Big East College Basketball Marketing: #4 Villanova

Let's keep moving through the Big East Conference, looking at how programs market themselves to young athletes (or fans) online. This is our chance to see how coaches and programs in a power conference stack up against each other -- and how they share what they stand for.

Thus far our journey has shown us #16 DePaul, #15 Seton Hall, #14 U Conn, #13 Notre Dame, #12 Louisville, #11 Pitt, #10 Cincinnati, #9 Rutgers, #8 Georgetown, #7 St John's, #6 Syracuse, and #5 West Virginia.

It's time for our Big East Final 4...

#4 Villanova

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Nova Nation has all the pieces in place to be magical, including an approach I haven't seen before in Life After Basketball.

Weaknesses: The Nova site in general needs more predictability and consistency.

Full Scouting Report:

Checking out the Villanova home page, shown below or here, you get a heavy branding feel. I love that V logo! And, of course, I also love these little icons on the right hand side. I'll zoom in for you.



Villanova is giving you direct access into Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook at a click of your mouse.

The Twitter icon takes you here, to the Nova Athletics Twitter page. It's hard to grade this site, as it had promise before going on a posting break in September. There are 140 followers, and the page is branded well -- just needs consistency in voice and updates.




Meanwhile, the Nova YouTube channel, shown here and below, has 11 videos across multiple sports. (Thus needing more depth and separation by sport). But, as you'll see here, the Nova branding rings strong.



From what I can tell, Nova puts their Social Media attention to Facebook. (link here) They share pictures and video of events, including the recent Hoops Mania, and have roughly 2300 active fans.



OK, back to the home page and the Multimedia menu, shown here. It's interesting that they don't give you Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube access here (why not?) They do give you access to Nova Nation All-Access...



Which, as you can see here, is a subscription service. For $9.95/month you can get live men's basketball on the radio and watch the Jay Wright show online. None of this seems to be free -- though I wish they would at least give us the older stuff for free (if nothing else, for a sample of what you could get by signing up!)

Back again to the home page, Nova offers a space for Recruits hyped on the home page (nice). Clicking in takes you to the page below, a text-based overview of the school and program (not as nice but still ok)...



Moving on to the basketball home page, you'll see some the branding and All-Access video content pumped into this area.


Most importantly though, draw your attention to the far right - to the words "Nova Nation". Then click in (you can click here). And behold.

Nova Nation.



It's a name that's among the most powerful statements as I've seen (up there with Syracuse's Orange Empire). As you can see at the bottom of the page, Coach Jay Wright has the makings of a blog, shown below and clickable here. It's not been updated frequently, but the setup is fantastic.



The bottom of the site also gives access to the Latest Video blogs. (Nice!) Clicking on it takes you here, to a CBS Sports popup window. Not the best experience, but (as you can see below) the content is great.

Clicking on Players takes you here. There isn't much depth behind this page, but this page is great!




Next, I moused over "Tradition." And it starts to get real good. I can't believe it -- the first thing I see under tradition is "Life After Basketball." I'll click in, but first let me pause to let that sink in.


This is a statement not few programs would dare make. Most will brag about their NBA alums, which makes sense. But few have the guts to hype life after hoops. And this is a critical piece - how basketball prepares you for what's next, and how there is more to life than basketball. Powerful.

And, at the bottom, they ask you to click in. And you see a list of alums by major. How cool is this?

But, of course, Tradition also includes Tourney Appearances, like last year's Final Four. See the image below, complete with what Postseason means to Coach Wright. And this is a theme that plays out through Nova Nation -- you get a sense of emotion or human touches throughout each part of this site.



And, Nova tells the story of their 1985 Championship Squad - done in a way that elevates that team and makes you feel like magic could happen again in Philadelphia.



Villanova Elevates Pros, like we've seen in other programs, but leverages imagery from their time on campus.



And they share a powerful image of their facility, here. Who wouldn't want to play in a place like this? (I think there is a lot of unrealized potential in programs elevating their gyms and experience during a home game!)



This is played out a little further over the next few images I'll share. Nova Nation takes you into the student experience of a home game here.



Finally, they show Hoops Mania - the start of basketball season - complete with a Red Carpet treatment for celebs. The players are the stars... Nice!

Can you feel what it's like to be in the Nova Program?

We're down to the 3 best squads: Who would've guessed it would be Marquette, Providence, and South Florida? (Definitely not me!)

Until tomorrow,

Andy