Professional rugby is finally part of the Texas sports scene. With a new team in place and stadium construction underway, the Houston SaberCats reached out to Madak to help spread the word and inspire Houston to fall in love with rugby.
Research
Identify the Value
The 2019 season was all about preparing for the new AVEVA Stadium. The challenge here was in the timing. With the unpredictable Texas weather pushing back construction, the season schedule, ticket sales, and the majority of marketing collateral needed changes at a moment’s notice.
Strategize
Articulate the Message
With a new stadium being built, there was empty space everywhere primed for sponsorship. We put together a sponsorship deck showcasing video, jersey, and signage options available to sponsors like Coca Cola and Baylor University so they could contribute to this new community space.
Create
Motivate the Consumer
The SaberCats needed a significant amount of graphic design for posters, billboards, landing pages, social media, email marketing, print ads, banner ads, and more. We kept a consistent on-brand look while creating visual interest pertaining to target audiences and specific advertising platforms.
Optimize
Track the Conversions
We put a heavy emphasis on digital advertising through Google Search and paid social media leading to custom landing pages with tracking pixels. We developed several campaigns and empowered the SaberCats’ internal marketing team with a series of customized video tutorials.
Digital Advertising
Setting higher conversions with existing fans and breaking into new audiences as our objectives, we designed several campaigns using Google Search, Google Display, Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. To attract new rugby fans, we created a series of educational videos illustrating basic rugby moves.
Website
We built a website from scratch that served as the main hub for the SaberCats’ season schedule and ticket purchasing. Eventually, MLR teams migrated to a new website to create a uniform look across all teams. We guided the transition, ensuring the end-product was on-brand and fully functional.
Graphic Design
Anticipating all the avenues in which designs were needed, we put together several options for artwork, templates, and layouts. With only seconds to capture someone’s attention as they fly down the freeway, or scroll a page, we designed simple, engaging artwork to spark brand awareness and provide essential ticketing information.
Social Media
Being the newest professional sports team in Houston, we wanted to create a consistent look across all SaberCats social media channels to develop an easily recognizable brand. We designed templates for their internal team to announce score updates, ‘Man of The Match’ picks, rosters, and newly signed players.
Marketing Team Buildout
We’ve served as the SaberCats’ marketing team from day one but our goal was to build talent from within the company so they could eventually operate everything in-house. We empowered the SaberCats’ by sourcing, vetting, hiring, and training the internal marketing team they have today.
Internal Training
Through screen-shares, slide presentations, and recorded video tutorials, we created marketing resources and trained the SaberCats’ internal team on WordPress, digital ad platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Business Manager, as well as the basics of campaign strategy.
