When fans attend the College World Series they want to be in the know, not just about game updates but also related updates about all the surrounding special events.

We established an opt in text alert service in 2006 for fans to get info via their phones and the program has continued to grow.  In 2010 the number of subscribers grew 6 fold, a clear indication of the ever increasing demand for mobile information.

Over the course of 2 1/2 weeks, subscribers received 72 alerts, special promotions and event updates. From rain delay announcements to ticket availabilities (online and at the box office) to autograph sessions with MLB payers and gate giveways to team advancements and special on field events, subscribers had the inside track on all the special events that surround the CWS.  They also received alerts about team practices so they could attend to watch their team on the practice fields and had the opportunity to participate in contests and polls.

With less than 2% opt out rate, the text alert program has been a hit with fans and allows them to keep up to date on all things CWS.

Most kids looking for summer employment reduce themselves to getting coffee, flipping burgers or shoveling poo, but Bozell offers another option. Bozell has been recognized for an outstanding summer internship program. The application is rigorous: seeking only the most talented students to fulfill roles in various agency departments. Our objective this year was to create a fun and easy-to-use online application site for the intern program. We wanted to draw many quality applicants and a bit of traffic recognition for Bozell.

With a very small budget, Bozell decided to use their interactive talents to build a photo-submission site called WhatACrappyJob.com. Everyday since its launch in late 2009, the site published at least one post featuring a crappy job. Staff helped to spread the link via their personal social media channels. The URL was also included in information packets which were mailed to roughly 200 university contacts. Additional efforts included a small, $400 ad buy which ran on regretsy.com for a total of five weeks prior to the application deadline.

The two most easily recognizable results obtained for this site were the data from the site traffic and the number of applications received. The previous intern outreach effort resulted in our intern site receiving roughly 1,300 unique visits (traffic recorded from Dec.1, 2008 through March 1, 2009) and around 50 intern applications. This year, our intern outreach effort from WhatACrappyJob.com resulted in 8,148 unique visits (traffic recorded from Dec.1, 2009 to March 1, 2010) and more than 100 intern applications. This 527% increase in site traffic and 100% increase in applicants signify a successful interactive effort. This effort also dramatically increased the amount of international interest in our program. Our internship coordinators talked to about 25 interested international students and educators.

Because of the way the NCAA College World Series is set up as a double elimination, the event is fairly fluid and many fans come into Omaha without tickets hoping to get them on site.  As teams are eliminated, tickets are turned in and then available for sale.  Further, out-of-town fans are not familiar with Omaha and don’t know where to turn for information.  To make the event as simple as possible for fans to attend, we executed a simple opt-in SMS program.

Through a short code or double opt-in web signup, attendees can receive text message updates and alerts delivered to their cell phones.  Updates include team practice schedules open to the public, game schedule changes (such as announcements of tie-breaker game times and rain delays) as well as ticket availability information and game results.  This program enables us to get information out immediately.  For example, when tie-breaker games are required, we are able to get information out about the schedule and how to purchase tickets within 5 minutes of the end of the prior game.

The 2008 attendance broke new records on many fronts — ticket sales, game plays and weather delays.  And fan response to the alerts was extremely positive and we received messages that requested that we continue the program next year and broaden its content.  Additionally, many fans took the time to write email thank you messages telling us that the quick notice helped them get the tickets they wanted.

The National YWCA was an aging organization that faced impending extinction if it didn’t begin to reach out to younger generations for membership, volunteers and financial support.

By working with a 22-member branding committee, Bozell positioned the YWCA USA as a vibrant organization committed to eliminating racism and empowering women.

We developed online and printed toolkits of marketing materials for use by more than 300 local associations, including print ads, radio spots, posters, collateral and more.

After producing two television spots and numerous online components, we also forged a partnership with Viacom’s MTV and BET networks that allowed us to reach a younger audience through their channels and their Web sites.

We took a $1 million media budget and maximized it into $4 million worth of airtime. The online portion of the buy over-delivered on impressions by 152%, and the creative beat industry click-through averages by 56%, with 287 million users generating 861 million page views. Combine all of those touch points and we garnered the client $43 million worth of exposure on a $1 million dollar budget. And within a week of the campaign launch, visits to their homepage increased more than 65%.

See more YWCA print ads.

Berkshire Hathaway is well known for having the most expensive stock price on the market. The company is also well known for its annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. This event has become a lot more than a stuffy shareholder’s meeting. It has become a destination event for thousands of shareholders and Warren Buffett fans throughout the world. This year roughly 40,000 people came to listen to the ‘World’s Richest Man’ and to attend the exciting and high profile events during the weekend celebration.

Borsheims is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, and is one of the nation’s largest independent jewelry stores. Borsheims hosts many events during the shareholder’s week and has grown to be one of the most popular destinations for visiting shareholders. Of course, the annual meeting weekend has become one of the most important sales times of the year for Borsheims.

To leverage the event to the fullest, we created and managed a special blog, Twitter account, YouTube channel and Flickr account devoted to providing a real-time experience of the Berkshire Shareholder Weekend. The focus was to inform and entertain as well as act as a surrogate experience for those shareholders who could not attend the event. The blog served as a two-way communication channel between the company and the shareholders and among shareholders themselves. Every year Bozell provides a full-time, on-site blogger for the event to write blog posts, and shoot and post photography and video.  In 2010, Bozell’s on-site blogger also contributed to the event’s Twitter account.

In 2010, BorsheimsBRK.com, the event blog, was promoted to prior attendees and media via email marketing and press materials. The blog garnered significant traffic, coverage and comments during the three-day event.

Relying on the incredible search traffic media buzz surrounding the event, the blog boasted some impressive statistics. It enjoyed more than 19,000 pageviews over the weekend, reaching thousands of shareholders in 55 countries.  During the three-year lifespan of the blog, Bozell’s social media staff has contributed 17 videos, more than 1,500 high resolution event photos and more than 440 pages that have been indexed by Google. The blog also proves to be a valuable communications channel and source of feedback to Borsheims enabling shareholder questions to be answered quickly and accurately. Not to mention it was a very effective outlet to promote and profile some of the special merchandise and discounts available to shareholders.

Mooney Airplane Company planned to unveil two new models of airplanes at the Oshkosh Air Show and wanted to get invitations into the hands of select people who would be prime candidates to test fly the new models at the show.

Through analysis and modeling, Bozell SmarTargeting culled an email database of hot prospects that met specific selection criteria from within the overall Mooney prospect database.

After identifying the prospects we created and sent an exclusive email notice containing a link that clicked through to a flash-based experiential microsite evite.  The microsite combined visual sizzle with the meat of the offer – which was the opportunity to set up a test flight at the show.

The open rate exceeded the industry average by a factor of 3 and a 66% click-through rate was significantly above national averages.

Mooney manufacturers high performance, single engine, piston aircrafts. In fact, they make the fastest single engine piston aricraft on the market. Mooney owners are passionate about their aircraft and the history of the company. These rabid fans love to talk about their aircraft and discuss anything Mooney.

We developed and launched a new application within their website to allow these “Mooniacs” to contribute their thoughts and photographs to improve their own Mooney experience. Hundreds of these enthusiasts have registered to become part of this select group.

Each photograph and blog post can be read by anyone who visits mooney.com. To leverage the enthusiasm further we also created a widget that Mooniacs could embed in their own web site, blog or social networking page.

Leveraging the passion of enthusiasts has created immense value for Mooney and their online presence. They are now able to capitalize on the power of user-generated content to help sell their product. This word of mouth form of marketing holds as much value to potential owners as would a brochure. Perhaps even more. This additional content has also dramatically increased the amount of content available for search engines to index (adding some 2,500+ pages), creating more than triple the number of possible entry points to mooney.com.

While NCAA.com and other media sites do a tremendous job of covering the game action, the role of the College World Series site (www.cwsomaha.com) is to provide deeper information about event logistics, tickets and activities before and during the Series to those who plan to attend.

Filled with ticket and event schedule information, an FAQ section, parking and shuttle data, photo galleries, trivia polls, e-cards as well as other things to do in Omaha during the Series, the site becomes a primary resource for visitors and fans. RSS feeds, social bookmarking and widgets enable fans to receive and sort information in a variety of different ways. Additionally, viewers are able to subscribe to mobile text message alerts to keep up-to-date while in town.

During the 2008 series, there were over 100,000 visits per day from 72 countries – ranking the site among the top 1% of all active web sites on the net in terms of traffic.  The site holds the number one ranked position on ALL major search engines on the key search term College World Series.

Slipstreem Aerodynamics produces the Showtime 100, an aerodynamic add-on for semi trailers that helps reduce drag and increase stability. As a result, truck owners save fuel and wear and tear on the engine, tires, and trailer. Drivers experience improved truck handling, and the device requires no driver interaction when backing into a dock – a big advantage over add-ons produced by other manufacturers.

We were involved in developing a new look and feel for Slipstreem Aerodynamics, including a new logo, website, brochure and other materials. Their website included an animated presentation to illustrate just what the Showtime 100 does. The updated logo complemented the clean, “green” design that we used to help reinforce the fuel savings and reduced wear and tear on truck and trailer parts.

Additionally, we developed a savings calculator which demonstrates immediate, customized product benefits by allowing truck owners to calculate their fuel savings using the Showtime 100.  The website even includes a demonstration video which shows the product in action.

Finally, a product brochure reflects the same design and information as the website for use in sales meetings, for mail delivery and general promotional purposes. Business cards  and letterhead complete the production.

While getting briefed by the developers of a new document management tool, we could tell that the Saas (Software as a service) product was robust, but not necessarily intuitive. This raised a red flag, because our target audience research indicated that people would subscribe only if they thought the tool was very simple to use.  It became clear that the most important thing to do was simplify the user interface to create a stronger initial user experience.

So that’s exactly what we did.

Before

After

The original interface was unapproachable. Its blue shades were cold. Its small fonts were daunting. By using a fresh color palette, larger fonts and numerous easy-to-understand icons, we eliminated the intimidation factor and created a friendly first impression for the intended user – small business owners.

We also improved user experience by helping our client leverage the most recent development techniques. The new DocLanding has the feel of a desktop-based application, while existing as an online service. Unlike some web services that require constant page reloads to present new information based on user interaction, DocLanding keeps the user’s default file structure in the screen at all times. Additional features such as file previews and prompt boxes user a clean overlay technique that brings attention to the functionality while not being obtrusive to the user.

Morris Jacobs, one of our founders, was one of four Omaha businessmen to convince the NCAA to bring its men’s baseball tournament to the city in 1950. We’ve been involved in building the event ever since. And loved every minute of it.

Our job? To get the word out. To make sure those who plan to attend have all the information they need. To continuously promote the event in order to reach new prospects. Through a combination of advertising, public relations and online communications we efficiently and effectively communicate before, during and after each June event.

We constantly seek and develop new low-cost ways to gain more exposure for the event – from coordinating press conferences, requests and media alerts for the hundreds of media attendees to developing, updating and managing the website viewed by millions to sending out mobile text alerts to traveling fans.

From a mere 17,000 attendees in 1950 to a sold out crowd of more than 330,000 in 2008, the NCAA Men’s College World Series has become an iconic event in the world of sports with an atmosphere and spirit like no other.  The Road to Omaha is a dream of college players across the nation and will be for many years to come.