The FAMU Basketball program has been nearly winless for the 2014-2015 season, and the impact on game attendance was obvious. With an average of 550 fans in attendance per home game, FAMU Athletics and the university needed to rally fans to fill the stadium for the upcoming rivalry game against Bethune Cookman University. With only one week to meet this goal, we had to move fast and aggressively.
“Load Up Lawson†was the call to action (Lawson is the name of the stadium where the Rattlers play). Meeting this very aggressive goal in such a short time meant that we would have to be more Tallahassee-focused and go beyond typical Rattler fans. This also meant that we had to give people a reason to attend the game despite the dismal season.
So we executed a media strategy that would shape the narrative and call to action to compel the community towards action. We pitched media and secured live TV interviews during the morning and afternoon news for both the Interim Athletics Director and Coach. Grassroots efforts also included street team promotions to increase local presence and on-campus fan engagement. The result?
4,923 fans answered our call to
“Load Up Lawsonâ€
In fact, the campaign was so compelling that even local CBS affiliate, WCTV News, responded to the call to action with their own #RallyTheRattlers social media engagement.
 
