As the hard launch of the site approaches, the design and technical teams are pulling long hours in the lab to make the magic happen. The photographers, videographers, writers, and graphic artists have finished their work gathering “soul.” There is a tension in the air as the deadline creeps closer and closer and closer. It is almost here. It is going to happen.
Keeping this in mind, the marketing team has been planning strategies to get the word out. What use is a phenomenal project if no one sees it? So, with only a week and a half to go before the official launch, flyers are being printed. Post-its branded with the URL and launch date are stuck up anywhere people can find space. Posters are appearing in business windows around town.
Posters like this one are being hung around town to promote the launch of Soul Of Athens.
Soon, chalking will commence. Chalking is always a good way to get the word out to the university community. Sidewalks and pavement everywhere will get Soul treatment as anyone not working on the tech side will be running around campus scrawling the URL with rapid strokes of kids’ chunky chalk.
A video promotion will be going up on YouTube in the near future as well. The marketing team collaborated with Black Sheep Inc., OU’s only improvisational comedy troupe, to create a humorous version of what people think the soul of Athens is. Characters “interviewed” in the video range from fraternity brothers to an environmentalist couple. There was even a debate about pizza and Descartes being the soul of Athens. The hope is that this spoof gets people thinking about what the real soul of Athens is and prompt them to discover it through the stories waiting for them on this year’s site.
- Written by Kristin Hulse, member of the marketing team