Technology moves at the speed of light. I remember the novelty of seeing a dotcom painted on a college football field. Ah yes, 2010- those were simpler times.
Now you can see social media on the gridiron. The University of Michigan will paint the field turf at Michigan Stadium with the hash tag, #GOBLUE, for the upcoming spring game.
The Wolverines will use the opportunity to generate exposure inside the stadium, on the nationally-televised broadcast and most importantly in the twittersphere.
I just hope to God no one uses the shop-worn Michigan “is all a-twitter” cliche for their story headlines. That horrible cliche has been played out since 2009.
The annual spring football scrimmage and the “Battle at the Big House” men’s lacrosse game against Ohio State will be held on Saturday, April 14, at Michigan Stadium. The Victors Classic Alumni Flag football game begins at 10 a.m., followed by the annual spring football scrimmage at noon. The lacrosse game is tentatively slated to start at 2:30 p.m.
The hashtag “#GOBLUE” will be painted maize at two locations. The hashtag will straddle the 25-yard line on the northeast and southwest sides of the field.
“Our goal is to challenge the status quo and to create innovative ideas that speak to our fans,” said Jordan Maleh, U-M’s Director of Digital Marketing in a statement.
“This initiative will help our athletic department use technology as a competitive advantage to engage and connect to fans, build brand loyalty, grow the digital audience and monitor and listen to what is being said through the digital engagement cycle.”
Michigan will introduce a ‘Tweet Board’ for the spring game which will showcase tweets from Alumni Flag Football Game and the Spring Football Scrimmage.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, MSN and Fox Sports
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too.