Case Study: Finding the Sweet Spot for the Inaugural Athens Regional Foundation Classic

Client:

Athens Regional Foundation (2002-present)

Assignment:

We were specifically tasked with helping to raise the tournament's profile in metro Atlanta to help secure stronger attendance, recruit deep-pocketed participants for the pro-am, and to build awareness among a wider sponsor base for this year and next. One challenge was promote the event while keeping the beneficiary front and center throughout the coverage.                                    

Strategy/Implementation:

Proactively worked to obtain print, television, radio, and online coverage in metro Atlanta (which also reaches Athens). We worked closely with the client on the choice of sponsors’ exemptions extended to players in an effort to maximize the impact on media coverage. We also worked closely with the PGA Tour to staff the media room the week of the event, which helped build relationships with the media as the week wore on.

Results:

In the weeks preceding and the week following the event, more than 250 stories mentioned the tournament. Coverage included segments on three of four Atlanta broadcast stations, a 10-minute profile on a regional cable network, as well as pre-event features and daily event coverage on the Northeast Georgia CBS affiliate. On the print side we received a sports cover story with multiple color images in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) on the Wednesday preceding the event, three pages of coverage daily in the Athens-Banner Herald, daily stories in the AJC, and saturation coverage in many regional print publications. Radio coverage included multiple interviews on both Atlanta sports radio stations (including afternoon drive-time on the Wednesday prior to the event), as well as multiple interviews on local radio featuring players and dignitaries from the hospital. In addition, local radio set up a remote on site for three shows event week. We also targeted the blog community, which was new for an event such as this. As a result, we secured very good coverage in the Web community.