Forbes has been all over social media, exactly what the school's marketing department had in mindGETTY IMAGES
The Wake Forest marketing department "has been working overtime" to get new men's basketball coach Steve Forbes' face "front and center," according to John Dell of the WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL. The struggling men's basketball program "has been shown around town and on TV at just about every turn thanks to [a] heavy dose of marketing" since Forbes' hiring. Forbes has been "plastered all over social media, which is exactly what the marketing department at Wake Forest had in mind." One of the first social media hits was a video of AD John Currie that "gave fans an insight as to just how outgoing Forbes can be." Wake Forest Senior Associate AD/Development & Sales Barry Faircloth said that it has been the "most-watched video ever on the wakeforestsports twitter account and currently has nearly 750,000 views." He added that Forbes "recorded a 30-second phone call that went out to 33,000 people," including "anybody who had season tickets in the past or even bought single-game tickets in the last several years as well as Deacon Club members and former players." Dell noted it is no secret that attendance at Joel Coliseum "has hit rock bottom thanks to one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 10 seasons." Wake Forest this past season "averaged just 6,903 fans in the 14,665-seat arena," the "lowest average attendance since Joel Coliseum opened" in '89 (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 5/7).
