Membership Hack: Super Bowl Wager

How to hack it? To up the ante for Super Bowl LIV, two member companies of the Home Furnishings Association—Crowley Furniture in Kansas City and Hoot Judkins Furniture in San Francisco—placed a friendly bet on their NFL home teams: the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers. The wager of $1,000 would benefit the winning HFA member’s charity of choice.

“We love this friendly competition with Hoot Judkins Furniture,” said Crowley in a HFA blog post  (opens in a new tab). “This is a very exciting time for Kansas City, and we love being able to cheer on our Chiefs while also giving to a well-deserving local nonprofit.”

In the end, the Kansas City Chiefs won the game 31-20, and the $1,000 donation went to Crowley Furniture’s selected charity, Charlie’s House, which has a mission to prevent injuries and accidents to children in and around the home.

Why does it work? The Super Bowl wager not only benefited a worthy cause, but it also helped boost HFA’s visibility in the week leading up to the big game. The association received press coverage in trade publications  (opens in a new tab) and local media outlets  (opens in a new tab).

What’s the bonus? HFA members also took to social media to show their home-team pride, boosting the association’s social engagement rates on Facebook and Twitter last week.

It’s on @Crowleyhome  (opens in a new tab)! We have a $1000 Super Bowl bet on the line with this furniture store located in KC! The losing city will pay $1000 to the winning stores favorite charity! Our charity is @RWC_PAL  (opens in a new tab) #redwooscity  (opens in a new tab) @my_HFA  (opens in a new tab) @FurnitureToday  (opens in a new tab) #realwoodfurniture  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/0eldCGoehU  (opens in a new tab)

— Hoot Judkins (@HootJudkins) January 22, 2020  (opens in a new tab)

The Vince Lombardi Trophy, handed to the winner of the Super Bowl. (Matt McGee/Flickr)