Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Biscuits and Basketball

Many people outside North Carolina may not know about a particular promotion Bojangle's, the chicken and biscuits fast food chain, does for UNC basketball fans, but I think it's rather brilliant.

The set up is, if UNC scores 100 or more points against an opponent during a game, Chapel Hill area Bojangle's offer 2 sausage biscuits for a dollar the next morning.

At the end of last nights game, UNC was crushing Marshall. With a few minutes left, UNC was within a few shots of the 100 mark. Many fans were on the edge of their seats, in hopes of getting those 50 cent biscuits in the morning. The hopes for biscuits made things exciting during what would have otherwise been an unexciting conclusion to the game.

The marketing scheme is a win-win. It works for both UNC basketball and for Bojangles because fans stick around for the end of a game when they otherwise wouldn't and also get excited about Bojangle's product. The promotion has been going on for several years, so even casual UNC fans know to cheer the team on when they're approaching 100 points. I think Bojangle's sponsorship/promotional dollars are being well-spent on this approach to marketing. The 'Biscuits' promo seems to be much more worth the money than any court-side banner or marquee elsewhere in the arena.

For businesses to make such a promotion work there has to be the right combination of loyal fans, a strong athletic program, and a suitable product. I think Bojangles and UNC have figured out the formula.

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