The Cougar Women’s Hockey Alumni are former hockey players for the University of Regina Cougars who have been raising funds for future generations of Cougar players for five years. We have been involved with their marquee event since 2014 and think this is a great community event because of the support it provides to local athletes and students.

Additionally current Cougars run a program called Cougar Cubs hockey that our families have participated in for three years. This is a great hockey program for 3 to 7 year olds in Regina where they learn fundamental hockey skills with current players every Sunday October until March.

One of the duties we have undertaken every year since Strictly Social became involved was taking photos of the sponsor signage on site and the teams participating. Sponsor signage helps prove that the alumni are fulfilling their promises and proves that the companies money is well spent. Team photos are used for promotion for the next year’s event and also as a souvenir for the teams who participated.

So what was different with the approach to this year? Well part of the content that was going to be gathered beyond the traditional photos was of golfers singing the praises of the tournament for the promotion of the 2018 tournament on video. Very early in the day it became apparent this video would not be possible. Photos still occurred and a having someone on site offered other opportunities.

The following video was intended to be part of the “why golf in the classic?” video series for 2018, and it evolved into a very simple thank you video. Before all of the Golders had reached the clubhouse for the silent auction and dinner this video was edited and posted to all of the social media channels for the Cougar Women’s Alumni.

https://youtu.be/OCLkO_J_OME

During the course of the golf tournament the title sponsor had set up a sample station to launch a forthcoming taco menu. They were serving free duck tacos to the golfers in attendance and while the golfer was enjoying this delicious taco it also gave chef Joel time to explain the new menu and the restaurant if they were not familiar with the restaurant.

After observing this a few times, the chef was asked if it could be filmed to share on the alumni social media as a thank you to them for doing it, as well as additional promotion for them. This video was shot in one take and edited three feet away from the taco service. During the course of editing chef Joel heard a phone alert and asked if it was the background music, at which point it became the background music…

https://youtu.be/0VeJ1M8z7-8

After the video was posted on all of the social media channels it was edited a second time, the edit was necessary to have it fit Instagram stories. So the chef’s description was removed but essence of what was happening preserved.

https://youtu.be/yZF0s-MP_8E

Instagram stories was a strong part of the social media delivery the day of the tournament. During the course of the day several clips were shot and posted to Instagram stories and whenever possible the sponsor was tagged.

The value of having live social media at the event was very apparent because of the outside comments and traffic back to the alumni’s social media that day. Many who wished they had registered commented and liked the various posts and sponsors who realized they had missed an event that would make their brand look good.