Bowling Green Unveils Its New Basketball Facility With a Rap Video

Bowling Green State University recently launched its new basketball facility, the Stroh Center, in a truly viral fashion. The Athletics Department turned to a sophomore student named Mikey "Rosco" Blair, a senior gospel singer named Rachel Willingham, and a company called Madhouse Productions to produce an official music video to unveil the University's new state-of-the-start facility in a truly unconventional fashion.

The result? The Athletics Department's loose, creative mentality created a sensational viral video that has attracted the attention of ESPN, USA Today, NBCSports.com, and more. While the video just surpassed the 25,000 mark, it's well on its way to becoming a hot topic of discussion within all of sports.

In the video, Rosco pays homage to several of the school's major donors and philanthropists, all-time legends, and new basketball facilities. The high quality video features several viewpoints of the Stroh Center and lyrics that are simple, yet catchy.

Check out the terrific venue launch video below:

Use Humor To Engage Fans During the Offseason

Humor plays a large role in sporting events across the world, on and off the playing field. From the antics of players and coaches to humorous performances by fans on the jumbotron, humor is everywhere on gameday.

As sports properties look to produce new content to engage fans during the offseason, they should consider creating a viral piece that highlights humorous moments on and off the court throughout the season (or over the course of a tournament/event day). From television broadcasts to video board footage, this could actually be a relatively easy task for many teams to compile and produce.

Enclosed below a recent clip from an unofficial source that highlights all the hilarious moments from the 2011 Wimbledon tournament. The clip generated 80,000+ views in less than 2 weeks on YouTube, signaling the fact that fans enjoy consuming this type of content.

Check it out below:

Vodafone Unveils a New F1 Chassis with The Help from Fans

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes recently held a ceremony at Berlin's Potsdamer Platz to unveil its new MP4-226 F1 chassis. But instead of hosting a typical ceremonial event, Vodafone incorporated fans into the festivities and captured the entire event on camera.

Vodafone called on dozens of competition winners, fans, and customers to deliver various parts of the chassis to a prominent stage area where the F1 vehicle was gradually built one component at a time. Fans rolled in tires and carried various F1 car parts to the surprise of hundreds of onlookers taking in all of the action. As various elements were delivered, Vodafone drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button assembled the final parts to reveal the team's new F1 chassis.

Vodafone captured all of the action and created a 2:31 viral to share the event with the rest of the world. In a matter of weeks, the unique video garnered 199,000+ votes.

Check it out below:

Source: MotorSport.com

The Mavericks Showcase A Day in the Life of Their Players

The Dallas Mavericks recently unveiled a tremendous "Day in the Life" series on their official YouTube channel that provides fans with a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the lives of players on gameday. The first feature profiles the life of Mavericks center Tyson Chandler as he preps for gameday. Chandler is very welcoming individual who does a great job on camera showcasing all aspects of his life and personality.

If granted the access, Day in the Life features can serve as the exact type of behind-the-scenes content that fans are looking for. From a team business standpoint, these features also foster seamless opportunities to promote game nights, corporate partners, and the character and personalities of players on and off the court.

Check out the tremendous five-part series below:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Vitaminwater Salutes Ray Allen's Historic Moment in Style

Vitaminwater recently celebrated Ray Allen's historic moment setting the NBA's record for most three-point shots in a career by creating a fantastic tribute video that featured remarks from a collection of famous Bostonians, athletes, Celtics teammates, celebrities, musicians, and fans.

Vitaminwater really did a great job making the piece all about Ray (a Vitaminwater endorser), with subtle signage and product placement featured throughout. As brands continue to look for ways to be authentic and endemic in the sports space, one can expect that we will soon begin to see more congratulatory viral posts being produced, as they are inexpensive, heartfelt, and effectively cater to a variety of fan bases.

Check out Vitaminwater's memorable salute to Ray Allen below:

The video featured appearances by Dropkick Murphys, Patriots receiver Wes Welker, UCONN men's basketball coach Jim Calhoun, Ray Allen's wife and mother, actor Donnie Wahlberg, Boston mayor Thomas M. Menino, Celtics center Kendrick Perkins, several Boston media personalities, and more.

On a side note, Brand Jordan also congratulated Ray Allen on setting the NBA's all-time 3-point record with 2,561 baskets by releasing a commemorative viral that recently eclipsed 50,000+ hits on YouTube. Check it out below:

Nike 6.0 Lets Snowboarders Live/Play at Marco's Mansion

Brands looking for new ways to capture the action/extreme sports crowd should take a close look at a recent viral from Nike entitled, "Marco's Mansion". To capture the attention of snowboard enthusiasts who wish they could live on top of the mountain, Nike 6.0 created a man-made igloo (called Marco's Mansion) that a team of notable snowboarders could throw down on all day and sleep in at night.

The concept of the piece is extremely creative and is a great way to drive some incremental interest in the sport and several notable personalities (Marco Smolla and his gang).

Check it out below:

Identify With Your Fans' Attitudes, Behaviors, and Values

Sports organizations looking to create new, compelling content during the offseason should consider creating pieces that speak directly to their fanbase. As members of a fan base, individual fans regularly conform to the attitudes, behaviors, and values of their fellow peers. That is why Eagles, Raiders, and Cowboys fans love being who they are. As a result, it's important for teams and brands to understand the attitudes and behaviors of their avid fanbase and speak directly to them with compelling story telling.

Nike recently produced a terrific piece about the fans of the historic Brazilian soccer club Corinthians, entitled "30 Million Strong", that serves as a benchmark for brands and organizations looking to demonstrate how well they truly understand and value their fanbase. In the piece, Nike showcases how Corinthians is more than just a soccer club, it's "the people's team", a republic and lifestyle for fans.

Nike is using the viral piece to drive membership of its Corinthians Facebook Fan Page - a great idea!

Check it out below:

Give Fans an Experience They will Never Forget

Are you looking for new ways to connect with consumers via grassroots campaigns? Are you looking to re-energize a brand?

Too often we see sponsorship programs created with the consumer in mind that lack one integral component... the experience. The following clip for Converse Sport, which is actually a parody filmed for the 4As 2010 Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies, does a tremendous job demonstrating how companies can re-energize their brands by creating/re-creating a memorable experience for consumers:

U.S. Soccer Tests the Skills of an NFL Kicker

Are you looking for new ways to promote the athleticsm of your organization's athletes? Are you looking to cross-promote with another sports organization in your local marketplace?

In July 2009, Philadelphia Eagles kicker David Akers made an appearance at the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team's practice as they prepared for a CONCACAF Gold Cup quarterfinals match at Lincoln Financial Field. Akers' appearance made for some quality footage for U.S. Soccer to feature in the viral space.

Members of the U.S. Soccer team battled it out with Akers in a variety of kicking contests, using both footballs and soccer balls. The video below demonstrates how skillful soccer players and NFL kickers actually are, and serves as a great benchmark for:

• Soccer organizations looking to align with other sports organizations in the local marketplace to promote their sport
• College athletic departments looking to showcase a collection of their student-athletes
• Professional organizations looking to showcase the skills of specialty players (kickers, punters, etc.)
• Brands looking to promote multiple athlete endorsers

Check it out below:

Using Media to Drive Online Traffic

Are you looking for new ways to drive traffic to your brand/organization's website? Are you looking for new ways to leverage media to drive online results?

Brands and organizations looking to leverage broadcasts and viral pieces to drive online traffic should consider softly embedding URL's into these media productions. Too often, brands fail with incorporating their messaging into viral efforts due to:

• Delaying the viewer experience (some brands make consumers watch a :15-:30 ad prior to the video (causing negative emotions before the viral piece even begins)
• Interrupting the viewer experience (brands often times display intrusive logos, slogans scrolling across the bottom of the screen, etc.
• Taking away from the validity of viral pieces by forcing product placement/messaging into the feature

Brands looking for a way to softly embed their URL in broadcasts/viral pieces should consider benchmarking the enclosed Yomiuri Giants Japanese baseball clip, which effectively demonstrates how teams can leverage viral clips to drive URL awareness (and online traffic as a result). As you will see, the piece features a URL (of Lee seung yeup Love's website - leelove.co.kr) faded into the upper part of the screen. 

Softly embedding a URL into a viral piece may actually peak the interest of consumers as they try to figure out whether it is a resource for additional information/videos and/or how it is aligned with the clip. The more unique (yet relevant) the URL, the more opportunity to capture additional viewer interest. Check out the clip below: