Commemorative OU 125 Coke Bottles, Exclusive Mobile Device Augmented Reality Featuring Milestone Moments in Sooners’ Football History, Among Key Innovations for Fans in 2019-20
NORMAN, Okla. – Sooner football fans have the opportunity to embrace a special season in 2019 as the University of Oklahoma celebrates its 125th year in program history. Longtime OU partner Coca-Cola pays tribute to the Sooners’ gridiron success by serving as “OU 125” presenting sponsor and introducing an integrated one-of-a-kind fan campaign for 2019-20, as announced today by OU Athletics and its multimedia rightsholder, Sooner Sports Properties.
Notably, fans can purchase commemorative 8-oz. glass Coca-Cola bottles customized with the OU 125 logo available on ShareACoke.com/OU125. In area stores and inside Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, fans will want to purchase an OU-branded 20-oz. Coke or Coke Zero Sugar as both bottles offer an exclusive augmented reality (AR) feature showcasing milestone Sooner football moments with a cell phone and OU app. Coca-Cola also is developing an OU 125 photo mosaic built over the season through pre-game fan festivities during home games and online at OU125.com.
“Without a doubt, this will be an exceptional year for our fans and our community to celebrate 125 seasons of Sooner football,” said OU Vice President and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione. “It’s going to be a fun season, and we appreciate Coca-Cola, our longtime partner, elevating its relationship with us to bring our fans innovative OU touchpoints with our football program that have never been done before.”
Coca-Cola bolstered its level of involvement with the Sooners in support of OU 125 this fall, to coincide with the brand’s college-focused Share a Coke® campaign. OU is one of 53 college teams nationwide this year that will have customized branded 20-oz. Coke and Coke Zero Sugar bottles available for fans to purchase.
As part of the brand’s dedicated OU 125 initiative with Athletics and Sooner Sports Properties, the AR time capsule is a centerpiece component to share memorable moments with fans during a milestone season. When the 20-oz. OU-branded Coke or Coke Zero Sugar bottle is positioned under a fan’s mobile device, a multitude of highlights from Sooner football history will begin populating. In order to view the historical moments in AR, fans will use the SoonerSports2Go app developed by OU Athletics’ digital provider SIDEARM Sports.
“Coca-Cola and OU football have been teammates dating back nearly 100 years,” said Ryan Keen, marketing manager, Coca-Cola North America. “This football season, we want to give Sooner fans a new and innovative way to celebrate their team when they reach for a Coke or Coke Zero Sugar.”
The app will showcase in AR some of the greatest moments in Sooner football history – a program that has produced seven Heisman Trophy winners, 48 conference championships, five No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks, 166 first-team All Americans and 35 unanimous All-Americans. The storied Oklahoma program also has 26 former players or coaches as members of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame, and it owns the longest winning streak ever (47 games from 1953-57). OU football also has won a record 12 Big 12 championships and has 52 bowl appearances, among its many other team and individual accomplishments since inception in 1895. Since April, OU Athletics has been promoting OU 125 among fans through dedicated social media posts highlighting these moments and more.
Sooner Sports Properties, the longtime multimedia rightsholder for OU Athletics and the OU-dedicated team for Learfield IMG College, works with local, regional and national brands that align with the Sooners. SSP is overseeing the overall sponsorship between Coca-Cola and OU, as well as the various components in support of OU 125.
“OU has been a tremendous partner of ours for years, and we’re excited to work alongside the entire university community to celebrate 125 seasons of Sooner football,” said Learfield IMG College President and CEO Greg Brown. “We applaud Coca-Cola for reaching into the passionate college football communities through its Share-A-Coke campaign. We appreciate Coca-Cola’s desire to embrace OU 125 and to develop these customized elements for Sooner fans.”
About Learfield IMG College
Learfield IMG College unlocks the value of college sports for brands and fans through an omnichannel platform. In addition to SIDEARM Sports, the Learfield IMG College suite of services includes licensing and multimedia sponsorship management; publishing, broadcasting, social media; ticket sales and professional concessions expertise; branding; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue technology systems. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, the company has long had the privilege of being an advocate for intercollegiate athletics and the student-athlete experience. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed Learfield IMG College Directors’ Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions.