Sports Marketing and PR Roundup

The preciseness with which athletes have to perform sometimes is underappreciated by fans, which is why all the prep stories and the backgrounders which give fans insight into the day to day dealings an athlete has to go through are so well recieved.  Similarly, on the business side, awareness of the timing of events, as well as the forethought and planning into making sure all involved are aware and on board, is also very key.  Three examples…first Maria Sharapova’s protests about the timing of a WTA ad campaign which we talked about earlier this week, and then the Papa John’s 23 cent pizza giveaway followed by Forumula One driver Lewis Hamilton’s appearance in a strange play the night before a race in Istanbul…all surfaced this week and showed how importand timing is to keep all on the same page and avoid distraction for the brand and the athlete.  The Papa John’s case, which included the chain giving out 23 cent pizza’s during a busy dinner rush hour as a giveback and apology to Akron and Cleveland area fans who took offense to a t-shirt giveaway mocking LeBron James, got the company great brand exposure and extra publicity for a stunt that maybe went wrong, but probably cost the company a large amount of capital in lost income.  The Hamilton episode, where the driver appeared in a version of A Space Odyssey suspended by cables on a stage, certainly didn’t cost the driver or his team any cash.  However the timing of the appearance and the risk associated with it, could have damaged his chance to race the next day, as well and questioned his dedication to the profession by those brands who have invested in him.  In both cases, the efforts were seemingly justified at first look.  Papa John’s needed a make good in an area where their reputation had taken a hit, and their executives said all the right things in getting the message to the community.  Heck, some savvy pros may even point out that the prolonged and perceived “bad” publicity gave the brand much more exposure than they have had in a while.  But the timing and the execution caused a great deal of problems in the community for town officials and others around the stores that the chain will have to continue to recover from, and being a company with shareholders, officials have to answer to a large loss of capital as well.  Hamilton’s issues are certainly more about the timing of the appearance and will be easier to get over in the future for a driver who is already well respected. All seemed like a good idea at the time, but strategic planning and clear communication always has to be the first thought to make sure even good ideas don’t go awry.  

Some other good reads…on the charity side, take a look at Vinny Mallozzi’s “Cheering Section” in the New York Times, on the wish granted by the Steelers with Pancreatic cancer survivor and inspirational writer Randy Pausch…the Sunday column is a great weekly example of unique fan stories, and this week ties in the great ways athletes can give back and make a difference with such little effort…the tragedy of Eight Belles at last week’s Kentucky Derby is another story that continues to be watched, and George Solomon in the Washington Post has some interesting thoughts going towards the Preakness… Ken Rosenthal has a good q and a with the D-Backs Justin Upton that gives fans some solid insight into another rising baseball star …and the Toronto Globe and Mail has a good story on Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie and his views on how to market the NHL…

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PR Move of the Day:  The biggest thing brands always want, and fans do to, is access.  Not just access to the athletes to hear their stories, but access to the “inside” feel of what drive the passions of the sports brand they so closely identify with.  Thats why first person or insider access pieces given to the media are so valuable.  Not only do they provide the media member with a greater understanding of the intricacies of a complex business, but they give the media the chance to use their multitude of talents to find stories that even the publicist or the brand manager won’t see.  Case in point is today’s Wall Street Journal, where NASCAR gave writer Allen St. John full access to Ryan Newman’s Pit Crew.  It exposes the personalities behind the driver, as well as all the brands they work with, to a much wider audience in a light that is rarely if ever seen, and also gives the core fan even more insight into the goings on, and the success and failure, of those who they only see from a distance.  NASCAR and the WSJ also tied in video to the piece to make it a complete package that got bonus coverage to fans, business partners, investors and the sport.  Well delivered on all levels.  

Some other good pieces to take a look at.  Darren Rovell had a nice scoop again on the creative Gillette Zamboni activation that took place in Boston at the end of the Bruins season.  Although not a national activation (yet), it was extremely creative to dress the Zamboni with a razor shaving the ice, and certainly can lead to other similar promotions and brand awareness campaigns in the brand category…although not sports specific per se, Media Post also had a good piece today on the brand loyalty of the aging Hip Hop generation…given that key demo to sports there can be lots to learn for brands in the piece…and for those always looking for more insight into today’s leaders, take a look at mlb.com’s profile of new baseball Hall of Fame head Jeff Idelson, one of the real good guys in sports.

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PR Move of the Day:  With the glut of new age sports…MMA, X Games, online gaming…the traditional niche sports have lost many of the spots where they would normally garner mainstream space, and many of those sports…track, bowling etc…have not made a successful transition to the digital environment.  So finding a way to get an effective mainstream placement and build brand space can be even more difficult and the need to dig deeper to find a very unique spin is thus much more important in the creative process.  We found a great one in Sunday’s Boston Globe courtesy of the folks at Elevate Communications.  The story on an employee of a local bowling alley took us behind the scenes and out of the sports page with a young, hip employee and got the sport and the local client some great brand exposure.  Very nice example of looking well beyond the norm to find a hook.

Some other good pieces to check out…Media Post has a nice piece on Land Rover’s expanded efforts to get more brand exposure for their bi-annual G4 Road Race Challenge by taking the event to more locations and adding a good viral and activation spin to the cross-country race…the New York Daily News’ esteemed boxing columnist Tim Smith had a very interesting piece yesterday on how the gas crisis can effect the pay per view market going forward, something which anyone looking to aggregate fans for viewing events should take a look at… and with the Sports Museum of America now open in Manhattan, NASCAR has done a nice job of using their massive display to have a solid active presence for race fans in New York…a really smart idea for sports that do not have a consistent event in the New York area…on the gaming side, Marketing Daily spells out Ninentdo’s upcoming activation with Wii Fitness and how the brand is making a strategic play for mom’s starting right around Mother’s Day and into the summer season…nice way to take the sedentary gaming environment and spin it toward health and fitness. 

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It seems fitting that the day after the Lakers Kobe Bryant grabs a much-deserved NBA MVP award in what has been a fantastic run for the NBA this year, that we find the story of someone who found a loophole to try and have some fun and build a little name for himself heading into the NBA Draft.  Far from the Kevin Love’s and the O.J. Mayo’s is Zach Feinstein, who like any entreprenurial college student, took the time to do his research, build his case and find a way to carve himself a little brand niche out of literally nothing by applying (and being accepted to the eligible list) for the 2008 NBA Draft.  Zach has built a website  , is enlisting support through his “stats,” video and the fast moving digital space, to see if a team will give him a shot.  Problem is Zach has never played basketball at any level, and is actually a junior majoring in applied mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis.  Zach’s pitch is offbeat enough to get him some exposure and smart enough to make a little bit of a mockery of the Draft application system, which will surely have safeguards to prevent listing names of those who just go through the process in the future.  Still for someone looking to grab his five to 15 minutes of fame, Zach deserves some credit for getting exposure and building a small brand where many haven’t been able to succeed with legitimate athletes and products.  Nice lighthearted try.

Also on the nice try list comes the Lancaster Jet Hawks of the Class A California League.  The Jet Hawks found a great way to tie to their parent Red Sox with a very unique giveaway and a cool play on words, staging “Big Poppy” night, with a Red Sox uniformed bobblehead with a huge poppy flower in place of David “Big Popi” Ortiz’s head.  Not only did it probably save them licensing and likeness issues, it got the team some national play and could make them a few e-bay bucks down the line.  Another example of how the majors can look to the minors to find a way to raise awareness.

Some other good reads today…the New York Times has a great front page sports piece on the glitz and glamor being brought to India’s new cricket league…we have talked a few times about the “Americanization” of sports marketing that is slowly finding its way abroad, and this piece encapsulates many of the successes and issues that extended marketing and promotion can have in a country where sport is much more still seen as traditional…King Kaufman on salon.com has his take on the timing controversy that occurred at the end of the Pistons-Magic game Monday night and how tenths of a second may not be a good thing to have in the hands of the referrees…the AFL scored another solid hit with Mary Buckhelt’s Page 2 q and a on espn.com with Jon Bon Jovi this week…fun stuff…also on the fun stuff side, check out Nicki Jhabvala’s piece on IFL fighter/vineyard manager/MENSA member Aaron Stark on si.com… lastly, Media Post has a good tennis activation story with the Tennis Channel doing an in store, on line and on air promotion as a takeoff on the strawberries and cream theme for Wimbledon, with California Giant Berry Farms…nice packaging for tennis’ second biggest event in the states and even better given the time difference that California tennis fans will go through between London and the west coast.     

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