Florida State's football team may be ahead of Notre Dame's in the polls, but the Notre Dame bookstore's marketing team is winning in the friendly rivalry between the two schools' marketing managers - thanks to its "snuggie" give-away.
"We have a bit of a rivalry with Florida State because my friend is the marketing manager there," Kristin Blitch, marketing manager for the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore, said. "It's a friendly competition, but I'm determined to prove that Notre Dame rules all."
The Bookstore will give away 50 snuggies, or blankets with sleeves, emblazoned with the Notre Dame logo throughout the football season. Winners are selected from the 1,840 fans of the Facebook page for the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore. Florida State's bookstore does not have a Facebook page.
The Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore has previously given away a free copy of The Shirt to every 100th fan, but chose to give away snuggies this year because of their growing popularity.
"Everyone loves snuggies," Blitch said.
Four snuggies will be given away at each football game. If the winner joined the Facebook page thanks to a friend's suggestion, the friend will also receive a gift.
"Anyone who's a fan of the bookstore can win," Blitch said. "But this is primarily intended for students because students would enjoy it the most."
The exact formula for choosing winners is still a work in progress.
"We're open to suggestions," Blitch said. "We'd like to do something creative, like using the score at the end of each quarter to pick a winner."
The Notre Dame snuggie promotion has a two-fold purpose, Blitch said. It is partly a way to attract students to join the bookstore's Facebook page, so that students can be notified of special discounts and other benefits. It is also a way to create some fun for participating students.
"We know how hard you work and how much studying takes out of you," Blitch said. "It's fun to get things for free."
The snuggies were donated by the bookstore and the varsity shops and are also available for sale in the bookstore.
Junior Becky Sharon saw the promotion on her Facebook home page and decided to join, hoping that she would "luck out" and win a snuggie against the odds.
"They look really warm," Sharon said. "And you can never have enough Notre Dame gear."
Sophomore Brian Bettonville enjoyed how easy it was to enter the promotion. His mother has a snuggie at home, so he has first-hand experience with snuggies.
"I have always thought that the snuggie was more of a punch line than a useful blanket," Bettonville said. "But I would definitely use it if I won."
The Notre Dame-branded snuggies hold a particular appeal for students and fans.
"I think the Notre Dame ones look cool," Bettonville said. "If you can say that any snuggies truly look cool."
Although the Bookstore is using the snuggie promotion to convince students to become fans of its Facebook page, Bettonville thinks that the promotion is not entirely necessary.
"I didn't mind being a fan of the bookstore and might have been a fan of it even without the give-away," Bettonville said.
The winners of the Michigan State snuggie give-away will be announced Monday on the bookstore's Facebook page.
