Notre Dame fans started to see billboards popping up on Twitter featuring some of Notre Dame’s top-line players in their home markets on Wednesday. From New Jersey to Charlotte to Atlanta to St. Louis. Notre Dame football players faces were plastered on billboards along the inter-state highways in those areas. I don’t know whose idea it was, but it was brilliant and that staffer deserves a raise.
Here’s a few examples that have popped up so far, and some more thoughts on this after them.
Kyle Hamilton in Atlanta
Jayson and Justin Ademilola in New Jersey
Gabriel Rubio and Kyren Williams in St. Louis
Osita Ekwonu in Charlotte
Notre Dame has been really upping their recruiting game recently with some really creative campaigns, and this is just another example of that. It’s also a bold move by Notre Dame to plant their flag essentially in some areas of the country where the Irish might not be as popular as they are in say Chicago or the New York City metropolitan area (the billboard featuring the Ademilola’s is just a few miles outside of Manhattan).
This is what you do as a national brand and as a school that recruits on a national level though. It’s just exciting seeing Notre Dame embrace that and be so bold in their recruiting efforts.
Brian Kelly has said the goal for Notre Dame is to get past being a top 10 class and into the top 5. Creative campaigns like this – combined with the results we see on the field such as two Playoff appearances in three years – will help the Irish achieve that goal. There is still some work to be done, but this is just another step in the right direction for taking Notre Dame football’s recruiting efforts to the next level.
This advertising makes a case for compensating players for use of their images.