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PNC Arena Marketing Tactic

Hayley Allred
Oct 27, 2017
3 min read

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go to the Professional Bull Riding World Finals in Raleigh NC. I have been to the rodeo that comes once a year to the PNC arena every year for the past three years. It is one sporting event my family can agree on going to and all of us enjoying it together. It is something about how the events and results are not predicted and the riders can train to the best of their ability to ride the bulls but they and we never know what kind of bull they’re going to have to ride. It’s a feeling you get when you see a person jump off a cliff or skydive, you never know what’s going to be the end result no matter how hard the person knows what he or she is doing. I also find it interesting that a lot of the riders are in my age range, which shocks me because I could never imagine myself riding a bull.

In summary, the rodeo was very eventful. Riders had bulls that were easy and some unlucky riders got bulls that were out to raise hell. One bull ended up trying to climb out of a stall and another got out of his gate onto the arena when it wasn’t supposed to be on there. I know one major rule of bull riding events is never to turn your back on the bulls because anything could happen. Many rider’s broke ribs, wrists, arms, and legs from being kicked by the bulls but nothing will compare to one of the rider’s injuries in the history of bull riding than what I witnessed last night. A rider was flung off the bull onto the ground and the bull proceeded to buck with both back legs landing on the riders back twice. He was unconscious laying on the dirt floor of the arena as the bull slang spit and dust everywhere. Once the rodeo clowns guided the bull back into the pin the EMS showed up to assess the rider’s injuries. After a silent five minutes, which never occurs in the PNC arena, the rider gained consciousness and walked out with help but on his own two feet. It was a victory for the rider that he survived the blows of the bull. Overall, it was a very eventful and exciting rodeo.

However, to connect this story with Social Media Marketing I wanted to share a tactic that I participated in at the rodeo. It was before the rodeo began so everyone was bored and eager for the event to begin, so on the Mega Tron and slideshow that hung over the arena, PNC and PBR (professional Bull Riding) encouraged that their viewers post a photo or tweet to twitter with certain hashtags to be featured on the big screen before the rodeo started. So many people wanted to see their picture or selfie up on the big screen which connects to our society being an “attention society”, but also that by doing this, PBR was shared through all of their viewers Twitters gaining them so many views and spreading the word about their rodeo. This is free advertisement that engages their viewers in such a way that not only benefits their viewers from being on the big screen but also gets them recognized by their twitter followers as well. I suggest that any sporting event or even event held in PNC should take notice of this tactic and use it.