This is where strategy meets storytelling — and bold ideas come to life. Below is a curated collection of projects that span fan engagement, entertainment with impact, the occasional fast fail (because if we aren't failing, we aren't pushing hard enough), and lead generation. Each piece reflects a mix of creativity, data-driven thinking, and a drive to create work that actually moves people — and moves the needle.
I want fans to feel connected to our players and staff, hoping to build a supportive family through the highs and lows of the season.
MARRIOTT MADNESS: An annual tradition to kick off the basketball season, Midnight Madness converted into Marriott Madness, was earlier in the night, and was open to the public for the first time. In 2024 I wanted to rethink how it looked and felt with our new coaching staff, new players, and a lot of good energy behind the program. We rethought the stage, placement of DJ, and the elements of the event to make it feel BIG but also intimate. The 90' screen behind a T-shaped concert stage with a standing room pit created the exact vibe I was hoping for. The oversized motion graphics and the big light arch were curtesy of our OIT AV events team and they made it POP! A dunk contest, 3 point contest, and speech by Coach Young brought a lot of energy in a short amount of time. MEMORABLE night to kick off the season. Click here to see a behind the scenes look at Marriott Madness on LinkedIn.
PLAYER CARDS: A fan-favorite giveaway, player cards were strategically distributed during Big 12 Conference play. Each design was exclusive to a specific game, encouraging fans to arrive early and engage from the start. The response online was enthusiastic, with many sharing and discussing the cards. Shauna Howell deserves major credit for the design, which made the cards highly desirable. The fun facts provided by the team—like player personalities and shoe sizes—added an engaging touch that helped fans connect more personally.
FAN ZONE: Formerly known internally as the “marketing table” where stuff was given out, this has morphed into an interactive and dynamic experience, starting with Madelyn Marion’s first iteration (yes that girl ended up being my wife!) and the last two seasons led by Allyssa Christiansen. Fans come early just to interact with the Fan Zone, which has spanned from hand turkeys, Santa Clause, and Player Cards being given away during conference play. See Allyssa’s recap here on her LinkedIn page.
WHICH SEAT ARE YOU CHOOSING?: I wanted to make this trend our own on social media, and it was a fun way to engage fans who, at this point in the year, felt connected to our team, having come to know their personalities through social posts and other moments throughout the season. This resulted in combined 50K views and 133 replies on @BYUFanEx on X, plus 756 likes and 82 comments on our Fan Experience Instagram.
WATCH PARTY: 7000+ filled the Marriott Center and engaged with the game as if it were being played on the court. A high majority of the attendees stayed in their seats and were engaged the whole game, even with Alabama’s shooting being a peak Warriors team in the playoffs. This was covered by the media and despite the outcome, was welcomed and talked about a lot online by fans.
AIRPORT SEND OFF / WELCOME HOME: After big wins, our students and fans love engaging and celebrating with the team. A safe and controlled way to do that is to take music, flags, and giveaways to the airport when the team arrives to the airport (whether inbound in anticipation or outbound on the way to the next big game). Fans thrive on those up-close moments with the players, and the team loves capturing the experience on their own phones. Kudos to the ROC and Fan Experience team executing these when the staff is unavailable.
In-game entertainment and engagement is a big part of the in-season day to day and ensuring activations are clear, engaging, and memorable is a fun challenge. I push myself to think about different audiences and how they would respond to different promotions.
GENERATIONAL DANCE CAM: Created a custom mix using sampled tracks—designed to connect with different generations—bringing energy and engagement to both older and younger fans during the game.
MANNEQUIN CHALLENGE CAM: We brought back the mannequin challenge in the form of a fan cam & ran it 3 times this year and it was a fun way to engage fans of different age groups.
KARAOKE FAN CAM: This simple lyric overlay was a fun way to engage fans in a sponsored fan cam around the holidays & everyone knows the song, but it gets people joining right in if they see themselves on the screen.
LIGHT THE WORLD GIVING MACHINE SHOOTOUT: Jake Richardson ideated and saw this through, where our now Women’s Basketball Coach shot 3 pointers to help a sponsor donate to Light the World Machines. This was an awesome idea that Jake was able to see through from start to finish, with the assist from Matt Finlayson, our motion graphics (Xpression) guru for BYU’s OIT AV Events team. Super cool way to align fan engagement with the sponsoring entity of our university, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Rally Towels: Kansas was a high-profile game, and we partnered with a long-time sponsor to place commemorative rally towels on every seat. Timed prompts during the game made this a great addition to the atmosphere. Using an overlay rather than a full-screen takeover proved mutually beneficial and complemented a strong win for our team. (Turns out giveaways were enough of a topic to make a video about them.. check it out at this link)
SLAM CAM: This replay wipe was inspired by our big men consistently destroying the rims. Since we couldn’t play a song in the moment, it evolved into a simple, sponsored alternative that stood out from our usual replay wipes.
I seek to try new things and sometimes they are a flop, but the mentality is to fail fast and find things that stick and resonate with our fans. Here are some examples:
FUTURE ROC CAM: We printed mini memes to mimic the prowess of the ROC (student section) on the opposite side of the students. We encouraged young fans to hold up printed memes more suited to their age group, including photos of our players when they were younger. The kids held up the signs, but the thought to have our on-court emcee mimic a free throw ended up being a dud. People just wanted to see themselves on the videoboard.
DUNK CAM: A thought was to tee this up where it looked like fans were dunking on a hoop on the screen. Then the hope was that we could have Cosmo dunk on a real hoop near a fan. The first go around was so hard for fans to grasp where the cameras were that it didn’t end up being run again. This was one that just might take a few attempts to make sense, but is on the chopping block whether it will return or not.
ROC BAND CAM: Air Guitar and Drum Cams have been engaging enough on their own that a combination of a microphone, guitar, drums, and keyboard. The combination of those with our pep band playing behind it just didn’t land. Perhaps moving forward a song with the words being sung will be a better way to run this back and make it engaging for fans.
Lead generation can be both engaging and voluntary. These examples show simple yet effective ways to engage while giving people the opportunity to become qualified leads.
COUGAR CLUB: To boost awareness of the Cougar Club, our Development Team asked for a more engaging in-game shoutout. Last year’s static PA read and QR code fell flat. This year, we introduced the “WIT Trivia Game” with fresh questions each game, including one about the Cougar Club, and a prize for winners. The response was outstanding. Fans engaged consistently, creating a positive association with the Cougar Club—even among those who didn’t opt in. RESULTS: Over 19 games, we saw 15,610 QR code scans (821 per game), 11,446 trivia plays, and 4,357 fans expressed interest in being contacted—a major leap in qualified leads.
CUB KIT GIVEAWAY: Our kids club had 5 Cub Kits (welcome packs) available to give away. Another instant win game from WIT made for an easy way to give fans a chance to win, while on our side earning leads for next year’s subscriptions. 567 scaned the QR code, 429 entered to win, and 289 expressed interest in being contacted about the Kid’s Club. 67% showed interest! Not bad! We haven’t seen the conversion from lead to kid’s club member, but we’re looking forward to that.
VIVINT TAKE ME HOME: In hopes of replacing a stale promotion, we pitched an instant win game through the WIT service, which served as a lead gen campaign in the end for the sponsor for the last 9 games. RESULTS: We had 8430 participants over those 9 games, with 2075 indicating interest in being contacted about the sponsor’s products - an average of 25% interested.
Carson Hagberg - Marketing Assistant + in-house DJ 🔗 LinkedIn
Bailey Bushman - Marketing Assistant + on-court 🔗 LinkedIn
Allyssa Christiansen - Marketing Assistant + Fan Zone Coordinator 🔗 LinkedIn
Allie Melanson - Marketing Assistant + on-court 🔗 LinkedIn
Jake Richardson - Marketing Assistant, on-court 🔗 LinkedIn
Madelyn Parker Marion - former Marketing Assistant (graduated Dec 2024) + on-court 🔗 LinkedIn
Harrison Haycock - former Marketing Assistant (graduated Dec 2024) + in-house DJ 🔗 LinkedIn