Something new is in the Air: Welcome to CLT, Jumpman

The Luquire team laced up its sneakers for today’s announcement of the Jumpman Invitational, a major holiday college basketball event coming to the Queen City that will feature both the men’s and women’s teams from the original four schools to sign partnership deals with Jordan Brand in both basketball and football: Florida, Michigan, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

Luquire client Charlotte Sports Foundation – producer of powerhouse sporting events like the ACC Championship and the Duke’s Mayo Bowl – and Jordan Brand will jointly host the “bigger than basketball” event that will fuse elements of sneaker culture, entertainment and sports.  

The schedule will feature two games each night, with all matchups taking place at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center and airing exclusively on ESPN networks. At a time when equity in college athletics is a major topic, the Jumpman Invitational will provide identical experiences for both the men’s and women’s programs. And Jordan Brand plans to create unique experiences for fans as well as players and coaches in conjunction with the event.  

Luqiure worked for nearly a month alongside the CSF and Jordan Brand teams to bring this announcement to life, jumping in on everything from crafting web copy to writing a press release and curating a media list of national sports media, local outlets and state-specific reporters from the four competitors’ states.  

Early this morning, Luquire’s PR team went into a full-court press to distribute the release far and wide. And in just the first few hours since the announcement was made, the event has gained significant traction on the web and social platforms. So far, news about the Jumpman Invitational has generated more than 400 million total impressions, including articles from 247 Sports, Associated Press, The Athletic, Axios Charlotte and the Sports Business Journal, to name a few, and social engagement from reporters like college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein from CBS Sports and outlets like ESPN and Boardroom.