Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Marketing: What We Can Learn from #5 Rhode Island

There's something (or things) that every program does a fantastic job of that we can learn from. In anything you do, if you can find the good in what someone does and do more of that and then avoid what you find to be less effective, you'll end up in a better place.

Thus far our journey through the Atlantic 10 has shown us #14 St Joseph's, #13 La Salle, #12 Saint Louis, #11 Fordham, #10 U Mass, #9 Temple, #8 Duquesne, #7 St Bonaventure, and #6 Richmond.

Let's keep moving.

#5 Rhode Island

What the program is known for? I was taken with the Rhode Island school motto: "Think big. We do." That's fitting for the 8th seeded URI upset of Kansas back in the 1998 NCAA Tourney en route to an Elite 8 appearance (and a bucket away from the Final 4!). Rhode Island has made it to the tourney 8 times.

Why are they 5th? There's some good pieces here, and they are given to you in the right places - much like a nice point guard who distributes the ball to his big at the right point on the court... but there's a gap in real time updates and insight that keep the Dukes from crashing the upper half of the A-10 marketing.

What inspired me about Rhode Island? (link here)



1. Nice Bold Social Media Icons and Copy

The image above hits you front and center on the home page. It's super clear they want it to be easy to connect with URI, and when you click in (shown below), it stays simple and easy. What do you want me to do? Read our blogs, become a fan, follow us, and subscribe to our videos. That's simple, and action oriented. And this style just works. Nicely done!



2. Swiss Beats Covers the Running Rams through a deep blog


I liked this a lot. If you click on the image above (or here), you'll be taken to the Swiss Beats, an in-season blog pulled together by Go Rhody.com's Matt Swiss.



I'm including a sample of the posts below, to show the level of access and insight this blog gets into.

"I think it was just pressuring the ball," sophomore forward Orion Outerbridge added. "Coach always tells us that no other team has been pressured the way that we pressure. We try to stay with our man, try to make them make the bad passes, try to get some deflections and that just leads to turnovers and fast break points for us."

The blog is authentic and has access - seeing posts after every game. How could it get even better?

1. They still lack the story beyond the game, which is where I think we could get crazy. What are they doing on the road? What do they eat in pre-game? What are the keys to the game?
   
2. Can we get this done via videos and photos? It can be as simple as a flip cam and a cell phone camera. It's not about quality as much as it is about access. And it's clear they have access!

This could become an experience people sign up for, expect, and congregate at on game days!

3. Be friends with Rhody the Ram

This is another simple one. I really like seeing schools have both an Athletics Facebook page and a Mascot Facebook page. You can see the result for yourself by clicking in here. The 915 fans get a chance to see the mascot engage with the athletics programs (and other Facebook pages) at Rhode Island.

So how could this get better?

Mascots aren't allowed to talk, in general. Whether you're at Disney World or at the NCAA Tourney, mascots go around and create havoc but they do it quietly. Which got me thinking... what if that creative energy and havoc could get translated into Facebook?

Would we see a macot razzing fans or student athletes? (Or refs?) Maybe. But we'd definitely see a large universe of pictures of the mascot with fans. Rhode Island hasn't yet maxed out this opportunity. But if they really think through the persona of the mascot, they could create some energy that is maybe a little controversial but definitely fun to be around and follow!

That's it for the week. Come back next week as we move through the top 4 marketing efforts in the A10: Charlotte, Dayton, GW, and Xavier. Who's it going to be?