It’s been seven years since the Colorado State Rams have made a college football bowl appearance... and when the Rams were invited to play in the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, we knew it was time to pull out all the stops and showcase CSU’s excellence, innovation, and deep-rooted Ram Pride to the nation, while bringing the D-O-double-G energy to the Rams’ game plan.
What do Snoop Dogg and an R1 research university have in common? The Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl! This once-in-a-bowl-game opportunity was CSU’s invitation to drop it like it’s hot and highlight the university’s top programs with a creative flair that struck the perfect chord between pop culture and higher education.
Here’s how we made it happen – all in 20 days:
Announcing the Bowl Game: We kicked off the excitement by announcing CSU’s matchup at the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl. This first post fueled Rams’ fandom and set the tone for an unforgettable experience.
Snoop on the Stoop: It’s December. Elf on the Shelf trends are all over the socials. The marquee sponsor of the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl, Snoop Dogg himself, has his very own Snoop on the Stoop product. It just made sense that we could create a mini campaign that featured Snoop on the Stoop touring campus to get to know CSU a little better. From visiting CSU’s world-renowned laser lab to the Weed Research Lab (wink, wink), the Snoop on the Stoop content blended humor, education and pure entertainment to highlight CSU. At its heart, this campaign was about one thing: elevating CSU by showcasing everything that makes CSU exceptional—our people, our programs, and our culture.
Student Engagement: At CSU, our students are at the core of everything we do. To further ignite school spirit, we designed a social media giveaway exclusively for students. To enter, students had to put their creative chops on and submit a video wishing the Rams good luck in the bowl game. The prize for the lucky winner? An all-expense-paid trip to the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl game. The winning entry not only spread Ram Pride among fans and beyond but also became a centerpiece of our pre-game good-luck posts.
Influencer Partnerships: The team strategically engaged influencers to spread Ram Pride to the influencers’ audiences throughout the bowl experience. Each influencer brought a unique angle to the campaign, helping CSU reach a broad and diverse audience. CSU alum and macro influencer @90sKid4Lyfe tapped into nostalgia and humor, engaging fans with relatable and fun 90s content. Tucson-based alum and foodie @HannahJeansPlate provided a local flair with recommendations for out-of-town Rams to eat, connecting CSU’s presence to the host city. Our student bowl game giveaway winner @_0livias brought a fresh student perspective, spotlighting the excitement of attending the game firsthand. The influencers’ posts were amplified through collabs, shares, and reposts, seamlessly integrating their content into CSU’s bowl game storytelling.
Dynamic Multimedia Content: Our team produced super cool visuals, like a portal-themed photo, blending CSU’s Canvas Stadium with the desert landscape of Tucson.
Live Coverage: Green and Gold took over Tucson. With boots on the ground, our team captured the magic and energy of game day. From tailgates to Ram Rally highlights, and that time when CSU President Amy Parsons met Snoop Dogg himself, we brought the energy of the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl to life for fans everywhere.
The results were nothing short of a touchdown:
1.2K mentions across social media platforms, driving conversations about CSU and the bowl game.
11M estimated reach across the major CSU accounts, showcasing the campaign’s broad appeal and shareability.
229M cumulative impressions ensuring the campaign resonated far beyond the immediate CSU community.
Over 6,000 engagements on key posts, including likes, comments, and shares, demonstrating the audience’s enthusiasm and connection to the content.
Fans were thrilled, engaging with humorous, educational, and just plain fun content. By leveraging pop culture references like Snoop on the Stoop in a CSU context, we created a campaign that resonated deeply with Rams fans and beyond, making the content relatable and widely shareable. Collaborations with Athletics, campus influencers, and key partners amplified our reach, turning this campaign into an unforgettable moment that elevated CSU’s brand on a national scale.
Why It Worked:
We leaned into Snoop Dogg’s celebrity to bridge the gaps between a nationally televised bowl game, Ram Pride and CSU’s excellence as a top research university. The timing and execution aligned perfectly, creating a national buzz that lingered long after the game ended. And it was no small feat, executing this plan in only 20 days, amidst finals week, graduation, winter break, and major holidays.
To sum it up: This campaign wasn’t just “Fo’ shizzle”—it was impactful, innovative, and distinctly CSU.
