There was a time when a Heisman Trophy campaign meant a few well-placed advertisements in the trade press, perhaps a brochure mailed to the 870 or so voters, and a hope that the sports information director had a good relationship with someone at a wire service.
That time, it appears, has passed.
The University of Mississippi has mounted what may be the most geographically ambitious Heisman campaign in the award's 90-year history, placing its two candidates — quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and running back Kewan Lacy — on the Sphere in Las Vegas and on the video boards in Times Square, according to reports in The Oxford Eagle and on ESPN.com. Ole Miss is said to be the first university to advertise on the Sphere, the 366-foot-tall orb that opened last year and has become a favored canvas for brands seeking to suggest that their message is, quite literally, enormous.
The campaign, which Ole Miss began in July under the name H6I5MEN (a reference to the players' jersey numbers, for those keeping score at home), has also included yard signs and promotional materials of the sort more typically associated with a candidate for county assessor.
Drew Ingraham, the school's senior associate athletic director for external engagement, told ESPN that the goal was not merely to promote two football players but to "put the University of Mississippi and Ole Miss athletics at the forefront of college athletics too." (One imagines the admissions office is grateful.)
The cost of the campaign was not disclosed by Ole Miss or by Outfront Media, the advertising agency that handled the media buying, but sources estimated the expenditure at $600,000 to $700,000.
Whether the investment yields a Heisman remains to be seen. But the campaign has already produced something measurable: more than 40,000 Instagram likes, which is perhaps the trophy that matters now.
Original story published in sportsbusinessjournal.com: "Ole Miss going beyond usual efforts to promote duo for Heisman"