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Turning Up The Preseason Heat In South Florida…

The month of September is usually the time for the winter sports pro teams to really start the hard push to get their brands top of mind again.  Especially given the added competition and the lack of disposable income, those teams on the downside in tough selling markets have to continually be more creative, more aggresive and show more value than ever before.  Case in point is the Miami Heat.  Sarah Talalay’s sports business blog this week point three big plays the Heat made this past week, addressing the casual fan, the young fan and the corporate client, each designed to get buzz and remind folks that even with a slow season last year, the Heat brand can deliver value on many levels.  The first piece highlighted the tryouts for the Heat senior dance team, the second talked about Dwayne Wade’s involvement with Pepperidge Farm’s goldfish brand to promote healthy lifestyles with kids, and the third detailed the Heat’s program where team members and performers create the Heat experience right in the workplace. All were innovative, timely and creative and as stand alones were great campaigns.  Combined they showed the concerted effort of the team to address issues head on and give fans a reason to support and patronize the team with their hard earned dollar.  Big points for the Heat for the effort, with more expected going into traing camp.

Some other good reads…Newsday has a nice blog piece about former Islander PR honcho Chris Botta coming back to the team as a member of the media and blogging for their site…Botta was a trailblazer in using the blog world to get media attention the last few years, and his blog on the team is both one of the most popular and one of the best reads… the Wall Street Journal has a great piece on the college side, outling the efforts of NC State booster Bobby Purcell and his efforts to drum up financial support for the Wolfpack… another well placed NBA piece was in Winston Salem, where the Fox station took a good look at Chris Paul’s support for his alma mater…and with Yankee Stadium’s farewell this weekend, both the Times George Vecsey (with his profile of legendary PA announcer Bob Sheppard) and SI’s Tom Verducci have great retrospectives through the eyes of those who followed as opposed to those who played.