In a pure act of genius a student added his Venmo username to
his College Gameday sign a few weeks ago and reaped the benefits in ways I don’t
think even he expected. Sam in an act of either humor, desperation, or both made
a request for beer money from his Mom via the College Gameday camera crew. His
response was well received, getting almost 2,000 Venmo payments made to his
account in the weeks to follow. Whether people just enjoyed his humor, were sympathetic,
or just longed for their college day’s back, Sam found his audience and struck
a chord with them.
Because of the signs success, of course buzz began to
generate about the real motives behind it. Many tried to claim that it was sponsored
by Venmo as a marketing ploy. Venmo has since come out with a statement saying
that they in no way incentivized the sign, but if I were them I would be pretty
happy about it. This sign is the perfect, most natural form of word of mouth
marketing, and the College Gameday crowd and viewers are mostly compromised of
College students who are a great target audience for Venmo. Venmo was sure to take advantage of this free
marketing by tweeting an ongoing tally of Sam’s Venmo account transactions. Is College
Gameday signs the best new marketing channel for targeting millennials? Or is
beer just something we can all agree on?
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