Earlier this season, Fischer Homes—No. 30 on the 2023 Builder 100—was named the official home builder of the National Football League’s Cincinnati Bengals. The partnership merges two Cincinnati institutions “to celebrate the best of local craftsmanship and sportsmanship.”
“Fischer Homes and the Cincinnati Bengals share a passion and commitment to putting winning teams on the field,” says Fischer Homes CEO Tim McMahon. “We are honored to be serving as the official home builder of the Cincinnati Bengals and look forward to further enhancing the greater Cincinnati community that we love.”
To hear more about the collaboration, BUILDER spoke with senior vice president of corporate strategy Steve Whaley. In a time where builders need to be thinking more about their marketing and advertising, Whaley gives some of the ins and outs of partnering with a national sports team, how it provides value to Fischer Homes’ business, and advice for other builders looking to do the same.
Is this the company’s first time partnering with a major national sports team?
A few years ago, we teamed up with the Cincinnati Reds and Pampers to create a nursing suite inside Great American Ballpark—the first ever of its kind in the country. We took an empty suite space and designed and decorated it during the offseason so that new moms would have the ideal space to feed, change, and relax with their newborns while still being able to see and enjoy the game. The feedback on this space has been tremendous; it was even featured on ESPN and Today.com.
Courtesy Fischer Homes
Why now? And why the NFL/Cincinnati Bengals?
We are proud to celebrate the success of another hometown winner. The Cincinnati Bengals have been to the AFC Championship for the last two years, and there is a new energy around the team. They also have the highest social media engagement of any NFL team. This is ultimately what helped drive what we wanted to do with them. Plus, they are a fan favorite in Dayton, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky, two other leading markets we build in.
What does your collaboration entail?
As the official home builder of the Cincinnati Bengals, we are able to use the team’s marks/logos, allowing us to bring creative content to our future and existing homeowners. We have taken this to another level by filming creative content with the Bengals mascot, Who Dey, in a Fischer home and sharing this on social media. We also have a few places where we have incorporated it into signage.
How does the partnership benefit the company?
It allows us to create shareable content that is engaging with our target market. The sales team is sharing the content with our customers. We also host watch parties in our communities where the Bengals mascot makes a surprise entrance. People then take and share photos with their friends and family. Another aspect we don’t want to forget is engagement with our associates. There has been great pride in being associated with the team, and we have also seen our associates taking and posting photos with Who Dey.
Courtesy Fischer Homes
How long will the campaign run, and how do you intend to measure return on investment?
Our ‘Who Dey at Home’ campaign will run not just throughout the NFL season, but we will have some other clips, too. In this video series, the fan base gets an inside glimpse of what life in a Fischer home looks like through the perspective of the Cincinnati Bengals mascot, Who Dey, who we show living in a Fischer home. He does something each week in the home ahead of the game related to the opposing team. You can watch all the episodes here and even read Who Dey’s diary!
We are watching overall views, shares, and likes and hearing about it from customers as they come into our models.
How does a campaign like this differ from other marketing efforts?
We always try to tie it back to life inside of a Fischer home. We steered away from doing very much in the stadium, where it is easy to get overrun with other messaging.
Do you have any advice for builders looking to partner with other sports teams?
Be sure to tailor your campaigns to your demographic. In stadium made more sense for us with the Cincinnati Reds because of the number of games and the environment at the game. We chose a totally different approach with the Bengals.
Whether partnering with a sports team or something else, we feel it has to tie back to what you represent as a brand and should give the customer a sense of what you offer.
