Penn State earned top honors and won $10,000 in general scholarship dollars in the inaugural College Colors Day Spirit Cup as part of CLC and NCAA Football's "Pledge Your Allegiance" campaign to celebrate the kickoff of the 2012 football season. This web-based rivalry competition, powered by ESPN.com, featured 172 colleges and universities. CoSIDA and CLC partnered to help promote this competition to the athletic communications professionals.
(Note: The contest was scheduled to run through College Colors Day on August 31; however, due to inauthentic activity on the
Pledge Your Allegiance website, administrators ended the online competition on August 24.)
Fans are encouraged to continue supporting their favorite school by wearing their college gear on Friday, August 31.
release courtesy of www.clc.com
ATLANTA, Ga., (August 29, 2012) – The Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), a division of IMG College, and NCAA Football today announced The Pennsylvania State University as the winner of the inaugural College Colors Day Spirit Cup and $10,000 toward the University’s general scholarship fund.
To celebrate the excitement and energy surrounding the kickoff of the 2012 college football season, CLC and NCAA Football launched the
Pledge Your Allegiance campaign, a web-based rivalry competition powered by ESPN.com, featuring 172 colleges and universities from across the nation.
Penn State garnered the most fan support with 44,801 pledges. Rounding out the top five schools were Texas A&M, Missouri, West Virginia, and Alabama.
The competition kicked-off August 1 as national championship coach Nick Saban cast the ceremonial first vote. With a photo of the vote spreading on social media, Alabama generated a quick lead. Texas A&M, riding its own social media efforts, soon took over the top spot. Rallying the support of alumni, fans, and even the campus newspaper, Penn State then made a big push about a week after pledging began and never looked back until the finish line. The Penn State Nittany Lions ended the contest in first place with 44,801 fans who pledged their allegiance to the University.
Penn State mobilized its fan base by utilizing its web resources, including E-mail blasts to its alumni, fans, and students; a significant social media campaign through the Penn State Facebook, which has over 277,000 followers; and multiple daily tweets to its various Twitter accounts.
“We are elated to see this incredible expression of Penn State pride, spirit, and support demonstrated by our students, alumni, faculty and staff, and friends and fans in winning the
Pledge Your Allegiance contest,” said Roger Williams, executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association. “This national victory is what Nittany Nation is all about. We know Penn Staters everywhere will join us in celebrating by wearing their blue and white with great pride.”
A formal presentation of the award will take place during the 2012-13 academic year.
“We are honored to recognize Penn State as the winner of the College Colors Day Spirit Cup and congratulate them on a tremendous effort to rally their fans in the inaugural
Pledge Your Allegiance contest,” said Catherine Gammon, Senior Vice President, Brand Development, The Collegiate Licensing Company. “We thank all college fans who participated in the competition and encourage fans to continue supporting their favorite school by wearing their college gear on Friday, August 31.”
In order to determine which school has the most spirited fan base, College football’s 173 million fans were encouraged to visit
www.espn.com/collegecolorsday to pledge their allegiance to their favorite college or university. Standings were tracked nationally, as well as by conference. All registrants were entered to win weekly $50 gift cards from ESPN Shop and one of two grand prizes including a $500 college shopping spree at ESPN Shop.
The contest was scheduled to run through College Colors Day on August 31, however, due to inauthentic activity on the
Pledge Your Allegiance website, administrators ended the online competition on August 24. Penn State University was determined the winner based on the authentic pledges that were received through August 24.
College Colors Day is an annual celebration dedicated to promoting the traditions and spirit that embody the college experience by encouraging fans across America to wear their favorite college or university apparel throughout the day on Friday, August 31.
This year, College Colors Day is bigger than ever with more than 200 participating universities, the NCAA, and more than 10,000 stores representing the nation’s top retailers participating in events and promotions to provide fans all the gear they need to show their college spirit. The collegiate fan base is the largest, most affluent, and the most well-educated in all of sports. Collegiate licensed merchandise generated nearly $4.6 billion in retail sales in 2011, with royalties from the merchandise going back to colleges to support scholarships and campus development programs.
For more information on College Colors Day visit
www.collegecolorsday.com or
www.facebook.com/collegecolorsday.