...is an event.
The NFL season gets underway tonight, not with a bang, but with several bangs. That's because the NFL, more than any other professional sports league understands that American sports fans want to be part of something big and memorable. With literally thousands of sporting events happening every year, merely rolling out the balls and blowing the whistle isn't enough.
So tonight - not Sunday - the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers start the defense of the title against the Tennessee Titans in a match up of two of the better teams in the NFL. But that's not all! The NFL Opening Kickoff 2009 Presented By EA Sports will also feature a concert from Tim McGraw and (AND!) The Black Eyed Peas.
This is just one of many opportunities the NFL has leveraged to make Events - with a capital E - out of activities:
- The Scouting Combines in March
- The NFL draft in April
- The Hall of Fame Induction / Pre-season game
- Thanksgiving
- Monday Night Football
- Sunday Night Football
- The Playoffs
- The Super Bowl
- Even the Pro Bowl is getting a new life
Get used to it Titans fans
That list doesn't even include the Sundays around the country where fans make a day-long Event out of a regular season game with tailgaiting at the stadium, fantasy football and binge eating/drinking.
So, the question you have to ask yourself as a marketer is: How am I surrounding my product with additional elements to turn it into an Event? There are a whole host of things you can do:
- When - once a year, once a week, 5:30pm
- Where - only in-store, secret location, on Twitter
- Who - invite only, first 100 people
- Why - Anniversary, start of the year, because it's Friday!
When you start to build multiple elements (once a year, in-store only, first 100 people, to celebrate our anniversary) you don't just have a sale, you have an Event.
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