Cricket Wireless Teams Up with Greg Oden to Reward O-Fōn Owners...

Is your brand looking for new messaging channels to drive awareness for a product endorsed by a professional athlete? Is your brand looking for new ways to reach fans in-venue and in other public areas?

In October 2008, Cricket Wireless signed a PSA agreement with Greg Oden to produce the O-Fōn (pronounced O-Phone), a limited edition mobile product targeting sports fans in the Oregon and Southwest Washington marketplace. As a way to drive awareness for the new O-Fōn hitting the market, Cricket Wireless wrapped several elevators in the local Portland marketplace (malls, etc.) with Oden's picture and the product.

But that's not it. Cricket Wireless created a captivating program to support sales of the O-Fōn device (a product that began selling on the shelves for $279.99 on November 7th):

• Cricket Wireless is donating $80 from every Greg Oden O-O-Fōn sold to Oregon Mentors, a local non-profit organization that Oden strongly supports
• Cricket Wireless is providing each consumer who purchases an O-Fōn with a variety of exclusive materials, including:
  • A limited-edition Greg Oden O-Fōn handset etched with Oden’s autograph and jersey
  • A Greg Oden Topps rookie card designed exclusively for Cricket
  • Text messages from Greg throughout the season, sent exclusively to O-Fōn owners
  • An exclusive discount on Trail Blazers merchandise
  • Coupons for discounted Cricket accessories, including accessories for the O-Fōn
• Cricket Wireless also threw a VIP launch party at a local retail outlet for any consumer who purchased an O-Fōn or received an exclusive invitation.The wireless company featured Oden at the party to personally thank and mingle with O-Fōn owners and fans and partnered with Buffalo Wild Wings to cater the event
• Cricket Wireless recently held an Oden O-Fōn karaoke contest offering fans the chance to win an O-Fōn and three (3) free months of wireless. All fans had to do was download the MP3 of the O-Fōn anthem, videotape their karaoke version of the song, and upload it through OregonLive.com's community videos portal.

A special thanks to Chris Lindauer of Sports Career Consulting for his contributions to this column.