The Fiesta Bowl is one of the largest bowl games in American college football. Part of the elite Bowl Championship Series, it has been played in Arizona every year since 1971 and is watched by millions.
But the Fiesta Bowl takes its motto of ‘More Than Just a Game’ seriously. They are a non-profit built around providing football experiences that serve as economic drivers and charitable resources locally.
A good example of their outreach is their signature Friday Night Showdown – an eight game series of some of the best high school football games Arizona has to offer.
The game plan? Grow online fan engagement.
This series of games is sponsored by the Fiesta Bowl’s partners, and is an excellent way to raise more revenue to fund and grow the non-profit organization.
The team at the Fiesta Bowl wanted to add an online element to the Friday Night Showdown to generate fan enthusiasm and build the buzz around each week’s matchup, plus provide value for their sponsor with a larger online following.
The playbook for the Fiesta Bowl? Reach all ages with polls.
The Fiesta Bowl faced a challenge of quickly creating and deploying polished interactive content on a weekly basis, in advance of each week’s game. That rapid cadence meant that using an agency would not work, both in terms of increased cost as well as delays.
They needed an in-house solution that was both easy to use and resonated with their target audience of all ages, from high school students to proud parents and beyond.
After surveying the market, they turned to Riddle.com for the comprehensive suite of interactive content options, including quizzes, personality tests, polls, and surveys, all offered within a single, attractive package.
Notably, Riddle.com‘s user-friendly interface eliminates the need for coding expertise, empowering any member of the Fiesta Bowl team to become a content creator and contribute to a more engaging visitor experience.
“Riddle was not only efficient but also cost-effective, as it allowed us to create weekly polls around pertinent questions such as ‘Which school is most spirited?’ and ‘Who will be our player of the game?’ in a fraction of the time compared to other methods,” said Riczer Desvaristes, Director of Football Engagement at the Fiesta Bowl.
65% engagement rate – score!
The Fiesta Bowl is on to a clear winner with their poll-first strategy. Quick to create, embed, and to take, they have seen excellent metrics across the board.
“The impact on engagement has been remarkable. Over the course of an 8-week period, we observed that 65.8% of visitors to our high school page initiated engagement with the polls,” continued Riczer. “Even more encouraging was the active participation in voting, with over 2,500 completions out of 3,000 starts (83%).”
Riddle’s mobile-friendly design played a big part. Smartphones are key for a high school audience, and 85% of the Fiesta Bowl’s audience engaged through their smartphones and tablets.
This season is over, but the Fiesta Bowl’s team is already in training for next year, with Riddle.com sure to play a big role.
“The success of our Fiesta Bowl Friday Night high school outreach program would not have been possible without Riddle’s support,” Riczer said. “We look forward to continuing our partnership and exploring further opportunities for collaboration.”
Further reading
- The Fiesta Bowl’s Friday Night Showdown: https://www.fiestabowl.org/sports/2023/8/7/fiesta-bowl-friday-night-showdown.aspx
