Columbus Fury Inaugural Year

The Situation

Volleyball is one of the fastest growing youth sports in the country. Coupled with increased NCAA and Olympic coverage, and the timing seemed right to try and create a new American indoor volleyball league.

The Columbus Fury was one of 10 teams in the Pro Volleyball Federation's inaugural season. Start-up sports leagues are far from a sure bet, so we were tasked with creating awareness prior to the team’s first match at Nationwide Arena.

What We Did

This wasn’t just a volleyball story. This was a story about the power of women in sports. This was a story about economic development. This was a story about how Columbus comes together in big moments.

Beyond the normal media pitching, we developed a list of more than 250 female leaders from Central Ohio and created an advisory committee to help create an event for opening night to celebrate this team and these female leaders in Central Ohio. We organized a panel of speakers including the Fury’s co-owner and Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback’s mother, Robin Burrow; Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther; CEO of the Greater Columbus Sports Commission Linda Logan; and ProVolleyball Federation’s CEO Jen Spicher.

We created an event to bring these diverse leaders together for a larger conversation on the impact women in sports have on our community. This celebration was a tailgate of sorts before the Fury’s first home match.