As a resident of Omaha, Nebraska, I’m pretty proud of our city! I love Omaha. I really do – you’ve never seen fans until you’ve witnessed the passion of Husker fans, you’ve never seen harder workers, nor a more inviting city. It’s true that we’re often perceived as a small fly-over state with very little action. No matter how hard we try to argue against the stereotype it’s tough to gain ground – unless you’re here during the College World Series! This last weekend was opening weekend, and you could just feel the excitement level raising. I went to the grocery stores and overheard a conversation in the checkout line of one lady wondering aloud if maybe Obama would be in attendance, my neighbors left their home at 5:30 in the morning in order to get a good spot for the tailgate, everyone’s plans were somehow touched by this experience in some way last weekend. If you were here on Saturday, you would have exited off the Interstate near Henry Doorly Zoo and to head to the infamous Rosenblatt stadium, watched miles of people pouring in with tickets and lawn chairs, food and brightly colored clothes reflecting their favorite team. Parking is insane, but everyone is in a GREAT mood, and this all American sport becomes an experience from the moment you pick out your clothes that morning until you crash in exhaustion at the end of the night – with or without your voice.
Almost as exciting as the games themselves is the experience at Rosenblatt; from getting ice cream at Zesto’s, tailgating among hundreds of fans, eating funnel cake at the games, watching the sponsors and local businesses at their creative and fun booths, the list goes on. Not to mention, this is the last year that the College World Series will be held at Rosenblatt. There’s a new, fancy stadium (TD Ameritrade Park) being built in our developing downtown area, so the wrecking ball will be visiting Rosenblatt this fall. Very bittersweet. Lots of memories for lots of people at this beloved stadium, and it’s really an honor to be playing here this year. You’ll hear varied responses from different audiences of involved fans – and honestly that’s more the talk of the town this year than the games themselves! And I can’t help but noting that this kind of conversation is prevalent for the reason that there’s an entire experience of a CWS fan that touches their lives that goes beyond the excitement of the baseball game! Isn’t it wise to keep in mind that true fans live and breathe for the experience the event and their sponsors can bring that’s so much bigger than the event by itself.
I sat down for an appetizer at Kona Grille just earlier this evening with a contact from Performance Research (fantastic company), and Stephanie Lochmiller (our New Media Manager). After we exchanged formal introductions with our out of town guest, and learned about one another’s efforts more accurately, the conversation easily transitioned into what we’ve all seen or experienced around the CWS this year. We all agreed that Omaha was one of the friendliest towns ever, and we all agreed that there was some serious hype around the change in locations for the stadium, and our contact is specifically here to analyze what people like about the experience (sorry – I can’t ruin the report and offer any info here!), but brilliant effort to uncover ways to make sure activation efforts are going to keep fans happy in the years to come!
So what are you doing to keep your finger on the pulse of your fan’s interpretation of an experience? Do you know if your activation efforts are good or bad? Do you know if your event or program is raising the energy level in the city you’re impacting or with a target audience who has loyalty with you? If you’ve ever had any major transitions within your program or event, are you doing your homework to find out how to make it seamless and positive to those you directly impact with the experience? Being able to answer these questions is imperative to the success of your activation efforts. As we like to say at SponsorPark: “Are you lucky or are you talented?” Make sure you’re not just lucky to impress your audience – luck runs out, talent doesn’t.