by Barb Kowal – CoSIDA Director of Professional Development and External Affairs
The athletic communications staffs from the
University of Hawai'i and
Utah Valley University were selected as recipients of the 2021-22 CoSIDA ChangeMaker Innovation Award for their creative work projects during the academic year.
This is the second year for this CoSIDA award, created to recognize individual members or staffs who have created and managed innovative content during the current academic year. The purpose is to recognize forward-thinkers who bring new ideas to life — and strengthen the position of SIDs and our work — with special content, a branding and messaging campaign, new storyteller packages, social media initiatives, a digital series, etc.
The winning Hawai'i initiative, submitted by assistant media relations director Eric Mathews, is entitled "Operation Greg Luzinski" (Oppo Grego). Their goal was to elevate social media content and engagement to help tell the stories of Hawai'i student-athletes and show the beauty of the Hawaiian islands - while being a trendsetter on a national level.
The Utah Valley winning entry was a unique and creative idea to promote Fardaws Aimaq, reigning Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year and a NBA prospect, called "Big Maple Campaign." Aimaq is nicknamed the "Big Maple," noting his Canadian roots and his love for maple syrup which he carried with him everywhere. The Utah Valley staff focused on sending out an innovative promotion – a box of maple syrup with a label and QR code of his accomplishments and t-shirt so that the mid-major school and standout basketball player would catch the attention of the national media.
The ChangeMaker contest was open to any current CoSIDA individual member or team of college athletics communications professionals. If they collaborated on an initiative with department or campus/conference colleagues, the initiative had to include at least one current CoSIDA member who was integral to the project.
"CoSIDA represents a profession that epitomizes creativity and collaboration. The ChangeMaker Award acknowledges and honors those CoSIDA members who have opened the door to ingenuity, resourcefulness and originality in their work," noted Doug Vance, CoSIDA Executive Director. "We congratulate Utah Valley and University of Hawai'i athletic communications staffs and their colleagues this year as they rolled out creative and meaningful content which captured the attention of many."
Here is a closer look at the Utah Valley Changemaker Award for 2021-22.
Utah Valley University: Big Maple Campaign
Project Participants: Jason Erickson, Assistant Athletic Director - Communications;
Clint Burgi, Associate Athletic Director - Communications;
Kameron Dearing, Assistant Athletic Director - Wolverine Club & Signature Events
To catch the attention of the national media while promoting NBA prospect Fardaws Aimaq, reigning WAC Player of the Year, the campaign started with the announcement that he would be withdrawing from the NBA Draft and returning to Utah Valley. Erickson created a newspaper in InDesign with the headline "Aimaq is Back" — printed on real newspaper paper to look authentic — and had a photo shoot with Aimaq reading the newspaper by his locker. On their social platforms, Utah Valley used the photo to tell Aimaq's story of returning to the team in conjunction with his live announcement on MakingTheMadness.com. The livestreamed announcement also was on every Utah Valley athletic platform and on campus and community digital boards, while the printed newspapers were distributed across campus.
Using the Big Maple nickname (Aimaq always had bottles of maple syrup in his locker to use at team pancake/waffle breakfasts), Erickson created a maple syrup bottle to promote his 2021 accolades and preseason accolades, with the bottles purchased from Canada to keep authenticity. The finalized package included a list of Aimaq's accomplishments and national articles with a QR code link tree, a photo on the inside of the box, a customized Aimaq t-shirt, and the maple syrup bottle wrapped in school colors (green wrap) with a wolverine sticker.
In submitting the campaign for ChangeMaker consideration, Erickson wrote: "The response was incredible! We received numerous feedback on social media from both our local media and the national media, including the Dan Patrick Show, ESPN's Kevin Connors, Pat Forde, Matt Norlander, Clark Kellogg, and many others. The Dan Patrick Show even put together a video on the box they received. Aimaq got the attention we wanted, earned numerous awards, and gave Utah Valley University a national spotlight."
Links: Big Maple Campaign - Article Links and Tweets Samples
