When College World Series champion Coastal Carolina "officially joins the Sun Belt Conference on Friday, the move will coincide with the start of a multi-year marketing deal with Under Armour," according to Matt Rybaltowski of FORBES. CCU AD Matt Hogue said that UA "stepped to the plate with an aggressive offer that was 'light years ahead' of any marketing deal the program had received in the past." Hogue: "They came to us with a deal that was significant and really hard to turn down." Even before CCU arrived in Myrtle Beach "for a raucous homecoming on Thursday night, scores of Under Armour T-shirts and other championship memorabilia appeared on CCUGear.com, the program’s official online store." Hogue said that over the last week, "the total number of hits and unique visitors on the athletic program’s official site has spiked by 300-400%." Meanwhile, a popular social media campaign, #IfCoastalWins, "trended on Twitter in the hours before Thursday’s decisive matchup" (FORBES.com, 6/30).
OUT OF THE PARK: In South Carolina, Lisa Gresci noted CCU's CWS run has "led to tremendous growth" for the university on social media. CCU Social Media & Online Marketing Coordinator Brent Reser said, "Besides being in Omaha, I think I have the best seat that anyone could possibly have." CCU received "shout-outs" from the NFL Panthers, ESPN and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Twitter impressions through June "were already up almost 83%" to 1.3 million, and mentions have "gone up" 371%. As for Facebook, CCU's page "has 4,000 new likes, and reach is up" 73% (LIVE5NEWS.com, 6/30).
