ShareNCAA Tourney Town: Kellie Pickler Concert
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Client: The NCAA is the primary governing body of collegiate sports in America. The site of the national headquarters, Indianapolis was the home of the 2011 women’s basketball Final Four, and as part of the festivities, the NCAA produced Tourney Town, an interactive experience in the Convention Center, offering sports fans the opportunity to learn about the NCAA, the basketball tournament and to engage in different sports and family-friendly activities. Tourney Town also featured a free concert event headlined by Kellie Pickler. 
Challenge: Bohlsen Group was hired by San Antonio based CE Group to support the strategic communications and PR needs for Tourney Town, with a specific emphasis on driving traffic to the Kellie Pickler concert. Building awareness of the concert required utilization of all available concert promotion resources.
Solution: We assembled and coordinated the concert announce press event that included a personal message from Kellie Pickler and worked with CE Group, the NCAA and the Indiana Sports Corp. Implementing grassroots and street team efforts, we sought coverage, advance interviews and giveaways. Bohlsen Group also worked with artist management and publicity for radio, print and press conference interviews. Our efforts were able to institute strong regional and national publicity, including ABC News.com, Allaccess.com, the Associated Press, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Hollywood Reporter, MSNBC, NPR, Pollstar, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and more.
We utilized promotions through e-blasts in collaboration with local organizations and media outlets, including the Indiana Convention and Visitors Association, Indianapolis Business Journal, IndyConcerts, Indianapolis Monthly, Indy’s Child, NUVO Newsweekly, WRTV-ABC, WTHR-NBC and more. Live in-studio set-ups were featured on FOX 59 and WISH-TV. We also coordinated advance efforts for promotion with presenting radio station HANK-FM.
Results: A 60-percent attendance increase. We successfully secured coverage in local, regional and national publications, radio, TV and web outlets. The strategy and PR/publicity plan helped achieve a 60-percent increase in concert attendance from the 2010 Tourney Town event – despite Butler University playing in the Men’s Final Four one hour after Kellie took the stage!