Big Wins With T-shirt Marketing

Apparel driven integrated marketing campaigns at sporting events

Screenshot of Google search results for “Bavaria Beer World Cup Stunt”

From the March Madness to the “friday night lights” of high school football games in Texas to the masses around the world flocking to soccer stadiums, millions of people attend sporting events around the world each year. Marketers understand that a well executed media stunt can be as effective, if not more, than a multimillion ad buy.

This presents an amazing opportunity for your organization, no matter it’s size. A great example of apparel driven intergrated marketing empowered with a strong social component was during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Though the official event sponsor was Budweiser, Bavaria beer scored a huge win by ambushing the event with a clever stunt. As part of a larger campaign created by Selmore, the brand purchased a block of seats in the stadium for a group of women all dressed in orange (part of the brand’s color palette.)

The group of women were told to sing and draw attention to themselves. The fans around them Tweeted, shared video and the story erupted into a news of the rabble rousing group of guerilla marketeers spread like wildfire.

The Telegraph article reported that the women were arrested, so make sure to check your local laws and pay attention to the rules posted at the event. In fact, event organizers like the 2012 Olympic Committee have become savvy to these guerrilla tactics especially globally televised events like the Olympics, Superbowl and World Cup.

However, at the local and regional level there are plenty of opportunities for your organization to create a social stir for positive brand awareness at local events. Sit down with your creative team and discuss how you can create an integrated campaign using social, video and branded apparel to support a startup launch, fundraising drive, upcoming sale or simply to build brand loyalty.

The Rules of Engagement:

  • Be respectful of others!
  • Follow all rules of the event
  • Be contextually appropriate to the event
  • Make sure to capture stable HD video footage
  • Liberally give away random acts of kindness
  • Always stay in a pack to reinforce a strong visual identity
  • Bring coupons, samples or giveaways
  • Use a promo code, landing page or hashtag to track success
  • DON’T SELL ANYTHING!!!
  • Make sure to print a hashtag on the back of the shirt
  • Encourage those around you to engage via social with your hashtag
  • Be creative, thorough in your approach and have fun!

So get going today! Start looking for opportunities in your area to create buzz and attention for your organization and if you want a few suggestions please say hello on Twitter @shawncmatthews.