#GRacket Season
I’m still still not ready for more of the sweaty athlete and suited commentator combination. After making it through my first NFL season living with B, I’m sports’ed out.
What I am ready for is to be a part of the bracket excitement, though. It’s with that readiness that I came up with the bones of the GRacket.
The GRacket is NCAA March Madness plus Grand Rapids to the power of the Grand Rapids Magazine social media following. The result is a Facebook campaign that keeps GR Mag fans celebrating the city while feeling engaged and valued.
We stayed within the brand’s cheerleading voice by focusing our championship on what the city is most known for. With a rich history (Amway, birthplace of Gerald R. Ford, furniture production) and more recent growth (ArtPrize, the beer boom and sustainability movement), we’ve slam-dunked our way onto the map.
Sorry, bad pun. I had to.
To keep the campaign manageable, we seeded 16 ‘teams’ we felt were not only a good representation of the city, but intrigued varying age groups and interests. We unveiled the GRacket with instructions via our Facebook page on Monday, allowing a cushion of three days before game time.
Fan participation, and clarity, in this campaign are important. Using Facebook polls, we’ve determined open and close date/times for each match up. I wanted to make sure the polls were understandable and engaging not only for fans participating, but also for followers who didn’t want to (or—gasp!—didn’t know to) play along. Looking at the day one results, I think so far it is.
Want to play along? Fill out your GRacket here and watch our Facebook page.
I’ll circle back with a blog update as the tournament heats up—and with a potential match up of ‘churches’ vs. ‘beer’, this championship may very well get spicy.
What I am ready for is to be a part of the bracket excitement, though. It’s with that readiness that I came up with the bones of the GRacket.
The GRacket is NCAA March Madness plus Grand Rapids to the power of the Grand Rapids Magazine social media following. The result is a Facebook campaign that keeps GR Mag fans celebrating the city while feeling engaged and valued.
We stayed within the brand’s cheerleading voice by focusing our championship on what the city is most known for. With a rich history (Amway, birthplace of Gerald R. Ford, furniture production) and more recent growth (ArtPrize, the beer boom and sustainability movement), we’ve slam-dunked our way onto the map.
Sorry, bad pun. I had to.
To keep the campaign manageable, we seeded 16 ‘teams’ we felt were not only a good representation of the city, but intrigued varying age groups and interests. We unveiled the GRacket with instructions via our Facebook page on Monday, allowing a cushion of three days before game time.
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| [Click to enlarge!] |
Fan participation, and clarity, in this campaign are important. Using Facebook polls, we’ve determined open and close date/times for each match up. I wanted to make sure the polls were understandable and engaging not only for fans participating, but also for followers who didn’t want to (or—gasp!—didn’t know to) play along. Looking at the day one results, I think so far it is.
Want to play along? Fill out your GRacket here and watch our Facebook page.
I’ll circle back with a blog update as the tournament heats up—and with a potential match up of ‘churches’ vs. ‘beer’, this championship may very well get spicy.