The uncertainty of the 2020 college football season has left those in the licensed merchandise business asking how they can effectively engage with customers.
Nicole Armentrout’s marketing team at the Collegiate Licensing Company has been trying to determine just that in what has been an unpredictable and ever-changing buildup to the season.
This year’s plans include allowing fans to take ‘in stadium’ selfies. CLC
CLC’s 16th annual College Colors Day will hit on Sept. 4 — themed “United We Fan” — with an array of new social media creative intended to drive excitement and purchasing intent even though a fan’s favorite team might be sitting out this season.
The agency also is going deeper into the realm of augmented reality than ever before, using Instagram filters that enable fans to create images and videos of themselves inside the stadium, even if they’re not. One video filter shows the fans’ point of view as they enter a stadium and look around.
“We have to come up with ideas that can work whether the games have fans or no fans, or whether there are games or no games,” said Armentrout, who is in her seventh year at CLC. “As we know, the content is centered around games being played, so the challenge is figuring out how we can fill that void.”
CLC is working with its clients on a variety of initiatives, including a more robust activation kit that will supply schools with videos, graphics and other content for social media that will drive users to the retail sites to purchase merchandise. CLC’s collegecolorsday.com also will be running promotions and giveaways.
“If we just disappeared and said ‘We’ll see you next year,’ that’s not the right thing to do,” Armentrout said. “So, we’ve looked for ways we can bring some of that in-game experience, like AR, to the fans who won’t be in the stadium this season.”
