Kingsford and Learfield - King of the Tailgate

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

Kingsford and Learfield partnered to deliver a unique and engaging fan experience to celebrate Kingsford as the leader in barbecue with their “King of the Tailgate” campaign. This campaign celebrated the tradition of tailgating at college football and captured the essence of gameday with local pitmasters showcasing how they incorporate Kingsford into their tailgate rituals on gameday.

The Kingsford King of the Tailgate campaign celebrated tailgate season with college football’s biggest fans. The program featured 12 of the hottest tailgating schools in the nation steeped in tailgate tradition. With the integration of original content capturing tailgate barbecue rituals, not only were school intellectual property and IP marks incorporated into the campaign, but real grill master’s from twelve schools were featured discussing the traditions of tailgating and some of their best tailgate recipes and grill master secrets.

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

The King of the Tailgate experiential events took place at six marquee SEC-school home games to feature and promote Kingsford as an important part of the tailgate experience. During the tailgate, Kingsford displayed signage and branded food trucks handed out samples of barbequed chicken to hungry tailgaters. Additionally, 12 unique digital and social campaigns featured grill masters sharing traditions, culture, and barbecue secret recipes along with their passion for their favorite teams. These campaigns helped to engage fans throughout the country, even if their favorite team was not in their current home state.

Kingsford was thrilled with the success of the campaign. It helped to achieve their goals of increasing awareness and sales for Kingsford Charcoal by aligning the Kingsford brand with the rich history and tradition of college football tailgating and engaging with passionate fans.

Objective

Kingsford was targeting college football fans, tailgaters and “homegaters” in the Southeast and South-Central US. The objective of this campaign was to target the “grilling curious” crowd – those people who are undecided on whether to use propane or charcoal.

Kingsford captured the excitement and energy of gameday with this King of the Tailgate campaign. Every fan knows that the gameday experience starts well before kickoff. Tailgating before the game is equally, or sometimes even more important than the game itself for the gameday experience.

As every true grill master knows, grilling with charcoal or wood pellets is the best and authentic way to grill, and Kingsford has been enabling authentic barbecue for generations. The King of the Tailgate campaign showcased the history, fun and experience of grilling with Kingsford charcoal at some of the largest college athletics tailgates.

To connect with the grilling community and build excitement for future tailgating opportunities, Kingsford also launched a tailgate recipe collection, giving grillers and fans exclusive tips and recipes to try at their upcoming tailgates.

Strategy & Execution

To maximize the excitement on campus and to complement the digital and social King of the Tailgate campaign, Kingsford and Learfield gave grilling fans the opportunity to win exclusive prizes throughout the college football season. Kingsford and Learfield hosted a pregame tailgate at marquee games both on campus and at retail during the season:

Kingsford Tailgate Tour Dates
• Sep. 28 – Georgia at Alabama
• Oct. 12 – Red River Rivalry: Texas vs. Oklahoma
• Nov. 2 – Arizona State at Oklahoma State
• Nov. 9 – Georgia at Ole Miss
• Nov. 16 – Tennessee at Georgia
• Nov. 30 – Lonestar Showdown: Texas at Texas A&M

These tailgate tour stops also featured Kingsford-branded tailgate areas and food trucks that distributed free food to hungry fans, including over 36,000+ samples of barbeque chicken. While at the tailgate, Kingsford also conducted a survey from fans and learned that 68% of fans who grill with charcoal make sure that they used Kingsford for their barbecues. To add more excitement and fan-fair Kingsford had celebrity alumni attend the tailgate including AJ McCarron, a former quarterback from Alabama, Jamaal Charles, former running back from Texas, and Sony Michel, former running back from Georgia, and other celebrity chefs and pitmasters.

Organizations

• Learfield
• Kingsford
• University of Alabama Athletics
• University of Arkansas Athletics
• University of Florida Athletics
• University of Georgia Athletics
• University of Missouri Athletics
• University of Oklahoma Athletics
• Oklahoma State Athletics
• University of Mississippi Athletics (Ole Miss)
• University of South Carolina Athletics
• University of Tennessee Athletics
• University of Texas Athletics
• Texas A&M Athletics

Links

•   Website

Credits

Mitchell O’Furey
Marketing Director and Studio Lead
Kingsford

Katy Schumacher
Associate Director of Marketing
Kingsford

Matt Ohlson
Marketing Manager
Kingsford

Patrick Fuller
Vice President, National Partnerships
Learfield

Mike Giaccio
Director - National Partnerships
Learfield

Grant Jones
Head of Content
Learfield Studios

Daniel Wittenberg
VP of Branded Content
Learfield Studios

Becca Berenson
Director of Branded Content
Learfield Studios

Cara Falberg
Manager of Branded Content
Learfield Studios