To generate awareness for upcoming changes to its academic eligibility standards for student-athletes, the NCAA launched a clever and informative campaign that spread the word among high school student-athletes and drove them to the NCAA's initial eligibility microsite, 2point3.org.
The campaign featured The Bench, a fictional wisecracking, trash-talking character whose goal was to keep students from getting benched in college. Using humor to soften his message, The Bench took to Twitter to encourage students to work harder, both on and off the field.
Thanks to a uniquely entertaining point of view on sports and academics, a relentlessly applied social media presence, integration across other media and strategic live appearances, @TalkingBench succeeded in getting its message out, while growing its follower base from zero to 25,000 in only three months, and increasing the number of visits to 2point3.org by a whopping 680%.
High school athletes who want to play sports in college face a difficult road. Not only do they have to perform well on the field, but also in the classroom. The NCAA requires prospective college athletes to maintain specific academic standards in high school in order to compete in college. Unfortunately, many students, particularly those from underprivileged urban communities, are not aware of the standards.
Compounding the problem, the NCAA recently announced new, tougher requirements for incoming freshmen. For thousands of college-bound student athletes, these changes could mean the difference between playing and having to sit on the bench during their freshman year.
The NCAA needed to get the word out to keep students from getting benched in college. But knowing that high school students were indifferent to traditional marketing, they realized they needed an unexpected messenger to talk to student athletes where they spent the most time. And who better to deliver the message than the bench itself?
The NCAA launched The Bench on Twitter, where he tweeted about sports and academics in a wisecracking, witty and bold tone that teens didn't expect from an institution like the NCAA. Like a wise but sarcastic old coach, The Bench nudged students to work harder, both on and off the field, while poking fun at the sports clichés they were used to hearing from their own coaches. Eye-catching images of The Bench, accompanied by speech bubbles with funny observations on sports, school and life, made his tweets even more shareable.
The strategy worked—in just 3 months, @TalkingBench racked up an impressive 25,000 followers. And it wasn't just The Bench talking to students; the students talked back to The Bench, about everything from the College World Series to the A minus they got on their history test. These conversations helped @TalkingBench achieve an engagement rate 233% higher than the industry average.
In order to connect on a more personal level, @TalkingBench sought out and replied to student-athletes who had tweeted about their studies and athletics, with quick-witted quips that both entertained and informed them about the new eligibility requirements.
With the goal of reaching an even bigger audience, The Bench got up close and personal with student athletes—literally. Aided by hidden cameras and speakers, as well as a remotely located crew and voice actor, The Bench shocked unsuspecting high school athletes attending a clinic, and captured their hilarious and unscripted reactions to his unsolicited, brash observations. The resulting video was shared by @TalkingBench, and resulted in over 680,000 views.
Feeding off the success of the viral videos, The Bench took his trash-talking to the biggest event in college sports—the NCAA Final Four. The Bench surprised students attending the event, and the crew recorded their antics in a series of short videos that were immediately uploaded to Twitter via Vine during the televised broadcast. The real-time videos provided an unexpected element of comic relief for fans attending the event, as well as those following it online.
Thanks to these activities and @TalkingBench's continued conversation with students, the campaign generated over 40,000,000 total impressions during its short tenure, despite having paid for only 800,000.
Additionally, the campaign resulted in a 680% increase in the number of visits to 2point3.org, where students were able to learn more about the NCAA's updated eligibility standards.
