Kathy Powell
Guest Post by Kathy Powell
Living in Atlanta, the whole city is pretty pumped for the Super Bowl today. Currently, my husband is making meatballs to put on the smoker and my kids are singing, “Falcons, rise up!” Well, at this point, they’re mostly yelling it back and forth and each other as loudly as they can.
Kivi and I have talked in the past about using holidays and breaking news to get an organization more relevance and traction, and I must say I’ve been impressed with how local businesses and organizations have used the days leading up to the game for their social media and marketing.
See for yourself! I’ve especially loved the videos. Here are some of my favorites:
Davis Academy, a Reform Jewish Day School in North Atlanta, did a video to a song called “Rise Up” that their Rabbi wrote about standing up for social justice, which also happens to be the Falcons’ slogan. The video features an intro by John Lewis (a great way to highlight the social justice aspect), then the video is one huge and happy highlight reel of how cool their teachers, classrooms, kids, and school are. It even includes a group of kids at the Falcons practice field with the mascot and some cheerleaders. It’s pretty brilliant.
Northside Hospital, a Falcons sponsor, has been pumping the Falcons pretty incessantly. Every baby born during the NFL championship game got an official certificate excusing them from watching the game and a Falcons gift bag – they’ll do the same at their three hospitals for all babies born during the Super Bowl. They put up a cute cover photo of babies with #RiseUp (that I think is also on a billboard) and a bunch of other posts and pictures. I know all of this because they have Rise Up billboards around town, commercials, and bunches of local news coverage. They’ve done a great job making their social media match their greater marketing with an obvious all hands on deck surrounding the NFL Championship game and the Super Bowl.
Children’s Hospital of Atlanta has also done a great job getting media to pick up their super cute pictures of children in Falcons gear and coverage and pictures of their Falcons pep rally. They do an incredible job of making things fun for the kids and families they serve.
Zoo Atlanta posted their baby pandas playing with a Falcon’s football that just makes you say, awww. Their Facebook page also has hype videos from an actual falcon and a lion.
But my personal favorite is the Georgia Aquarium, because a penguin kicking a football is awesome. And I read about it on a sports site, who hyped it up even more.
Even if you aren’t a sports fan, you can still make the most of big events local fans will love!
Kathy Powell, a graduate of Kivi’s mentoring program for communications directors, resides in North Atlanta with her husband and three kids. She is currently the Communication & Development Director for All Embrace, Inc, an organization who serves families after losing a child through miscarriage, stillbirth, and infant death. Learn more about the organization on Facebook.
