Case Study : Reunions

United States Naval Academy 25th Class Reunion

The United States Naval Academy Class of '85 came to Rising Tide in the early planning stages of their 25th reunion. The spirit of a USNA reunion is something to behold and 25th reunions are huge in terms of attendees and branded merchandise possibilities. The Class had a number of objectives and needs.

Branded Apparel

To start, they needed a source for reunion apparel, so classmates could gear up for the big event. Rising Tide created a USNA '85 branded online reunion shop (usna85.promoshop.com) complete with golf shirts, jackets, t-shirts, sweats for men and ladies as well as custom gift items such as the Anchors Aweigh jewelry collection, clocks, totes, beach and golf towels and engraved to order desk accessories. The site launched about six months prior to the event and sample items were on display during the reunion registration resulting in after event and holiday sales.

USNA ladies jacket USNA mens sweatshirt USNA crested polo USNA ladies cap USNA bracelet

Name badges

With apparel take care of, the task turned to creating a name badge solution that would identify attendees, but also indicate which of the three events the attendee had registered for. Rising Tide created a unique name badge that featured different bold color borders for each event as well as the full schedule of events and cab numbers (for those who may have been having too much fun) on the back side. Complete with a lanyard, the badge also serves as a luggage identifier after the event. This three in one badge has since been used by several other USNA reunion classes and St. John's College.

USNA badge - front USNA badge - back

Spirit Gear

From apparel and badges, it was time to focus on spirit gear for the tailgate and football game. Rising Tide supplied GO NAVY bang sticks with the Class Crest on both sides, so the class members could easily be recognized in the stands. We designed full color custom cups for the tailgate that featured a patriotic theme, two color class crest and BEAT ARMY message. With custom name badges, class branded apparel, and spirit gear in hand, you couldn't miss the Class of '85 at Navy Marine Corp Stadium that September day especially when they were waving their gold branded rally towels in the stands and passing them out to Mids and kids at the tailgate.

USNA game-day towel USNA game-day cups

Reunion Marketing Materials

Rising Tide also designed the reunion program for the weekend and the class dinner program. The Class also needed a way to recognize a few event sponsors, so Rising Tide designed several banners featuring sponsor logos and a class message for the tailgate.

USNA event program USNA dinner program

Congratulations to the USNA Class of '85 on a successful reunion and thank you for the opportunity to help with such a fun event.