“LOOSE BALL!!!”…

Activ8Social is proud to announce the launch of “#LooseBall” – an experiential social media scavenger hunt featuring the Boston Celtics All-Star point guard, Rajon Rondo. Red Bull, one of Rondo’s sponsors, will be providing the contest prizes, which include 18 basketballs and branded shirts autographed by Rondo (in honor of the Celtic’s run for a record 18th NBA Title) as well as a pair of tickets to Game 4 of the 2010 NBA Finals in Boston for one lucky winner.

As part of an opportunistic social media strategy that Activ8Social had the pleasure to collaborate on, Red Bull has now activated around the World Series (Jimmy Rollins’ “Phan of the Day” Contest), the Super Bowl (Reggie Bush’s “Who Dat Fan?” Contest) and the NBA Finals (Rajon Rondo’s “#LooseBall” Contest) through the brand’s athletes.

Starting today at 5pm EST, the streets of Boston might be in a frenzy with fans trying to win the first autographed ball and shirt that are up for grabs in the kickoff #LooseBall drop. And you never know if this will be the lucky basketball with two Game 4 tickets strapped to it by a headband in honor of Rondo and the Celtics.

Inspired by Rajon’s now famous loose ball dive and subsequent layup in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals this year, the #LooseBall contest invites Boston area fans to showcase their speed, hustle, and determination. A total of nine “drops” will take place throughout the city of Boston surrounding Games 3 – 5 of the Finals (you can find the Drop Schedule in the bottom left corner of the #LooseBall tab on Rondo’s Facebook Page)

How To Play

The concept is very simple. Here’s how it will work:

• Fans are invited to follow @RajonRondo on Twitter for the 9 #LooseBall alerts
• Click the Foursquare link for the drop location and #LooseBall tips
• Summon your inner-Rondo and hustle to the location
• Find and touch the basketball while saying “Loose Ball!”

That’s really all there is too it. However, there will also be a bunch of cool extra giveaways and tips on the Foursquare account that might help you get to the basketball faster or receive a free Red Bull for “checking-in” to that venue.

To be more specific on the contest procedure, each Rondo-autographed basketball will “check-in” from the #LooseBall Foursquare account in the form of a “#LooseBall alert!” from Team Rondo, which will also feed to the @RajonRondo Twitter account. So fans can either friend #LooseBall on Foursquare or follow Rondo on Twitter to stay updated.

The #LooseBall alert will include the name of a Boston venue, landmark or location where the drop is taking place in real-time. The first person who gets to that location, finds the autographed basketball, and touches it while saying “Loose Ball!”, wins it. The second person to do the same will receive an autographed shirt, and other participants will receive various Red Bull / Rondo giveaways that include t-shirts, posters, trading cards and more. So you really can’t lose if you play!

The social media assets included in this promotion are a custom tab on Rajon Rondo’s Facebook Page, Rondo’s new verified Twitter account (@RajonRondo), and a dedicated Foursquare account.

#LooseBall custom Facebook tab

The Facebook tab serves as the contest’s digital informational hub, which lists the Drop Schedule and links out to Twitter, Foursquare, and the contest rules.

In addition, the #LooseBall logo in the top left corner sends you to the Twitter search results page for the contest’s hashtag-themed title “#LooseBall”. Activ8Social encourages fans and participants to spread the word by tagging their tweets and comments related to the contest.

#LooseBall Foursquare account

#LooseBall represents the first time a professional athlete from one of the Big 4 Leagues has been involved in a major Foursquare-based promotional contest. Activ8Social believes that, although the popular geo-location mobile social network might not be ideally suited for individual athlete accounts, the opportunities are limitless for brand activation around athletes and celebrity sponsors through creative promotions and scavenger hunts.

Foursquare will not only provide addresses to the different drop locations, but also will offer #LooseBall “tips” which may help participants better locate the ball within a venue or earn rewards for “checking-in” to that location.

@RajonRondo Twitter account

As part of this promotion, Rajon Rondo officially joined the 140-character social platform that has grown extremely popular among professional athletes these days. Within less than 72 hours of joining, @RajonRondo now has over 10,000 followers and has been placed on almost 250 Twitter “Lists”. Of course it doesn’t hurt to be arguably the League’s best point guard on the grandiose NBA Finals stage, but this is still quite an impressive feat and demonstrates how popular this platform has become.

For fans located outside the Boston area who won’t be able to participate directly in the #LooseBall scavenger hunt, check out Rajon Rondo’s Facebook Page for a chance to win a tickets to Game 3 in Boston courtesy of Razorgator. Rondo may also be giving away other autographed posters or other items through his Facebook Page during the Finals, so be sure to “Like” him.

For everyone else in Boston, we’ll see you in the streets!