At Avispa Fukuoka's final home game, held on Sunday, November 30th, students from Faculty of Economics worked on an industry-academia collaboration project with the aim of attracting the largest number of spectators of the season.
This project is a collaboration between Avispa Fukuoka, the team's sponsor Ajex Co., Ltd., and four universities in the prefecture, including our university, with approximately 70 students planning and implementing public relations strategies and merchandise promotions to attract fans.
Thanks to the efforts of each university that have been refined since last year, 17,587 people came to the stadium on the day, the highest number for a home game this season.
At our university, 21 students, including first to fourth year students, enrolled in the "Practical Planning Exercise" class taught by Associate Professor Shimoda Shinya of the Department Faculty of EconomicsFaculty of Economics, worked in groups to plan and implement "merchandise promotional plans," "social media information dissemination," and "on-campus ticket sales."
At the "Make your own original merchandise pouch!" booth, an event was held where visitors could create their own original acrylic pouches filled with player merchandise they had purchased. In order to attract more visitors and increase the desire to purchase merchandise, the students analyzed marketing data and calculated costs in advance, and made preparations while receiving advice from companies. Thanks in part to the effectiveness of the social media group in spreading information, 200 event participation tickets had been distributed within two hours of the start, double the number from last year, and many visitors participated.
On Friday, December 12th, the four universities gathered at our university for the final report session on the industry-academia collaboration, which was held following the kick-off meeting. Players Masaya Tashiro and Yu Hashimoto also attended. The effectiveness of these projects was verified based on numerical data and survey results, and reported to the relevant parties. Takagi Chiaki, Deputy Director of Marketing at Avispa Fukuoka Co., Ltd., praised the students, saying, "I think it's great that they were able to make good use of the lessons learned from the previous year. I believe that the record attendance was the result of the students' efforts, so I hope they can all be proud of it."
[Faculty of Economics]
