For the final sport professional penpal assignment, The Quest, I chose to create a promotional event for the Charlotte 49ers baseball program. After further research and insight from my penpal, Lauren Wilkowske the Assistant Director of Marketing for the 49ers, I was able to create an event that revolves around getting fans to attend a home baseball game while simultaneiously promoting one of the more popular animal shelters in Charlotte. This can be seen as a community event and partnership that could lead to more events in the future with both programs.
Establishing an Event
One of Lauren’s main duties is to get more fans to purchase tickets and attend home baseball games, as she is the main marketing contact for 49ers baseball. Lauren’s program, and Charlotte Athletics overall, are always looking for more opportunities to get involved with the local community to establish those mutual relationships. With these in mind, I started with asking myself “what event could be thrown at a baseball game in order to get more fans to attend and increase community involvement?” A few came to mind, but holding a wiffle ball game on the field post-game was what I landed on. Wiffle ball has always been a popular adaptation of the game of baseball and very commonly played in the youth today. Allowing for kids who attend the game to be given the opportunity to play in a wiffle game and on the baseball field too, we believe would spark great interest in Charlotte fans.
Creating a Community Partnership
Now that the event was established, I began to think of local community centers or organizations that would possibly like to partner with 49ers baseball. This partnership would be able to expand the promotional coverage of Charlotte baseball and the event, but also allow for the organization to benefit from said wiffle ball game.
https://humanesocietyofcharlotte.org/
I was able to gather a list from Lauren of local community centers, shelters, and organizations. After researching more on each organization, I fell in love with the idea of inviting the Humane Society of Charlotte Animal Shelter to partner with the 49ers for this wiffle ball event. They are always looking for donations and constantly have dogs up for adoption at this shelter. I decided to make them an official partner of the wiffle ball game event.
Henceforth, the event had been established for the Charlotte 49ers to partner with the Humane Society of Charlotte to put on a wiffle ball game after a home 49ers baseball game. The official name of the event was created using the partership between the wiffle ball game and adopting dogs: Wooferball.
Execution of Wooferball
Now that the event had been established, we have a partnership with a community organization, and we have a name to call it, this started our execution stage.
Wooferball will take place on May 10th at 4pm, when the 49ers will face UAB at home. The wiffle ball game itself will last 20 minutes and will be a very casual game on the field post-game, where only children ages 5-12 will be allowed to participate. Charlotte will provide wiffle ball bats and balls for fans to use. Participants will be put into two teams in random order and will play multiple innings until the 20 minutes are up. Participation can only be granted if a donation of at least $10 is made to the animal shelter. This can be done by purshasing your game ticket in advance where we will allow fans to donate during this process or by fans purchasing a ticket at the gate and donating directly to the animal shelter’s tabled area on site. Those who have donated will be identified with a wristband that will be given to them at the stadium, as seen below. Ticket takers will have them on hand for those who have donated ahead of time while purshasing their ticket in advance, while the Humane Society of Charlotte that will be tabling the event will also have them to hand out for those who donate on site.
The Humane Society of Charlotte will be given a sectioned off area inside the stadium to setup a table with information on their organization and also have several adoptable dogs for fans to meet and be given the chance to adopt a dog on site. As stated earlier, this will be where fans are able to donate directly to the shelter and receive their wristband to participate in the wiffle ball game if not already received prior.
Once we hit post-game, participants who have received a wristband will be directed to lineup at the right field gate. This is where a marketing staff member will be present to check each child for their wristband to get onto the field. Multiple marketing staff members will be on the field making sure the game goes smoothly and the participants are following directions. Once the wiffle ball game is over, staff will assist in escorting the participants off the field to conclude the Wooferball event.
Wooferball Promotions
To begin promotion of Wooferball, I utilized Canva to create a social media post to be posted onto the Charlotte 49ers sports and baseball Instagram, Facebook, and X pages.
Three weeks prior to the event, Charlotte will post this graphic to all social media pages to introduce the event to fans and surrounding community. This graphic will also be shared on the Humane Society of Charlotte’s social media pages to reach their followers who may not be familiar with 49ers baseball.
3 days prior to the event, this graphic will be posted again on all social media accounts for a reminder to the fans of the event.
The Charlotte 49ers website, charlotte49ers.com, will have all of the information regarding the Wooferball event and will be the main source of information for fans to follow. The Humane Society of Charlotte’s website, humanesocietyofcharlotte.org, will continuously promote this event as well and will also have information available at their in-person shelter.
To double down on getting information out to as many people as possible, we will use the Charlotte Athletic Foundation (49er Club) to send out invites to current Charlotte Athletic donors for them to attend the event or to donate to the shelter.
Lastly, it would be a necessity to place signage and banners surrounding campus and the stadium to advertise Wooferball. Signage can help inform fans of the event, but also direct them towards to stadium as well. These signs will include a QR code to the society’s website for those who cannot attend the game, but still wish to donate to the shelter.
Post-Event Evaluation
After Wooferball concludes, Charlotte will send out emails to all participants of the event to gain feedback on what was good, bad, and recommendations for future events. Charlotte will also gain feedback from the Humane Society and how the event ran from their standpoint. We will also look at the amount of donations that came from this event that went to the shelter to establish a goal for future events with the society. Overall, I believe with this plan of execution and promotion, Wooferball has great potential to be an elevating experience for the fans and community.