March Madness
This time of year, college sports fans are fanatic about one thing: March Madness college basketball, basketball, and more basketball. One jeweler took to the courts to promote its store, and thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime shot, received a lot of priceless publicity in their community and on-line.
Northeastern Fine Jewelry, Albany, New York, sponsored a season long “Shooting Stars” contest at Siena College men’s basketball games, which culminated in one shot from half court for $25,000. During each of the Siena Saints’ previous 13 home games, one fan was chosen at random to shoot for 45 seconds from various locations on the court. The fan that scored the most points during the season was invited back for a shot at the grand prize.
In late February at the Times Union Center, Brendan Bradt, a 24-year-old Cohoes native and former high school point guard, hit the biggest shot of his life. He plans to use the $25,000 windfall to pay off student loans. During the competition, Bradt also won a gift card to the store for $1,000. Ray Bleser, president of Northeastern Fine Jewelry, and Gregg Kelly, general manager, were on the court to present Bradt with the oversized check (photo below).
Amazingly enough, ESPN featured the shot as its second best play of the day in its highly popular “Top Ten” plays segment seen nationwide during SportsCenter. The shot was then placed on YouTube, where the $25,000 jumper has been viewed more than 10,290 times so far. View it for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWDrSeh4MPg.
A recent press release sent to Modern Jeweler dubs it the “shot heard (and seen) round the world.” While we wouldn’t go quite that far, it sure doesn’t hurt in trumpeting a cool, fan friendly promotion by Northeastern Fine Jewelry.
so cool!