As I was checking my email (I use Gmail) the other day, I noticed an ad for an NFL Free Agent. The email I was reading was from my son’s flag football coach so the ad that was displayed was somewhat targeted correctly. Philip Riley, a long snapper, tight end and fullback, set-up a website filled with videos of game footage and workouts and was running a paid search campaign via Google AdWords to drive interest. I couldn’t find any search terms that Phil (or his agent/management team) was bidding on via search, so he could be just using the content network.

Earlier this year an undrafted Canadian Football League prospect received an NFL contract via a YouTube clip. Offensive tackle Joel Reinders was signed by the Cleveland Browns after team management had seen his highlight clips via YouTube uploaded via his agent. According to this article, Reinders was contacted by three NFL teams after his videos were uploaded. The agent put together the YouTube videos instead of supplying teams with actual VHS footage. Riley is taking a different approach. He is trying to capture interest of scouts and team management before they ask for game and workout footage.

I couldn’t find Philip via a Facebook search or simple searches on other social media outlets.

I feel Philip have better results using image ads in a site-targeted instead of using text ads run on the content network. If he didn’t generate any visits via the ads by NFL scouts, he’d at least get quite a bit of buzz in the sports community if the campaign was targeted correctly. There is no phone number on the website; just a contact form to fill out promising a response within 48 hours.

I’m interested in keeping track of his success with this approach and will be looking for his name on an NFL roster this Fall. Has anyone come across any other athletes running social media or online marketing campaigns in order to get a contract? If you are an NFL or CFL GM or scout visit Phil’s website to contact him.

Thumbnail Photo:Wilder Graves Penfield (1891-1976) while a football player at Princeton University.