College football, MLB, Media Post, NHL, New York Times

Texas Tech Gets A Double Jump On Heisman Promos

Last year we bemoned the fact that schools had lost the creative edge when finding ways to promote their Heisman Trophy candidates, campaigns which went to great lengths to gain recognition for athletes like Holy Cross’ Gordie Lockbaum and Plymouth State’s Joe Dudek in years gone by.  However this year Texas Tech is one of the first out of the gate with a very creative digital play that looks at the political scene and finds a way to promote two potential winners, QB Graham Harrell and WR Michael Crabtree.  The site, Pass or Catch, gives fans great looks at both “candidates” with lots of political jargon thrown in.  Now will a dual promotion split votes in the process, hard to say.  However the promotion of both athletes will give media and fans a great deal of background and gets the team early publicity and buzz in what is usually a very stat-laden process.  Great first strike by the Red Raiders.

Some other good reads…Tim Arango has a solid piece in today’s New York Times on the moves the NHL is making to find ways to grow their brand and look forward with their young stars…Brandweek’s Barry Janoff has details on Cal Ripken’s deal with State Farm…Yahoo has an interesting piece on MTV’s new online digital ad tracker, which could have a great play as sports continues to migrate and monetize web content…and Media Post has a good breakdown of how Unilever is creating a commericial season of “Friday Night Lights” on DirectTV and supplementing with drop ins and promos in the shows…