Big East College Basketball Marketing: #13 Notre Dame

As you know, I'm pretty pumped to continue diving deep into the programs of the Big East Conference. The history (and the today) of this conference is amazing. Every squad has a chance to define what they stand for, and to sell the Big East in the process.

We're going to look at how programs are communicating to young athletes from a digital point of view. We dive into this because websites and digital marketing create an opportunity for coaches and programs to share what they stand for. The internet is always there, and always on. And, as they do on the court, the best programs take advantage of opportunities.

Thus far our journey has shown us #16 DePaul, #15 Seton Hall, and #14 U Conn.

Let's keep moving.

#: Notre Dame

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: I like how they pull multiple blogs into the site for updates.

Weaknesses: The best stuff is hidden.

Full Scouting Report:

I honestly can't believe this is the first time I've ever checked out the Notre Dame home page (here). But here I am, like you, with fresh eyes scanning the page and coming to rest on the Multimedia Section. That sounds like a good starting off point...

Clicking on Multimedia opens the door to ways to connect with the Irish. I'm game. So I clicked into All-Access.



Which is what opens the window below. The comment I've heard the most from people is a simple one, but really powerful. "How come every website looks the same?" The image below is part of the reason. CBS provides All-Access video content for a large portion of D-1 programs. And they package them into similar looking pieces. The opportunity for programs like Notre Dame is to not rely on All-Access to be the only way to gain access into the program. Let's see how they stack up.



The Irish Podcasts are available (shown below). They give you access to the coaches shows (all sports) and don't allow you to raise your hand to sign up as a basketball fan. It's all or nothing here.

Moving on to Inside Athletics gives us access to the Notre Dame Athetics Blog. Solid...


Clicking in takes us here (shown below). I'm going to look at this and make an assumption that the blog will evolve to cover Hoops when it becomes the center of the world in South Bend. Assuming that is the case, and by examining the detail below you'll see there's a large amount of sharing program insight... and an opportunity to take that and build a defined statement around each team. This is a fantastic starting point.


But I don't want to wait until Football Season is over for Hoops Content. So I moved on, clicking into the basketball home page, here. (I didn't like that Football Gear banner at the top!)

If you scroll just below that main image, you will see a Spotlight Section, which elevates Athletics Blogs (plural) and Features. So the Daily Dish blog we just reviewed is here, but you also get access to the Fighting Irish All-Access Video Blog!

Video Blog? What? I clicked in and saw a large Play button. Had I reached some sort of digital paradise? Well, as you'll see when you scroll down to the Video blog (or click here), you'll see that it isn't actually a video blog, but rather a blog by the Notre Dame Video Team. Sigh.

This Video Team also has a Twitter site, here, with around 500 followers. They are pretty good in sharing updates across all sports. Fingers crossed that means good stuff on hoops soon.



Notre Dame Athletics Twitter, seen here, is pretty good. What I like is they have a nice flow - retweeting and sharing updates that other ND coaches or administrators have posted, and updating you when new stuff hits. They've got around 3300 followers.




And, most excitingly, Coach Brey is on Twitter! (Click here). He isn't very active (nothing in the last month or so), which is a shame, as he's really good. Check this post from the summer:

"Which is tough, as he is good. Always sit down with our Srs to go over preseason workouts..really value their input..and their work habits"

I'd love to see that personality (and Twitter link) included on Coach Brey's Bio page (shown below)... If you make it this deep, you want all the access to the Coach you can get. And his Twitter page helps you fill that urge!

OK, moving to the player pages. Here's a sample from All-America Candidate Luke Harangody's page. I show this not to show how much uninterrupted text is out there (a lot), but rather to show you that you can also see (at the very bottom) the ability to click from here to see Video Highlights of Luke. Cool. And that's just the level of connection I was hoping to see between Coach Brey's bio and his Twitter page.

And, finally, here's Notre Dame's Media Guide, or actually their Basketball Information Guide. It's here and is a click away from being printed out or emailed.

So Notre Dame has some interesting opportunities. They can go deep on text. They have shown the ability to offer insight and analysis. And they have a Coach who will mix it up on Twitter. Now we just need to see the pieces fit together.

Tune in tomorrow as we keep rolling through the Big East.

Andy