Case Study: Igniting Home Town Seawolves Pride and Athletic Game Attendance
Overview
Stony Brook University’s Marketing and Communications (MARCOM) team partnered with SBU Athletics to launch an integrated sports marketing campaign aimed at driving ticket sales and athletic game attendance. By deploying a targeted paid social strategy paired with localized community outreach, the initiative sought to transform the surrounding region into an active, loyal fan base for Seawolves athletics.
Challenges & Opportunity
- Perception vs. Reality: While SBU Athletics has achieved significant success – including seven conference championships since 2022 – the challenge lay in converting athletic excellence into consistent "butts in seats" and community investment.
- Diverse Portfolio: The campaign needed to be adaptable enough to support three distinct sports – football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball – for an eight-month cycle.
- Competing for Attention: In the crowded New York/Long Island sports market, SBU had to position its games not just as athletic contests, but as affordable, high-value family entertainment. We emphasized the convenience of world-class athletics close to home rather than traveling into the city.
- High-Turnover Landscape: The evolving era of college athletics, including NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and the transfer portal, has created a high-turnover environment that limits the ability to build long-term marketing campaigns around student-athletes.
Strategy & Tactics
The multi-channel marketing campaign utilized localized creative asset deployment, digital targeting and organic community positioning to build game-day momentum from late summer through winter.
- Omnichannel Paid Media: SBU deployed digital flights using Facebook Pixels and Showare integration for real-time conversion tracking, supplemented by a high-visibility mix of News12, radio, MacArthur Airport and live SNY broadcast placements.
- Influencer Outreach: Targeted 91 influencers, including 50 alumni, received custom "Fan Starter Kit" boxes to drive organic peer-to-peer social content.
- Internal Channels: Mobilized students and staff as brand ambassadors using campus digital displays, physical signage and employee/student newsletters.
- Executive Alignment: Provided strategic talking points to the President’s team, integrating Athletics into her speeches and social media to reinforce institutional priority.
- Strategic Owned Media Integration: Leveraged institutional news channels to amplify Athletics, utilizing Stony Brook University Magazine features and 3+ monthly multi-platform social posts per sport to drive organic engagement and awareness.
- Dedicated Sales Talent: Athletics expanded full-time staff by adding to the sales team to manage the group ticket pipeline and strengthen direct relationships with Nassau and Suffolk organizations.
Measures of Success
MARCOM and Athletics successfully drove tangible ticket revenue, established deep digital performance baselines via a custom Meta Ads dashboard and boosted organic community connection.
Digital Ad Performance:
- Total Impressions: 309,363 ad views across channels
- Total Clicks: 2,644 link clicks driven directly to ticketing pages
- Average Click-Through Rate (CTR): 0.85% average performance
- Total Meta Conversions: 243 ticket sale conversions
Channel Specific Performance:
- Facebook Football Ads: 159,175 impressions, 1,379 clicks, 0.87% CTR, 170 conversions
- Instagram Football Ads: 150,188 impressions, 1,265 clicks, 0.84% CTR, 73 conversions
Qualitative Impact:
- Organic Brand Adoption: Visible increases in community-wide use of university symbols and spirit apparel.
- Brand Affinity & Fan Loyalty: Measurable growth in repeat game attendance and long-term local fan engagement.
