Triangle Goes Mad for Basketball
MyEyeDr. sees the passion and rivalry with social media campaign
Challenge
You don’t need new glasses to see the passion and rivalry surrounding college basketball in North Carolina. Headquartered in Raleigh, the heart of college basketball nation, Eye Care Associates’ base of customers and potential customers are passionate hoops fans. Largemouth Communications leveraged the enthusiasm of college tourney season to increase brand awareness for Eye Care Associates through a March Mania social media contest. The program was designed to build on an existing fan base and position the brand as the obvious choice for loyal, Triangle basketball fans from Duke, UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State by demonstrating involvement, interest and engagement with the three sports teams. As a leader in sports vision, Eye Care Associates also aimed to increase awareness about its high performance sports vision exams and the link between heightened visual systems and athletic success.
Ideas
Largemouth Communications created a comprehensive social media contest through an online contest platform, Wishpond, to interact with Tobacco Road fans throughout Eye Care Associates’ footprint in North Carolina. The March Mania contest invited Duke University, North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill fans to cheer for their favorite team by voting on the designated team-colored pair of shades. In addition to encouraging voting, Largemouth developed strategic content to engage fans by sharing interesting facts and season updates about the three teams, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA tournament. Largemouth proactively promoted the March Mania contest throughout the contest’s duration by engaging with fans through numerous avenues such as posting to applicable forum websites, including Pack Pride and Keeping it Heel. Largemouth also targeted specific individuals on Twitter, including basketball enthusiasts and local reporters, to share the news of the contest. Lastly, Facebook fan pages were leveraged to spread the word about March Mania with passionate fans of Duke, N.C. State and UNC.
Impact
The Eye Care Associates social media contest was a slam dunk, reaching target consumers throughout North Carolina. Largemouth drove brand preference for Eye Care Associates for college students, a target audience, while also strengthening relationships with current customers. By basing the contest around sunglasses available in-store and regularly engaging with fans, Largemouth positioned Eye Care Associates as a fashion destination for Triangle basketball fan base as well as the destination for sports vision. Eye Care Associates’ brand became synonymous with sports and local North Carolina communities long after the last buzzer!