June 29, 2010
Cleveland, Ohio -
The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) selected its 2009-10 award winners and Grand Valley State figured prominently among the winners.
Initiated in 2003, the NACMA Awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. Awards are presented in 16 categories, with each category divided into three groups based upon school size and conference affiliations to promote fairness. More than 650 entries were received for the 2009-10 year.
The winners were presented their awards during NACMA's 19th Annual Convention, June 22-25 in Anaheim, Calif. The awards ceremony occurred Wednesday, June 23.
Grand Valley State University's athletic marketing office earned awards in eight of the sixteen categories. GVSU won three gold awards, one silver award and four bronze awards. Since 2006, GVSU's athletic marketing office has taken home 27 NACMA awards. (7 gold, 12 silver, 8 bronze)
"We appreciate being recognized for our hard work and creativity", said Doug Lipinski, Associate Director of Athletics for Marketing. "It is exciting to showcase our efforts on a national stage".
GVSU won gold awards in the categories of new-revenue generating idea, season ticket sales campaign and student promotion. GVSU's new-revenue idea the `Chuckbook' was a coupon book named after head football coach Chuck Martin. The Chuckbook looked like a check book and provided fans with `Chucks' (coupons) to save at local businesses. There were 10,000 chuckbooks distributed to fans in west Michigan.
In the season ticket sales campaign group, GVSU won for their "Saturday Nights under the Lights" football season ticket campaign. The campaign showcased the Laker football game day experience along with a strong branding for GVSU's game time on Saturday nights in the fall. GVSU earned its third gold award for Chuck-a-Palooza in the student promotion category. GVSU athletics celebrated the first official spring football practice with Chuck-a-Palooza an event that took place at midnight in the Laker Turf Building. The event was filled with giveaways, promotions and an open football practice.
GVSU also earned a silver award in the radio commercial category for their `Trunk or Treat' Halloween football game promotional ticket sales spot. GVSU rounded out its award winning night by taking home four bronze awards in the categories of electronic promotion, single newspaper display ad, ticket sales piece and video board segment. For the third consecutive year the Grand Valley State football team entrance video produced by Bill Cuppy productions won a an award in the category of video board segment.
About NACMA: NACMA is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities; enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics; and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics marketing administrators. For more information about NACMA, please visit www.nacma.com. NACMA is administered by NACDA. Now in its 45th year, is the professional and educational association for more than 6,500 college athletics administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 2,300 athletics administrators annually attend the NACDA Convention. Additionally, NACDA administers 11 professional associations that come under the umbrella of the Athletics Director. For more information, visit www.nacda.com.
