Sonics - ThankyouChrisHansen.com
The story that caught fire in Seattle on a sunny Tuesday afternoon in September 2012 was about Thursday. The city council had just approved the plan for a new arena and it was a huge step toward bringing back our beloved Sonics and potentially adding an NHL team. The man behind this initiative, investor Chris Hansen, pushed out a blog post thanking city officials and fans for their tireless effort. At the end of his post he offered to buy every supporter in the city a beer – on Thursday evening.
That’s right. He had just offered us a beer to say thanks.
We at Curator felt it was time to turn that sentiment around. And we knew we had less than 24hrs to provide Seattle with a platform to show their appreciation.
We needed an idea that was social minus the LOL’s and OMG’s. We needed a concept that would empower the creativity and passion of the Seattle fans. It had to be authentic and personal. But most importantly it needed to be fast. We knew that the sentiment would peak Thursday evening when the free beers were flowing and the sea of green and yellow had descended upon FX McRory’s.
I concepted and led a social campaign centered on a site with a simple proposition. Download the Thank You pdf template and share your message with Chris via an instagram hashtag - #thankschrishansen. Or just tag an image or favorite Sonics memory with the same hashtag to contribute.
After a long night of design and code, thankyouchrishansen.com was up and the vessel was ready to be filled. We spent the next morning conditioning the soil for the site with a PR and social media push to make people aware of its existence. After previewing the site with influential media and bloggers we publicly launched by 4 p.m. on Wednesday.
Result: