June 25, 2007

ORLANDO, Fla. - The National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA) presented Auburn University's Athletic Marketing Department with an award at is annual convention held June 7-10 in Orlando, Fla. Initiated in 2003, the NACMA Awards program honors outstanding achievement in marketing and promotions. Awards are presented in 16 categories, with each category divided into three groups based upon school size and conference affiliations to promote fairness.

Auburn captured silver in the category of "Best Targeted Group Promotion." The promotion focused on a partnership formed between the Athletics Department and the Auburn and Opelika Tourism Bureau.

"We were looking for a way to get new people to attend our basketball games and the tourism bureau was looking for ways to entertain hotel guests," said Auburn's Assistant Director of Marketing Jon Sirico.

Hotel guests could pick up a coupon at the front desk of their hotel and redeem the coupon for free Auburn basketball tickets at the Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum Box Office on game day. At the end of the season the tourism bureau paid the athletics department for the coupons that were redeemed during the season.

"We felt this would be a different way to get some new people into our arena to experience an Auburn Athletics event," said Sirico. "Hopefully, we created a few new Auburn fans in the process. To be recognized at this year's convention with the silver medal was a great honor not only for the marketing department but the athletics department as a whole."

About NACMA: NACMA is the first organization of its kind to provide educational and networking opportunities; enhancement of acceptable operating standards and ethics; and establishment of the overall prestige and understanding of the profession of athletics marketing administrators. For more information about NACMA, please visit www.nacma.com. NACMA is administered by NACDA. In its 42nd year, NACDA is the professional and educational association for more than 6,100 college athletics administrators at more than 1,600 institutions throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 2,000 athletics administrators annually attend the NACDA Convention. Additionally, NACDA administers 10 professional associations for the separate business units that report directly to the athletics director.