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Harry Potter & the Haunted Halloween at Rec Sports: Marketing & Communication Plan

GOALS:1. Engage at least 300 students in unique programming2. Engage 50 students who have never swiped into Rec Sports facilities3. Specific program goals: a 25 attendees in Flight of the Hippogriff Cycling fitness class b. 100 students in Hogwarts Dance Party ZUMBA® fitness class c. 200 students participate in Harry Potter themed activities (pumpkin decorating, snacks, sorting, trivia)

OVERALL HALLOWEEN PROMOTION:Signage• 22x28s listing all events • 8.5 x 11 signs to all Rec Sports facilities • Digital signage sent to Union, Library, International Office of all individual events

Website• Overall informational article • Main features of each event• Minifeatures of each event • Student Life calendar entries• Student Life webpage

Social Media• Facebook posts• Facebook cover photo• Tumblr post with preview of Halloween events• Retweet posts of those attending events • Tweet Residence Halls 48 hours before event

Newsletters• Special Halloween “Hogwarts acceptance letter” invitation with list of events sent to Welcome Week participants and last year’s Halloween attendees• Email RAs about events• Mentions in fitness, OAC, intramural, and student employee newsletters• Submit to Buckeye Net News, Student Org Insider, and Grad Bulletin

Flight of the Hippogriff Indoor Cycle• Email sent to attendees of the Haunted Hustle: Bike & Row and all cycling fitness class attendees• Sign outside of RPAC B30 (cycling studio)• Tweet at people who mention Rec Sports cycling classes on Twitter• Fitness class announcements

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Find the Snitch at Rec Sports• Fake Quidditch setup in RPAC lobby on the green field carpet with “Find the Snitch” signage with event details• Ask Ohio Union to retweet clues Hogwarts Dance Party ZUMBA®• Email sent to all dance class attendees, including Glow in Dark Dance Party, Dancing through the Decades, and ZUMBA® Master Class• Tweet Dance Teams @3DUrbanDanceOSU @OSUDanceLinx• Announcement in group fitness• 8.5 x 11 sign in class to direct participants to “A Very Harry Halloween” event after class

A Very Harry Halloween at Rec Sports• Signage in lobby directing students to location• “Get Sorted Here” signage at the RPAC lobby stairs

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Harry Potter & the Haunted Halloween at Rec Sports: Student Life Website

Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween was featured on the Ohio State Student Life homepage, which Rec Sports is part of.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: TeaserA teaser flier was developed three weeks before the event to pique students’ interest. This artwork was also used on Facebook to tease the event.

recsports.osu.edu

coming to Rec Sports?

Guess who©s

Thursday, October 31

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: GeneralGeneral event aesthetic. Produced in a variety of sizes and layouts. The design incorporated Harry Potter elements such as the font, golden snitch and shield, and other required Rec Sports and Office of Student Life marks.

recsports.osu.edu

Harry PotterHaunted Halloween

at Rec Sports

Event Time Location

Flight of the Hippogriff Indoor CycleStart your day with an indoor cycle class set to Harry Potter music and magic. Attendees receive chocolate frogs! Limited to 30 participants.

6:30 - 7:30 a.m. RPAC B30

Find the Snitch at Rec SportsA golden snitch will be hidden in one of the Rec Sports facilities and clues will be given on Twitter. Find it to be entered to win the complete Harry Potter DVDcollection. Follow @OSURec for clues!

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Any Rec Sports Facility

Hogwarts Dance Party ZUMBA®Dance at this ZUMBA® class with a Harry Potter twist. First 60 participants receive wands.

4:10 - 5:10 pm. RPAC South Gym

Tri-Wizard RaceRace to the finish in a Tri-Wizard challenge onadult-sized Big Wheels. Prizes for the winners!

4 - 6 p.m. RPAC Larkins Plaza

A Very Harry Halloween at Rec SportsTest your knowledge at Harry Potter related trivia, get sorted in your Hogwarts House, drink butterbeer, and enjoy snacks, decorate a pumpkin, make a survival bracelet to fight the Dementors, and snap a photo at Platform 93/4.

4 - 6 p.m. RPAC Lower Main Space

and the

Swipe in to win a Nintendo Wii or the complete Harry Potter DVD collection.

Thursday, October 31

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: WebsiteHarry Potter and the Haunted Halloween was prominently featured on the front page of recsports.osu.edu. Main features at the top of the page teased the event and led to a link of all the Halloween events. Smaller stories about each event rotated through the front page of the website.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Web ArticleA comprehensive article about the event was posted on the Rec Sports website. Teaser articles based on this longer article appeared in newsletters sent to all students on campus. All social media posts led to this article. A total of 1,560 hits were received from social media channels alone. In addition, this page was the 10th most viewed page in October, out of 1,952 possible items on the Rec Sports website.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Facebook Halloween was a prominent feature on the Rec Sports Facebook page the week leading up to the event. Various photos showed off the activities of the event, which have received high engagement.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: TwitterTwitter exploded when students received their Hogwarts acceptance letters (see page 12). Rec Sports gained 78 followers in one week on Twitter. Various other Ohio State departments retweeted or tweeted about the event. Three Harry Potter twitter accounts, Lego Ginny, HPLove, and Dobbyssocks, included information in their daily newsletter.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: InstagramRec Sports’s Instagram channel was used to advertise the event and post photos live on Halloween.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Email Communication

Students who attended previous Rec Sports special event programming, such as last year’s Halloween celebration, orientation, special events during Welcome Week, and special group fitness classes, received a Hogwarts Acceptance Letter (n=5,673) detailing the Halloween events. Twitter exploded with students excited about their letter. The open rate was 60%.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Email Communication

Specific information about Hogwarts Dance Party ZUMBA® was sent to students who participated in special event fitness dance classes in the past year (n=391). The open rate was 46% with 10% clicking through to the Halloween article.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Media

The Rec Sports Halloween event received media attention from The Lantern, Ohio State’s student newspaper. BuckeyeTV, the campus’s television station, was on-site to gather footage, and The Columbus Dispatch, the Columbus newspaper, also expressed interest in the event.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Flight of the Hippogriff

Breakout graphics were designed for Flight of the Hippogriff Indoor Cycle to use on digital signage, web graphics, and a sign to post outside the cycling studio where cycling classes occur. The class filled to capacity at 40, and six people were turned away.

F l i g h t o f t h e

H A U N T E D H A L L O W E E N

h i p p o g r i f f I n d o o r Cyc l e

recsports.osu.edu

�ursday, October 316:30 - 7:30 a.m. • RPAC B30

Participants receive chocolate frogs!

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Find the Golden Snitch

Breakout graphics were designed to use on digital signage, web graphics, and a sign to post in the RPAC lobby detailing the event. Buzz on Twitter was great about the event with Twitter followers begging for clues. Thirty people were huddled around the locker where the snitch was hidden, trying to break the combination.

recsports.osu.edu

Thursday, October 3111 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Follow us on Twitter @OSURecfor clues to win the completeHarry Potter DVD collection!

Find theGolden SnitchFind the Snitch at Rec Sports Clues

1. Head to the Rec Sports facility with a Gryffindor-colored walkway.2. Descend the staircases into the “dungeon” of the RPAC.3. You may need to use “Alohomora” to open this secret compartment near an area for little muggles.4. Select the compartment that’s in a row of its own.5. Unlock the golden snitch by entering the chosen one’s birthday!

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Hogwarts Dance Party ZUMBA®

Breakout graphics were designed to use on digital signage and web graphics. A total of 140 people attended the event.

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: A Very Harry Halloween

Breakout graphics were designed to use on digital signage and web graphics. A total of 211 students played trivia; 220 students took the sorting quiz; and 223 students swiped in to win the grand prize.

recsports.osu.edu

HarryHalloween

a very

Test your knowledge at Harry Potter related trivia, get sorted in your Hogwarts House. drink butterbeer and enjoy snaks, decorate a pumpkin, and make a survival bracelet to fight the Dementors.

4 - 6 p.m. RPAC Lower Main Space

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Harry Potter and the Haunted Halloween: Tri-Wizard Race

Breakout graphics were designed to use on digital signage and web graphics. Due to inclement weather, this event had to be cancelled.

recsports.osu.edu

Triwizard Race

Race to the finish in a Tri-Wizard challenge on adult sized Big Wheels! A winner will be crowned.

4 - 6 p.m. RPAC Larkins Plaza