Thedailytexan

Anyone who knows The University of Texas, knows we love our football. Tailgating is more than a tradition for Longhorns, it’s a way of life. The creative minds of Texas Student Media saw this opportunity to align our brand with Texas Football, not only to strengthen our bond with the students, but to host one of the largest tailgates on campus.

Picture this: It’s 100+ degrees outside; fifty blocks of burnt orange wearing students, staff and alumni are gathered hours before every home game to come together as one. Everyone is hot, hungry and parched when they come by a group of tents under the brand “Texas Student Media” and “The Daily Texan”. Everyone has heard the name before, but no one expected the 113 year old newspaper to take part in the party. Next thing they know, one of the Texas Student Media staffers hands them FREE: iced towels to cool down with, a piece of pizza and a refreshing beverage to take off the edge. You’re thinking, “Iced towels? Good idea...I like pizza...I like cold beverages…Maybe these guys know what they’re doing!”

It took Texas Student Media ten minutes of the first tailgate, August 31, 2013, to become prevalent among the tailgating longhorns.

Instead of forcing our brand on the student and alumni body, we established ourselves as part of it with the same common interests.

People come to the Texas Student Media tailgate to hang out, watch other football games and enjoy themselves. They do not feel intruded by our brand or the sponsoring businesses that join us.

Not only are we strengthening our brand image with the fans, students, staff and alumni body, we make a whole lot of money doing it, over $100,000.00 annually! We offer different level sponsorship packages for our clients. The packages include advertising space in The Daily Texan’s: Double Coverage football special edition, logos and name mentions in all house print, radio, television and online promotion, and space at the tailgate to set up and join in the longhorn spirit. Sponsors range from local restaurants and sports bars to national beverage and telecommunication companies.

Promotion of the event was an ongoing process throughout fall 2013. House ads ran every day in The Daily Texan; Double Coverage football special editions, promoting our tailgate, were hand distributed to the surrounding tailgates and delivered to local hotels for visiting alumni; constant radio, television, website and social media promotion was used; and largely word of mouth among tailgaters promoted the event once we established our presence.

All in all, Texas Student Media’s Kickoff Countdown Tailgate is one of our largest promotional events of the year. We see increases of email users, facebook likes, twitter followers and online viewership each year throughout this event. The best part is that we combine student experience for our staff, community awareness and revenue into a fun and exciting event tied to one of our oldest traditions at The University of Texas. Longhorn Football. Hook’em! \m/