Athletes in Action

Harnessing technology and a compelling story to bring people to Christ.

An unprecedented opportunity.

On December 17, 2008, we were approached by Athletes in Action, a division of Campus Crusade for Christ International, because they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In January 2009, two outspoken believers would face off in the BCS National Championship Game.

Both of the quarterbacks in the upcoming game, Tim Tebow of the Florida Gators and Sam Bradford from the Oklahoma Sooners, were outspoken Christians. And since Bradford had just won the Heisman trophy and Tebow had been a finalist, there was significant buzz surrounding them.

Tebow and Bradford had shared their testimonies with Athlete in Action. Now Athletes in Action wanted to share their stories with the public during the lead up to the BCS National Championship Game. The only question was how to generate significant buzz with only a few weeks remaining before the big event. Everything needed to go live by January 1 — only 14 days away.

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Building a successful strategy.

The quick turnaround made it impossible for us to pursue more traditional forms of promotion such as an ad in USA Today, or a traditional direct-mail piece. However, it was a perfect opportunity to use social media and other online tools to spread Tebow and Bradford’s testimonies.

We needed to create a unified message that could be communicated across multiple channels. Our goal was to get as many people as possible to read or watch the testimonies of these two football stars on Athletes in Action’s website, beyondtheultimate.org.

The first thing we did was design a theme for the site that highlighted Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford’s testimonies. Then we spread the word using multiple channels including Facebook, Twitter, emails, banner ads and paid search.

This campaign was different from a our usual campaign because it was not focused on fundraising, but instead was almost exclusively focused on PR. The success of it would be measured by the number of people who visited beyondtheultimate.org.

Confirming the strategy’s success with results.

The campaign launched successfully on January 1, and it immediately gained traction. Web traffic jumped to nearly 20,000 per day leading up to the BCS National Championship Game on January 8.

The campaign also gained considerable traction on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Athlete’s in Action was confident that Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford’s story was read and seen by many people, and, hopefully, many came to Christ.

This success story is proof that nonprofits can use social media to generate significant traffic and interest when they have a compelling story to tell.

To learn more about how Masterworks can help you build a social media campaign, contact Corey Gordon via email or by phone at 360.865.2205.

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