Fans who tailgate at home and register at www.tailgateatyourplace.com can play the mobile-friendly Football Blitz game, view recipes, participate in a scavenger hunt, and more. Registration automatically enters the participant in a sweepstakes with more than $150,000 in daily and monthly grand prizes.

“Although we’re targeting an audience that’s tailgating at home, it still takes a mobile device to pull all the pieces together, from recipe gathering and decorating to inviting and connecting with friends,” said Marcie Anderson, integrated marketing manager, Schwan’s Consumer Brands.

“Additionally, mobile lends itself to sharing the moments with friends via social posting of photos and videos of ‘homegating’ events, similar to what consumers are doing when they’re actually attending the games,” she said.

“Mobile and social allow the event to live on well past the final score.”

Comfort of home
Adlytics research found that 83 percent of college football fans chose to watch games from home and 61 percent of fans hosting a game party at home at least once a month, Anderson said. The trend shows that people want to watch the big game in the comfort of their own home with the food they enjoy, she said.

TailgateAtYourPlace.com offers pizza lovers tips to last through the football season and content to get them in the sporting spirit. HelloWorld developed the platform for the promotion, which lasts through Jan. 10, 2015.

Red Baron Pizza, Freschetta Pizza, and Tony’s Pizza will feature tie-ins to Schwan’s sponsored college football programs through radio, digital activation and signage in select stadiums. The sponsored schools are Georgia, Michigan, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Arkansas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Ohio State.

Mobile and college football fans have become close buddies as mobile lets fans participate in cheering for their teams no matter where they are.

In the past, AT&T has used SMS to let fans text in to vote for the player they thought was the week’s star. A U.S. Cellular mobile promotion gave fans at games a chance to win instant prizes by scanning QR codes.

Large fan base
“The college football fan base is large with 162.6 million fans and nearly half of the fans are female, our key shopper,” said Ms. Anderson.

“Our sponsorship is a great opportunity for us to engage with our consumer base as pizza is the favorite snack for college football fans. According to Neilson, more than 80 percent of smartphone and tablet owners use their devices while watching television.

“We are the official frozen pizza of 15 schools for football and you will see this partnership play out in POS, in-stadium signage, promotions, radio and digital activation,” she said.

“We look to forward to an exciting 2014 football season.”

Final Take

Michael Barris is staff reporter with Mobile Marketer, New York.