effec ve. Our social media channels showed great growth in followers and engagement. Our MarComm teams were instrumental in helping us be er organize our social media efforts and become more focused. Finally we feel we were able to implement some unique and crea ve contests and promo ons via our social media channels which were detailed in this report. PLEASE DESCRIBE HOW YOUR CAMPAIGN CAN BE SHARED AS A BEST PRACTICE FOR OTHER COLLEGE MARKETING PROGRAMS NATIONALLY. This report details our efforts across a number of areas. We feel we made progress in improving our gameday experience. We saw growth in our social media engagement. We implemented more ways for our fans and cket holders to provide us feedback. We made inroads in making a more posi ve impact in the community. While those are specific areas of work, we would summarize our efforts by simply sugges ng we strengthened the bond between our supporters and Wisconsin Athle cs. We believe our efforts help make stronger emo onal connec ons with our supporters and will make them more apt to take posi ve ac on when presented the opportunity. That could take the form of buying a cket, making a dona on, sending a child to a sport camp, applying to a end our ins tu on, buying a Badger t-shirt or simply watching a game on television. When we are asked what we do, we o en answer we strengthen the bond. It is a guiding principle for our office and our efforts. WHY DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM DESERVES THIS NOMINATION? As we consider our past year, we believe we have substan ally contributed to strong results that meet or exceed our department's goals in every relevant category including cket sales, revenue & a endance, brand awareness & exposure, social media engagement & interac on and community outreach. As discussed throughout this report, improving the fan and gameday experience was a top priority. This is a challenging area to address as the results are extremely subjec ve and there really isn't a "finish line" to this work. We believe our approach to this challenge proved beneficial. Much like we have prepared marke ng and cket sales plans for years, we developed a true gameday experience plan. The development and presenta on of that plan led to the alloca on of department resources to implement elements of the plan. The early feedback we have received internally and externally indicates that we are on the right track and energizes us heading in to next season. We are fortunate at Wisconsin. We don't have the smallest staff. We don't have the smallest budget. At the same me, it is important to consider that the expecta ons placed upon the marke ng staff also reflect those facts. We are able to consistently meet or exceed our goals by relying on a strong founda on of teamwork and a can-do work ethic. We are humbly proud of our accomplishments of the past season and look forward to achieving more in the coming years. University of Wisconsin • Intercollegiate Athletics Kellner Hall • 1440 Monroe Street • Madison, Wisconsin 53711 March 18, 2014 NACMA Marketing Team of the Year Award Committee 24651 Detroit Road Westlake, OH 44145 Dear NACMA Marketing Team of the Year Award Committee, Please accept this letter of recommendation for the Wisconsin Athletic Marketing Department for the 2014 NACMA Marketing Team of the Year. I continue to challenge our entire department to provide superior customer service and memorable gameday experiences for our fans and supporters. As you will learn in the enclosed materials, several programs and initiatives developed and executed by our marketing offi ce have greatly contributed in our work toward those goals. With respect to attendance, much like in coaching, it can be more challenging to maintain success over the long haul than it is to achieve it for a single season. Our yearly attendance numbers continue to remain among the national leaders in not just one or two sports, but in several including football, volleyball, men's and women's hockey and men's and women's basketball. is is due in part to the eff orts the marketing offi ce makes to engage fans and get them excited about supporting Wisconsin Athletics. With these facts in mind I endorse the Wisconsin Athletic Marketing Department for the 2014 NACMA Marketing Team of the Year. ank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Barry Alvarez Director of Athletics APPENDIX

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