Every team in sports tries to be cute with its schedule release videos. In the NFL, it’s become a contest bordering on a holiday when the teams’ social media folks put out the wackiest schedule video they can.
Sports is fun. That’s what we’re all trying to get to. But a lot of times in schedule releases, social media goes beyond what it’s good at – quickly delivering information and capturing people who are scrolling by with their thumbs. “Just give me the information” is the best way to get inside your audience’s minds and think like your target. If your audience is thumb scrolling through its feed, you have to hit them quick. Most elaborate schedule release productions don’t do that. And tend to fall flat as a result.
That brings us to our Get8 Sports stomping grounds – Indianapolis. The IU Indianapolis men’s basketball team went viral ate at the famous St. Elmo’s Streakhouse and each player took a bite of the restaurant’s epically hot shrimp cocktail and announced the schedule. The below is great:
Here’s why this works so well, and a big swing for their team now made sense.
- The school and its athletics program rebranded to closer align with Indiana University, and the name Indianapolis is now more prominent. Bringing the “IU Indianapolis” name to life will be a multi-year endeavor for a school long known as IUPUI. What’s more Indianapolis than shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo’s? Race cars, that’s about it.
- The men’s basketball program there is rebooting under first-year head coach Paul Corsaro (and also an AD who is still ramping up the department after arriving in May 2023). The new coach is a local guy who has had success at lower levels. All local ties, and they need energy after winning just seven Division I games over the last three years.
- Plainly, the video is funny and relatable to whoever has had their eyes water by the heat brought by the shrimp cocktail. And as an aside, the players had a memorable experience and can say they’ve eaten the most famous dish in the town where they went to college.
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