Jersey Mike’s Partnering with FanHub for College Football Season

 

Fall football season garners college sports fans from a bygone era to today’s students. Restaurant chains with a goal to expand their brands relevance while driving new electricity are wise to follow the lead of Jersey Mike’s this fall according to Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions®. 

With college football season is underway, most of you know that Jersey Mike’s Subs has teaming up with FOX Sports to celebrate by offering a College Football Trivia and Rose Bowl Stadium Sweepstakes when it hits the road this fall for the multi-city Jersey Mike’s Tailgate Tour. The tour will feel better than two shots in the arm so you can attend.

Partnering with FanHub to drive incremental relevance to many and clearly a sense of immediacy, Jersey Mike’s will celebrate its return by releasing trivia games for 49 participating NCAA football schools, including five questions for each developed by team insiders. Fans can download Jersey Mike’s app to play.

So, upon completion of the trivia quiz, fans will be automatically entered in a sweepstakes for a chance to win a VIP trip for four to Rose Bowl Stadium to celebrate America’s New Year’s Celebration, which includes game tickets, round trip airfare, hotel, Rose Parade presented by Honda tickets, pre-game hospitality area and private tour of the FOX Studios in Los Angeles. In addition, trivia players will be rewarded with six Shore Rewards points to redeem in store, in-app or online.

Rich Hope, Chief Marketing Officer, Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems, stated, “We are looking forward to working with FOX Sports and connecting with hungry college football fans across the county”…  “Our goal is to deliver a fun, interactive game day experience and introduce fans to our mobile app.”

With this partnership FOX Sports has agreed to air 30-second commercial spots promoting the sweepstakes. The Jersey Mike’s Tailgate Tour will also visit local FOX affiliates in tour locations, providing staff members with a free lunch and a chance to participate in the tailgate experience in the days leading up to select games. In-store display signage will remind guests to download the app and play the sweepstakes/trivia game.

Robert Gottlieb, Executive Vice President, Marketing, FOX Sports, stated, “We are thrilled to team up with Jersey Mike’s for what promises to be an exciting college football season,”… “As we welcome fans back into stadiums and tailgates, we are eager to elevate the college football fan experience in unique ways across this multi-city tour.”  

Get this, in addition to its first stop at the University of Minnesota, the 14-week college tailgate tour will make stops at Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Rutgers, Texas Tech, Tennessee, Florida State, Clemson, Arizona State, Texas, USC and Washington, culminating in the final stop at Rose Bowl Stadium on Jan. 1, 2022.

Extending the brands reach, the fully customized tailgate trailer will give football fans a chance to sample Jersey Mike’s authentic fresh sliced subs, download the app to enter Jersey Mike’s College Football Trivia and Rose Bowl Stadium Sweepstakes, and experience other game day fun including:

·         Outdoor lounge with Adirondack chairs and picnic benches

·         “The Juice” mobile device charging station

·         Corn hole lawn games

·         Interactive kiosk display

·         Giveaways

·         FOX Sports “Cleatus” character appearances and live game action on outdoor TV

The branded trailer will be placed in high traffic locations on each campus near tailgaters and stadium entrances for up to five hours before kickoff.  So, how is your branding extending your brand invitation this fall?

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is in part driven with innovation in new food products in combination with new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new electricity.”  That said, what are you waiting for?

Johnson stated “that in my minds-eye the new electricity must be very efficient for the supply and includes such things as fresh foods, developing brands, unique urban clothing, grocerant positioning, fresh food messaging, autonomous delivery, cashier-less retail, plates, glasses, cash-less payments, digital hand-held marketing.

All retailers to survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food that is portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different. 

Are you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that tomorrow?  Visit GrocerantGuru.com for more information or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your continued success.