Colorado State University Athletics
Colorado State Selects The Leffler Agency As Ticket Advertising Agency
5/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
Fort Collins - Colorado State University's athletic department announced today the selection of the Leffler Agency, Inc. of Baltimore and Tampa as its advertising agency of record. Leffler is the country's leading sports/entertainment advertising firm with 19 accounts in the US and Canada. The agency specializes in growing the attendance bases of college and pro football teams and currently represents The US Naval Academy, The University of Connecticut, The University of Akron, Fresno State, and Towson University. Leffler is also doing the print creative for the University of Virginia's "Orange Fever" campaign this fall. The recent "New Dog in the Show" campaign for Connecticut has grown the season ticket base from 6,000 to 28,000 in 2 years.
"Leffler has the most proven track record in the country," stated CSU Athletic Directoir Mark Driscoll, "and they have built big crowds wherever they have worked from the Tampa Bay Bucs and Baltimore Ravens to last season's 91% attendance growth with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats." The campaign is designed for a 3-year progression, although the contract is divided into 3 single renewable years.
"We believe that CSU Rams football and college sports overall have a strong appeal that can be brought to the greater Fort Collins and Northern Colorado area," said Bob Leffler, the agency's president. "Our whole approach is to speak to the leisure product customers in the greater market area. Our campaign appeals go beyond alumni and traditional bases to grow new fan following in a systematic way...no matter the results on the field. In short, we sell the superlative experience of Division I NCAA football to people who may be choosing between a CSU event and the movies."
Leffler's Chief Operating Officer Chris Raynor will direct a creative effort that will portray the entertainment value proposition to the potential fan base that has not been touched to this point. "The market knows that the games take place," she remarked, "they just need to be prompted to go and need to be presented with the idea that the CSU Rams are the most unique show in the area, week in and week out."
AD Mark Driscoll and External Affairs Associate AD Gary Ozzello have created a ticket merchandising program for every potential customer, from groups to families to business entertainment customers. Corporations and organizations can expect a contact from the agency-supervised sales center to present the group and mini-plan opportunities. It will be easy to get seating value from the Rams at the newly refurbished Sonny Lubick Field which debuts on September 24th.
The ad campaign will be Leffler's proprietary media mix of TV, print, outdoor, and spot/traffic report radio. It will be accompanied by the agency's special "TicketBlast" email blasts to email lists that have been collected by the CSU Athletic Department. Fans who want to be included in the email blasts need only submit their email addresses to CSU's Athletic Marketing Office.
For more information on the CSU ad campaign and the hiring of The Leffler Agency, contact Gary Ozzello, 970-491-5067.
