June 16, 2005
ORLANDO - The UCF Sports Marketing Office garnered two awards, including one of five "Best of the Best" honors, from the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators at the organization's national convention on Wednesday night.
The "Coach O'Leary Get Motivated Season Ticket Campaign" for the 2004 football season earned the gold award in the Group III season ticket campaign category. Thanks to the promotion, season ticket sales increased by 11%.
Of the 720 entries eligible, five were selected "Best of the Best" regardless of division by a panel of celebrity judges that included top marketing professionals from Gatorade, Coca-Cola, IMG Creative, General Motors and the Fiesta Bowl. Also chosen for the top honor were LSU, Kansas, Cal and Rutgers.
"We were very enthusiastic about the campaign. Having it ranked as one of the top in the country is a huge honor," said UCF Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing and Promotions Gert Garman. Along with assistant Jared Eller, Garman developed the award-winning campaign in conjunction with the Knight Images Agency.
This is the second consecutive year that Garman, Eller and their staff have been honored by NACMA. In 2004, they were recognized with a bronze award as one of the top student promotions in their division.