Atlantic Coast Conference Best Practices: Duke & the Power of URLs

This blog is all about inspiration.

We're going to spend 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Atlantic Coast Conference. And then we'll talk about how to make that even better...

You can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Cool?

Let's move.

Hit the bottom of the Duke Blue Planet website (linked here) and you'll see something we have never covered on this site: the mousetype. Duke leveraged this to showcase the power of the relationships that are a deep part of their program.

Let me say this one again... Duke took something often forgotten and transformed it into a brand statement! Take a look at this image.

Now, let's zoom in further on that mousetype at the bottom.

5 pillars: GoDuke.com, CoachK.com, Duke University, Nike.com, USABasketball.com. Together, they make a powerful combination. I love the pure simplicity that singles out these 5 with Duke University in the middle. I love that this is boldly sitting at the bottom of the page. And I love the subtleness of putting all 5 in Duke Blue. They are all a part of Duke, and it's pretty evident.

Think about this. What are the 5 pillars your program could elevate? This is not one of those best practices that is only for those with the big marketing budgets. It's one we can all learn from.

Well played Duke.

How could this be better? Click into any of the 5 and you realize that this is simply a redirect to each of their home pages. For 3 of the 5, that makes sense. But we have a much bigger opportunity for Nike and USA Basketball. Give us more. Let us see how Duke is impacted by Nike and USA Basketball. That's the opportunity. Nail it and you create something truly overpowering.

Tune in tomorrow as we share more inspiration from the ACC!

And, don't forget,

you can stay plugged into this journey via this blog, via the Digital Hoops Blast Facebook page (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

Andy