College Baseball

The Voice of the Fan Gets Louder, Even at 9 a.m. on a Saturday

August 14, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

There are certain preconceptions that people, especially mainstream media, have about bloggers and those who are heavily engaged in fantasy sports , and well, many of them  may be true.  They hide behind a computer screen and never face those who they criticize…they live in their parents basement and  use the written word as a cry out to all who have wronged them in the past…they have little or no knowledge and only exist to grab some fame with outlandish and unsubstantiated rumors and on and on.

Baseball Playing The Global Card, But Do Most Know?

August 12, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

There is perhaps no more global sport on the professional level than baseball. At some level of the professional game, over 35 countries on five continents are represented, and the number grows each year.  Major league Baseball International spends millions developing players around the globe, and the results can be seen in recent weeks, when Chinese Taipei edged Australia for the World Junior title, Cuba won the World University championship, and this week the Women’s World Cup is being played in Venezuela. The coming Little League World Series will also have its global look and later in the fall millions will tune in to watch the World Series.  Yet for all its domestic success, it is basketball (this week announcing regular season games in London between New Jersey and Toronto) and soccer (with Chinese investor Kenny Huang looking to add to his work in hoops) continues to grab headlines that baseball should also have.  Why is that?

SME Shows How To Build A Brand…

May 21, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

In the day to day struggle of making ends meet and achieving ROI, companies can lose focus as to what their core message and mission is.  The ability to grab little pieces of a financial or sales pie, or to satusfy a business partners immediate as opposed to ling term needs, can get a company offtrack, and sometimes that simple distraction or change in vision can prove very costly for the long term.  The lack of consistency of message and branding and mission can really determine what competive companies are successful in their space, and what companies can fall by the wayside.  Now it is true in today’s challenged economy that one does have to be flexible and answer to many, many masters from time to time.  Creativity is key. However flexibility does not have to mean being inconsistent with messaging or look and feel.

Rutgers Awaits A “Big” Branding Decision…

April 25, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

It was another roller coaster week in New Brunswick, New Jersey. As one Fred Hill achieved a milestone (in baseball), another was let go after a tortuous and painful process and another Scarlet Knight heard his name called in the first round of the NFL Draft. Maybe all of that activity is a harbinger of what lies ahead for the Scarlet Knights as a program and an institution as the Big Ten continues to ponder what’s going to happen next with the size of its conference.

Short-Sightedness 101: Colleges Charging The Media For Coverage?

April 18, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

We are all more than well aware of the challenges faced in both sports and entertainment these days for the discretionary dollar.  With every dollar spent comes five questions  about ROI, need for staffing, value of programs and actual amount of earned media, so the need to both justify and find extra sources of ancillary income is higher now than ever.  The question now really ois the value of traditional media vs. new and social media, and how to still get not just the most buzz, but the most eyeballs pout of every dollar invested. While there are programs, like the one Octagon launched this past week called Fanwaves, which start to show the creative ways to pull sponsors and brands into social media for return, the best mix is still a combination of the traditional and the new channels of communication available.

College Baseball A Lost Branding Oppt?

April 13, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

So we reach the end of March Madness and now enter that long stretch where brands don’t access the college market enmasse, eventhough this is the time where the market may be the most wide open.  The spring for the college market is devoid of football and hoops, and is a time of year which is crying out for a way to activate with the audience as students head back home for the summer and have time on their hands as they prep for exams and have less classes.  The weather in nicer, more students are outside…so why has no one embraced the opportunity for college baseball? Some may say that the weather is a hindrance in the Northeast and that schools outside of the Sun Belt put little to no marketing and sales time behind baseball.  Games are played in afternoons and crowds and facilities are sparse.  Yet the interest in baseball overall at this time of year is at its highest, and the amount of schools that do play baseball on all levels…junior colleges included…is still very high in comparision to other spectator sports.  Could a brand find a way to create a “college opening day” and activate around that program on campuses around the country…or maybe a “college baseball opening weekend”? Maybe the program is tied to telling the stories of the student-atheletes and encompasses college softball as well.  The activation could also be less about  attendance at games and more of an experiential event on campus which keeps even casual sdports fans engaged through the baseball program.  Maybe the program can also tie to an overall opening day with Little League and softball in a community, and rally the sport itself through the college experience. Colleges put a great deal of time through to drive revenue through football in the fall and basketball through the winter, it would make sense to tie and give added values to brands with a spring activation as well.  College baseball is competitive, provides a good wrapup to a marketing plan, and is extremely affordable for brands to activate against with athletes that would welcome the exposure.  Maybe its worth taking a look at on a regional level and giving the sport its due on the collegiate level.

The House of Mouse Raises It’s Sports Brand…

February 27, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Slowly, steadily, the good folks at Disney and ESPN have turned one of the brand’s more quizzical efforts into a mecca, not for characters, but for the character built through sport.

The Professionalism of The Business of Colleges…Latest Example

February 23, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

In the movie “The American President,” Andrew Sheppard (played by Michael Douglas) is approached by a chubby young man with a tartan vest and a bow tie at a state dinner trying to pester the President for a minute to lobby for college football.  Sheppard brushes him off since he has to go on to meet the Prime Minister of France in another part of the room, and the movie continues on.  The snippet of the “football lobbyist,” chubby, folksy, is what many people think of what college athletics is…but it is much more of what college athletics maybe was and is no longer.  It is now big business on every level, with great branding and marketing opportunities from small town Division III schools to the largest Universities and schools are now bringing in leaders in business to show the way to profitability.

For All The Segmenting and Shrinking, Broadcast TV is Still King For Big Events…

February 9, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Maybe it was the bad weather that blanketed much of the Middle Eastern states, or the rain that hit the Western United States.  Maybe it was the allure of a quarterback who has been able to flourish as a marketing maven for brands like Oreo and Direct TV despite being in a small market.  Maybe it was because America wanted to see a team from a devastated region rise higher than the flood waters did that tragic August day.  Maybe it was because we wanted to see Betty White and Chevy Chase again.  Maybe it’s because football is really America’s game. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter.  The record crowd that tuned in…made even more amazing in this 30 second, HULU infused, Twitter possessed world…showed once again why we love sports as a release, and why the industry and the medium used to show it…broadcast TV…remains king to brands.

Why Embracing The Blogosphere Works…

February 2, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

On Sunday, I was part of a group that helped pull together an event to expose the new analytic products Bloomberg Sports and MLB.com are developing and will soon introduce to the consumer market for fantasy baseball, as well as  a more fun, indepth way at looking at the sport of baseball .  While the products, one for the fan and one for professional teams, are compelling on their own, what was even more compelling was the interest in the over 50 bloggers that attended the Sunday afternoon event, further proof that brands that find ways to work with the bloggers who have achieved success and built credibility will find a solid pipeline for legitimate, timely and in-depth coverage.

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