Fenway Sports Plots Verizon Wireless Campus Tour
Fenway Sports Group is the guiding force for the third annual Verizon Wireless Campus Tour, hitting northeast college campuses in a concert series to plug the telco’s wireless service.
The tour aims at exposing the college crowd to Verizon Wireless services in 15 concerts between September and October. The objective is to promote Verizon service to college students when they’re most likely to be choosing wireless carriers, according to Mark Lev, Fenway Sport Group executive vice president.
Fenway Sports plans the tour to visit 15 campuses in Verizon’s five northeast regions, in the metro New York area, upstate New York, Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia using music as a means to connect to the young consumers.
“Some of this is governed by schools that Verizon wants to visit and the availability of venues,” said Lev. “It’s very much like putting a puzzle together.”
Hip-hop group Gym Class Heroes is the headline act for this year’s tour, which opened at Clark University on Sept. 25 and concludes at Syracuse University on Oct. 12. It stops at small and large campuses in between, including Kutztown University, Virginia Tech, Temple, St, John’s University and Towson State.
Students can enter contests promoted via point of service displays at Verizon locations prior to each concert for a chance to meet and greet the headliners. Ten winners are chosen for each venue. One student from each region is subsequently eligible to win a trip to meet the band at a stop on their national tour with alternative group Fall Out Boy.
Verizon sets up interactive displays at each concert venue with secondary sponsors, including Samsung, 411Connect and mobile game maker HandsOn Mobile. A giant screen behind the stage displays between band performances text messages and pictures that students can send from their Verizon handsets. Each student receives a souvenir lanyard that can be used for a “bounce-back” offer for a Samsung phone.
The tour has been a success for the past two seasons, according to Lev, typically selling out each concert venue.
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