PR IN ACTION An analysis of the American University Athletics Department in regards to student attendance STACEY LEVINE
EVENT ANALYSIS AU WOMEN S BASKETBALL GAME: JAN. 25, 2012 VS. BUCKNELL Audience Analysis: Bender Arena is approximately 1/8 full Mostly Bucknell fans, some families, small Blue Crew group People seem to be at the game because they have some obligation to a player The crowd in the stands is spread out and relatively unengaged Bucknell fans sit on one side and they outnumber AU fans, which immediately creates a sense of dreariness AU fans stick to their friends, and the only ones who are engaged are the Blue Crew. There are about 10-12 members of the Blue Crew, all of whom are freshmen from the same floor who are supporting a player. Atmosphere Analysis: There is no excitement in the air; no feeling of happiness The court itself is made up of three groups: the players, the coaches and resting players, and the cheerleaders/dance team The players are very engaged and energetic The coaches and resting players are very supportive and engaged (shouting and cheering the way a crowd normally would) The cheerleaders/dance team seems very uninvolved, like they are going through the motions of what they should be doing but would rather be somewhere else The music is enjoyable (mostly Top 40) and added a much better feeling to the atmosphere than the music at men s games (marching band) Each game needs to be treated with the same excitement, build-up, and PR efforts as the big games - because the big games are exciting and the seats are filled Overall: the game is exciting, but nothing else is Breaks & Halftime Analysis: Not one person sings the AU Fight Song, including cheerleaders, dance team, coaches, players Tons of people leave after the first period and at halftime, including Blue Crew During time-outs and breaks, kids participate in on-court games, and announcers monotonously talk about history Halftime music has grainy quality and is too loud for the small amount of people Cheerleaders don t perform, just dance team: enjoyable performance 2 basketball shooting contests - Blue Crew member wins a free t-shirt Very lame, little energy
EVENT ANALYSIS AU ATHLETICS: SOCIAL MEDIA There was not much visible media covering the game, except for the sports photographer for The Eagle Eagles on Twitter & Facebook @AUHOOPS Twitter handle is inconsistent: Live-tweeted 2 games, but besides that, tweets are very spaced out Only conversations are with @HoopTime who covers Patriot League basketball @AU_MBasketball Twitter handle is much more active; updates often and posts relevant articles and other valuable content @AmericanU Twitter handle is also active and engaged; retweets students when appropriate @AUeagles Twitter handle is active as well and posts relevant content, including articles and information about teams and upcoming games/matches/events The American University Athletics Facebook page has over 1,000 likes (very low) and is updating very often, though students are rarely engaging with them. Eagles in the Digital Sphere During a time-out at the game, the announcer made a short, uninteresting plug for the AUeagles Mobile application for the iphone and ipad He didn t mention the actual name of the app so it was difficult to find; once found, it was clear the app was poorly named because it isn t easily recognizable when you hear AU Eagles mobile app spoken out loud The app is priced at $1.99, which most students simply won t pay for; if the app was free, more students would likely download and access it The app itself is absolutely fantastic It gives access to links including Teams, Videos, Play, Buy American, and Blue Crew, as well as categories such as Home, Info, Media, Social, and Shop The app s design is clean, easy to use, good quality, and provides tons of information, including game schedules, about every AU Eagles sport Creating a 30-second promo video for the app that they could show during breaks at the game, rather than the announcer making a spoken audio advertisement, would likely do wonders for the use of the app - if the audience could see how great the app was, and it was free, they would be much more inclined to download it Overall: The AU Athletics department understands social media very well, but their issue is getting people to engage with them
OUTREACH ANALYSIS OVERVIEW The AU Athletics Department uses several different methods to reach out to the AU student population, but many of those efforts are in vain. These methods include advertising on the ad-screens in the residence halls, posting on their website, Twitter accounts, and Facebook page, sending out emails to those signed up for the Blue Crew, posting on Today@AU, and putting up flyers in academic buildings, residence halls, and MGC. For what the department considers to be important games, they post a banner in TDR. Usually these advertisements, in whatever form they come, provide information regarding the date and time of the game, but rarely give students a reason to go. The AU Athletics Department is familiar with their problem - students aren t motivated to attend games - so simply telling them when the games are isn t sufficient. Students clearly need a reason to go, so while outreach is important, outreach needs to express to students not only when the games are, but why they should be there.* *The exception is the Blue Crew emails, which discuss promotions, but the assumption should be that people signed up for Blue Crew need fewer incentives than students who aren t signed up.
OUTREACH ANALYSIS EVALUATION: AU ATHLETICS IN THE RESIDENCE HALLS The AU Athletics Department has overlooked a missed opportunity when it comes to working with the Residence Hall Association (RHA) to promote their games, specifically Men s Basketball. Outreach in the residence halls includes: Advertisements on the screens in the residence hall lobbies before a big game Occasionally posting flyers on bulletin boards on the floors These are both tools of one-way communication These tools are ineffective for several reasons: Students don t often stop at the front desk, unless claiming a package or replacing a room key, so there s only a small chance they ll notice the ad at the time it flashes up on the screen The bulletin boards are covered with tons of flyers, all competing for attention, and again, often go unnoticed If you don t already care about AU sports, seeing a flyer advertising a game isn t going to inspire you to attend AU Athletics needs to reach AU students early on - as early as Welcome Week of freshmen year. They do a good job of making Bender Blue Out (women s volleyball) a huge event with tons of incentives (and therefore tons of freshmen) but support for the games fizzles out after that. Freshmen are eager to get involved: they attend tons of club meetings trying to find their niche, they go to Student Activities Fairs, and most importantly, they build a community with their floor, especially those participating in Learning Learning Communities like University College programs. AU Athletics should partner with RHA to incentivize freshmen to attend games RAs give pride bucks throughout the semester when they see students studying or building a floor community, which are traded in at the end of the semester for prizes. Giving pride bucks for attending AU Athletics games would incentivize freshmen to go. RAs also often plan floor events, some of which could be to attend basketball games as a floor. This would allow freshmen to make friends and socialize, and not to have to go to games alone to win pride bucks. By partnering with RHA, even the students who didn t initially attend games would have a greater awareness about athletics at AU
OUTREACH ANALYSIS SURVEY: AU STUDENTS REFLECT ON MEN S BASKETBALL @ AU WHAT SUGGESTIONS DO YOU HAVE TO IMPROVE ATTENDANCE AT MENʼS BASKETBALL GAMES? I think that student and athletic media needs to work hard to cover the men's basketball team better. In my experience, I only see recaps of games after they happen, where is the player profiles or pre-game information making the players more recognizable and games more exciting? The more you know! Hype. Consistent hype. Do not associate them with wonk status, wonk is hurting school spirit. I think their Greek incentives this year is a good initiative to get stronger attendance. Besides that they're doing all the right things (free food and stuff) to lure in students. I'm surprised the attendance at games isn't better. Make the players get more involved in the school. no one knows who they are. Improve publicity particularly with graduate students that don't live on campus and may not engage in the same activities or frequent the same locations as undergraduates. Stop bombarding my inbox- I will listen more when an email is sent less frequently.
OUTREACH ANALYSIS SURVEY: AU STUDENTS REFLECT ON MEN S BASKETBALL @ AU Only 12.9% of respondents have attended more than 3 menʼs basketball games in the past year. 0% of freshmen and grad student respondents feel the university/athletics dept. do a good job of telling them about menʼs basketball games. More than half of respondents attend games to socialize with friends. 0% of freshmen respondents have heard about menʼs basketball games through RHA. THESE RESULTS SHOW THE FOLLOWING: Athletic media needs to be proactive in grabbing studentsʼ attention Working with Greek Life is a step in the right direction Freshmen and graduate students are markets that need to be tapped into in a much stronger way Email can be a good way to let students know about games; however, students donʼt want to feel like the athletics dept. is bothering them The players are a big part of the game, and the school needs to see that School spirit and hype are important factors Partnering with RHA could be a good way to target freshmen The games need to foster a social environment
CASE ANALYSIS BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY Bucknell s tactics are effective in creating excitement and buzz around athletics, particularly basketball and football The following are tactics Bucknell uses for athletics outreach: Bison Club (similar to Blue Crew) is very active Running fan bus trips to 7 men s basketball away games, in addition to one football game this year Host football pregame tailgates, even at away games Bucknell Gametracker Mobile application has live scoring, stats, play-byplays, up-to-the-minute headlines, complete rosters, etc. and is free to download Junior Bison Club gives young Bucknell fans (locals, family members) membership into a club that offers a free t-shirt, special parties and events including autograph sessions with Bison athletic teams, a newsletter, seasonal mailings of schedules and posters, an athletics season pass, and membership card By getting the community so involved, Bucknell students feel more may inclined to go to games with excited and full crowds There are aspects of these tactics which would not work at AU - for example, support for athletics is not very strong, so students would be unlikely to take a bus to away games Some tactics that could help AU include: Allowing AUeagles Mobile app to be free to download Using the community to get to the students, similar to the Junior Bison Club: AU Athletics could partner with student organizations that reach out to the community - The Center for Community Engagement and Service, DC Reads, Best Buddies - and encourage AU students to attend games through the things they are passionate about