Converge Weekly

During Super Bowl XLIV, NFL Players will run a multichannel marketing campaign featuring mobile video to create awareness and interest in the National Football League Players Association and its players out of uniform.

The NFLPA tapped mobile video marketing company Mogreet Inc. for the campaign, which centers on delivering a variety of videos to fans’ mobile phones, showcasing NFL athletes as “normal guys with a great job.” The campaign will be cross-promoted via out-of-home posters, online banners and mobile advertising, all driving participation in a text-to-win campaign.

“The collaboration with NFL Players and Mogreet is designed to create awareness and showcase the real side of NFL players out of uniform,” said James Citron, CEO of Mogreet, Los Angeles.

During Super Bowl XLIV, NFL Players will run a multichannel marketing campaign featuring mobile video to create awareness and interest in the National Football League Players Association and its players out of uniform.

The NFLPA tapped mobile video marketing company Mogreet Inc. for the campaign, which centers on delivering a variety of videos to fans’ mobile phones, showcasing NFL athletes as “normal guys with a great job.” The campaign will be cross-promoted via out-of-home posters, online banners and mobile advertising, all driving participation in a text-to-win campaign.

“The collaboration with NFL Players and Mogreet is designed to create awareness and showcase the real side of NFL players out of uniform,” said James Citron, CEO of Mogreet, Los Angeles.

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“Fans want to connect with their favorite athletes on a more personal level and by opting-in to the NFL Players mobile database by texting NFLPA to 21534, they will receive unique videos of NFL Players off the field, alerts to unique events such as the Rookie Premier and special sweepstakes,” he said.

“By tying the mobile video marketing campaign into the NFL Players’ Super Bowl marketing efforts, NFL Players is helping to jumpstart its mobile efforts with the most exciting time of the year for football fans around the world.”

NFL Players is the licensing and marketing subsidiary of the NFL Players Association. Representing more than 1,800 active and many retired NFL players, the NFLPA markets them as personalities as well as professional athletes.

Through an exclusive sponsorship agreement between the organization and the NFL, players are integrated into NFL sponsor activation programs.

NFL Players activities include retail licensing, corporate sponsorships and promotions, special events, radio and television projects, publishing, mobile and the Internet.

Mogreet is a mobile video marketing platform that enables marketers to combine the expressiveness of video with the ubiquity of text messaging to create a way to communicate across all major carriers in the United States.

Founded in 2006, the company has raised $7 million in venture capital from Ascend Venture Group, Black Diamond Ventures, DFJ Frontier and Spyglass Ventures.

NFLPA goes mobile
During the NFLPA’s Super Bowl campaign, consumers will be prompted to text the keyword NFLPA to the short code 21534 to get an exclusive video featuring NFL players such as Mark Sanchez, Brandon Jacobs, A.J. Hawk, Matt Hasselbeck and Darren Sharper in their lives off the field.

After texting in, football fans receive the following text message: “Thanks for entering. Redeem your NFLPA gift at mogreet.com/nflpa from your computer. Reply HELP NFLPA for info, STOP NFLPA to end. Msg&Data rates may apply.”

Fans who text in will also receive an entry to win a trip to the 2010 NFL Players Rookie Premiere in Los Angeles.

The campaign kicked off on Jan. 15 with an advertising campaign at Miami International Airport.

This program also integrates a rich-media online campaign across targeted sports and social media Web sites and mobile phones.

Furthermore, a viral element to the campaign lets participants encourage friends to enter the contest via mobile video invitations and, in doing so, receive up to five additional entries into the contest.

After entering the sweepstakes, all participants have the option to also enter their address to receive a special collectible gift from the NFLPA.

In most instances, the video is delivered to the mobile phone via MMS, meaning that fans with regular feature phones without Internet plans are able to receive the video just as smartphone consumers are.

“All brands, including NFL Players, want to reach and build a personal connection with their audience, which is becoming increasingly difficult today,” Mr. Citron said.

“Using Mogreet, NFL Players is building a personal and intimate relationship with NFL fans, as they are connecting with them on the one device that is always by a fan’s side—the mobile phone—and using rich video to evoke the visceral, emotional reaction that only video can provide,” he said.

“As the campaign continues after the Super Bowl, NFL Players will also achieve its long-term goal of building a loyal base of followers that it can continue to communicate with on an ongoing basis.”

Source: mobilemarketer.com