Sean Kimball celebrates with his BYU50 swag box. Kimball won the box by running out of his house without shoes.
(BYU Athletics)
Sean Kimball sat down on his couch after a day at the beach and opened Instagram on his phone while at his home
BYU Cougar account, featured a blue cardboard box on a hill by Kimball's house.
Curious about the box, the BYU junior hopped into his car barefoot and drove toward the location shown in the picture. He said on his way he saw about five other cars head the same direction. When he got near the location, he parked the car, hopped out, saw the box and ran. Kimball was the first person to reach the box, so he got to keep the box and all the BYU football swag it held.
The box was a part of BYU football's countdown treasure hunt: BYU50.
BYU50 is a countdown campaign intended to build fan excitement for the upcoming football season. Beginning 50 days before kickoff, one state at a time, boxes full of BYU football swag are placed in secret locations, clues about the boxes hiding spots are posted on BYU Cougar social media accounts, and then the fans come, often in large groups.
'It's totally unique to BYU, and when you think about the other schools in the country, nobody else can pull it off because nobody else has the network of fans that we do in every state,' said Chelsea Fairbourn, BYU athletics marketing assistant.
David Almodova, director of BYU athletics marketing, said every school has a way to countdown to football season. Most simply post on social media. 'Our thing was: let's post that (countdown), but let's create an experience with it,' he said.
What started three years ago as a one-day, 20-box scavenger hunt in Utah has quickly grown into an international fan experience.
'We thought at the time that was super crazy, then David (Almodova) got the idea the next year to take it nationwide
Matt Porter and Brendan Flanery jump for joy in Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska, after finding the BYU50 box. The BYU50 promotion gets fans excited for football season. (BYU Athletics)
Almodova said after the Utah scavenger hunt, fans from all around the country requested box drops in their states. From there, BYU50 was developed. It would be a 50-day countdown to fall camp with a box delivered to all 50 states.
Every year the hunt has evolved a little more. This year instead of 50 days before fall camp, the promotion started 50 days before kickoff, and, in addition
nationwide
promotion
Almodova said coordinating BYU50 is intense. The marketing department uses connections
'Essentially it's a super basic scavenger hunt,' Call said. 'It's not meant to be hard or take a long time. It's pretty simple: see the picture, know where you need to go, first one there wins
Dana Eyerly & her family with their BYU50 box. The Eyerlys found the box right after it was dropped because they waited in the Florida heat for five hours. (BYU Athletics)
Not only do BYU fans quickly find every box, but up to 40 people arrive just after the winner
winner
Dana Eyerly won the box in Jacksonville, Florida, by waiting for five hours in the Florida summer heat with her husband, 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.
'It was really an exciting time for our family,' Eyerly said. 'Even though we were waiting in 90-degree weather for five hours, it was worth every minute of it.'
Fans are strategic about finding the boxes. When people learn that a drop will be in their state, many call their Cougar-fan friends and coordinate plans.
Ultimately, BYU50 shows the reach of Cougar Nation. Not only does every state have a volunteer who is willing to drop the box, but people look for the box at every drop site.
In Delaware, a state not typically assumed as crowding with Cougar fans, the box was found in under seven minutes, Almadova said.
BYU football head coach Bronco Mendenhall drops the BYU50 box in Costa Rica. Winners
job
agreed
As a way to share all the individual stories, the marketing team developed the BYU50 website, BYU50.com. The site has the dates of the drops, maps, pictures and a blog section where volunteers, winners
chance to win
reward