Tennessee Marketing Campaign Promotes Eric Berry For Heisman

UT's Heisman Campaign For Eric Berry Includes Electronic Billboards, Web Site, Videos

The Univ. of Tennessee (UT) has "unleashed an impressive Heisman campaign" for S Eric Berry that will "blanket the nation to give him as much publicity as possible," according to Bryan Mullen of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. UT's efforts include "several electronic billboards (including one in South Florida), a word-of-the-day calendar being sent to Heisman voters, the Web site berry4heisman.com, viral videos and a massive inflatable jersey that will be outside the Neyland Stadium on game days." The inflatable 20-by-15-foot jersey is an "exact replica of Berry's No. 14." UT Dir of PR Tiffany Carpenter: "We focused a lot on viral marketing because it's inexpensive and it's immediate. The billboards were actually part of our ad-buy and add-on donations." Carpenter said that the entire cost of the campaign is a "little more than $10,000," with the billboards and jersey "accounting for the majority of the project." Mullen reported there will be "approximately 10 total billboards, including the one in South Florida, one in Atlanta, and several throughout Tennessee, including the Nashville area." Florida QB Tim Tebow, Oklahoma QB Sam Bradford and Texas QB Colt McCoy this year are "considered by most experts to be the top three Heisman Trophy candidates," and officials at Florida, Oklahoma and Texas said that they are "not marketing their quarterbacks in a Heisman campaign" (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 7/29). FanHouse.com's Kevin Blackistone: "It's a nice effort on the part of the Univ. of Tennessee. But I think a guy named Tim Tebow in the SEC has come back to play again" ("Around The Horn," ESPN, 7/29). In Florida, David Jones wrote, "It's certainly just a way for Tennessee to help its recruiting by drawing attention to the program" (FLORIDATODAY.com, 7/29).

Clemson Gives Away 4,000 Spiller Posters

POSTER BOY: In South Carolina, Greg Wallace noted Clemson's "giveaway of 4,000 posters" promoting RB C.J. Spiller for the Heisman "caused a frenzy across the Upstate, with fans lining up hundreds deep at the stated locations" to pick up a poster. By 11:30am ET last Saturday, "90 minutes after the planned release, every one was gone." Clemson SID Tim Bourret said that the posters, "which were paid for by sponsors, could have another printing run if another sponsor steps up" (ANDERSON INDEPENDENT MAIL, 7/26). In Raleigh, Ken Tysiac noted by "doing a print-based campaign on the 25th anniversary of Clemson’s promotion of William Perry, Bourret set his player apart from the dot.com crowd" (NEWSOBSERVER.com, 7/27).

ROCK, CHALK, JAYHAWK: In Kansas, Andy Hyland reported Univ. of Kansas merchandise sales topped $47.3M in '08 after the men's basketball team won the NCAA Championship. When KU won the title in '88, sales "amounted to about" $1.5M, "meaning people spent more than 30 times as much on licensed stuff" in '08 than 20 years previous. KU "only gets to see a small portion" of the $47.3M. Sales in '08 "translate to about" $1.2M for KU's athletic department and around $752,000 for the school. KU Associate AD for External Relations Jim Marchiony said that the school "gets a percentage of the wholesale cost for every item sold." KU Dir of Univ. Communications Lynn Bretz said that of the payout, the school "gave $441,000 to scholarships, $289,000 to its unions for student programming and $22,000 to the KU Medical Center to support its bookstores" (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, 7/27).