Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It’s Froglinks Man.
The masked superhero Froglinks Man debuted at the Homecoming football game Oct. 31 against University of Nevada, Las Vegas and was one of the Alumni Association’s marketing tactics for its new Web site, which launched Oct. 15, said Kristi Hoban, associate vice chancellor of alumni relations.
“In the last three weeks we’ve had 10,000 visitors and 51 percent of them have been new visitors … We’ve had a 13 percent increase in the number of people visiting the site from September to October,” Hoban said.
In recreating Froglinks, the alumni Web site, Hoban said she wanted to involve more alumni, get them to register for events online and have more people submit their e-mail addresses. She said a video contest open to all students and alumni, as well as the debut of Froglinks Man, were their biggest promotional marketing plans.
Froglinks Man visited tailgates and handed out information cards for the new Froglinks alumni Web site. His travels both days were captured on film, and the pictures can be accessed through the Froglinks homepage, Hoban said.
The “Be Funny…Make Money” video contest was meant to be a fun and creative way to spread information about the new Web site’s features, Hoban said. She said contestants are encouraged to be humorous and make people want to visit the Web site through emotional marketing.
The videos should be between 30 and 60 seconds long and be exciting enough to qualify to go viral through the TCU community, according to the Froglinks Web site. Video entries must be submitted to www.froglinks.com by Nov. 30.
Hoban said she wanted participants to use creativity to inform senior students and alumni of the new Web site’s capabilities and make them want to go online and activate their membership. She said Web site members can create a profile by submitting their e-mail address, posting pictures, finding classmates and learning about events.
These profile pages will help young alumni in contacting recent graduates and informing them of events because the group uses mostly e-mail and Facebook, Hoban said.
Another promotional concept is TCU Magazine’s plan to wrap its next edition with a paper bag-like covering, Hoban said. The covering will be decorated with information on Froglinks and the new features of the Web site, she said.
The cover of every issue of TCU Magazine features a horned frog hidden in the picture. Readers are supposed to search for the frog and wait for the next edition to find out where it was, Hoban said. This month, however, the magazine will tell readers to go to the Froglinks Web site to find out the frog’s location immediately, Hoban said.
The Alumni Association had the idea to recreate the Froglinks Web site and make it come to life in spring 2008, Hoban said. The Alumni Association put together an integrated marketing team of professionals from both on and off campus and representatives from every decade of alumni, she said.
The committee looked at other alumni Web sites to review what aspects they found effective and what they did not think would work for the university community, Hoban said.
Hoban said she is hopeful that the new Web site will continue to attract new visitors and help TCU students continue to be involved in the community even after graduation.
For information on the video contest and the Alumni Association go to www.froglinks.com or call (817) 257-7803
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