We Are Timbers – Soccer Goes Social
The Portland Timbers are the second professional sports team to come into my home town (behind our long time resident NBA team, the Trail Blazers). We are a soccer, er ‘futbol’, hungry community and the fans have embraced our new MLS team with open arms. Kudos to the Timbers – they’ve ‘hugged back’ with the same enthusiasm.
One of the things this organization did well right out of the gate was to harness the power of these local fans – in a very social way. Sure, they have a Facebook presence and a Twitter feed. More importantly they reached out their biggest cheerleader – the community of Portland – and asked them to be a part of their Marketing and Media materials, in the most visible fashion available – billboards throughout the Portland Metro area – through a contest called ‘We Are Timbers‘.
How did it work? You went to the Timbers store, got your picture taken with various ‘accessories’ (double headed axe, chain saw – to name a few) and had your photo submitted to be considered to make the top 100. If you made the top 100, your photo was put to a vote by the fans of the soccer club (you had to ‘Like’ the Timbers on Facebook and then ‘Like’ the photo of your friend, colleague, or neighbor that had entered the contest). There was some stiff competition out there. Personally, I wish my good buddy Dwight Adkins had made the final four but when you pair axes with baby bjorns he didn’t stand a chance. Hat tip Timbers – way to get your fans excited about your team and nice job making the community a part of your promotion efforts.