FOX Sports Southwest partners with Baylor to promote Texas high school sports
FOX Sports Southwest's new campaign to promote the network's Texas high school sports programming this fall received an assist from creative students at Baylor University.
FOX Sports Southwest and Baylor teamed up last fall to engage students in a real-life marketing and sponsorship project through the unique FOX Sports University program developed by FOX to connect creativity with education.
The national program involves students from prestigious universities across the country, who receive real life marketing and advertising experience through a competition-style class.
The 2013 Fall assignment for Baylor University's Sports Sponsorship and Sales (S3) Program focused on promoting Texas high school sports on FOX Sports Southwest. The students, led by professor Kirk Wakefield, were tasked with developing a comprehensive marketing campaign for FOX Sports Southwest's high school sports programming with an emphasis on high school football.
Student teams worked throughout the semester to develop strategic plans incorporating sales, sponsorship, on-air, social media, grassroots and online tactics.
The teams competed for the opportunity to work with FOX Sports Southwest to bring their creative concepts to life.
The winning team of Laura Cade, Alexa Charpentier, Daniel Knight and Collin Simpson presented their campaign â The Future of Football Starts Here â to FOX Sports marketing executives at the conclusion of the fall semester.
FOX Sports Southwest will incorporate several elements of their plan into the network's high school sports marketing campaign this fall.
"They presented us some very creative ideas," said FOX Sports Southwest Marketing Director Mary Hyink. "All of the students in the class were very engaged in the process. I was really impressed with how they researched Texas high school football and came up with several fresh ideas. We look forward to bringing them to life this fall."
One of the first elements that will be executed is the use of student correspondents on FOX Sports Southwest's Football Friday programming in partnership with Dave Campbell's Texas Football. The Baylor winning team conceived the idea of high school students contributing game reports, highlights and social media updates throughout the season at games across the state.
FOX Sports Southwest also will use the Baylor students' campaign title â The Future of Football Starts Here â for a commercial promoting the network's high school programming. The students presented the concept of a high school player advancing down the field and morphing into a collegiate player at midfield and crossing the goal line as professional player to illustrate the heritage of football in Texas.
The Baylor students will be invited to a promotional shoot to watch FOX Sports Southwest's creative team bring their idea to life.
"FOX Sports University is a beneficial program for students and for FOX," said Hyink. "The students get to come up with ideas and be involved in the execution process. They're getting real world experience in the classroom before starting their careers. We get to tap the creative minds of the future."
Baylor is one of 20 universities participating in the FOX Sports University program.
More information on FOX Sports University can be found at FOXSportsUniversity.com.
