YUM! Posts A Derby Branding Win Too…

May 7, 2013 by

Saturday night millions watched on NBC as Orb overcame a very muddy track to win the Run For the Roses for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaghey.   The horse came from deep in the pack over the final quarter mile for the legendary win, and set himself and his owners up for two weeks of hype before the second leg of the Triple Crown, The Preakness Stakes comes along.

The Kentucky Derby remains the horse racing industry’s shining moment for the casual fan, and the kickoff to what the National Thoroughbred Racing Association hopes is a landmark summer that could lead through the Belmont stakes, into a long summer at parks across the country, and then to the Breeder’s Cup in California. Lots of ups and downs, millions gambled legally, and another attempt to continue to revive a business which has seen better days but us fighting to rebound with a new legion of fans.

One of those ways is to leverage its biggest windows with brands that may not have activated in the space for very long, and we saw that on Saturday, when Louisville based YUM! Brands took the presenting sponsor and lots of exposure to Churchill Downs. Now the YUM! brands…KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and others, spend millions in brand activation against sports over the course of the year, and at first glance, the Derby may have been seen as another engagement point, albeit with a slightly different audience that may tune in for the NBA or NFL or college football.  However this was not really what the YUM! partnership for the Derby appeared to be about.

The signage in some places mentioned the company’s consumer brands, but the primary placement, including on each horse, was for YUM! itself. The commercial spots during the race were about the company and its global franchises, not chalupas or slices of pizza. It was a call to action for corporate, not consumer. Why?

First, the support of the Derby, like the money spent on other projects involving sport and consumers around Louisville, helps solidify the company as good public citizens. Big time sports come to Louisville, YUM! supports and helps grow the tradition. Second, the Derby audience is different than most other events one of the YUM! companies would support. It is a little older, a little more global, and one which the dollar figures spent on the activity in gambling, are right up front. Maybe this audience is one that looks more to business buys than a traditional sports audience. So tell then your story. There was no direct pitch to come buy a franchise, but the message time and again became pretty clear. Here is what we are, here is who we are, here are out global faces that run our business, we are growing and maybe…you want to find out more.

Chances are most tuning in knew Stella Artois at least a little, and know what Longines is. But YUM? Maybe not. So the parent company used the opportunity not to sell tacos, but to sell itself.  It was an interesting play in corporate identity rarely seen on a big stage.  Not overt but clearly targeted to raise awareness not as much for thick crust or wings, but for selling a franchise or two.  Will it pay off? Hard to tell as there was not a collection point of data, at least publicly, and there was no place to drive interest either in signage or in broadcast.  Regardless YUM! showed they are good corporate citizens for Louisville with a desire to grow even bigger than they are, and they found an interesting audience to try and tell their story to.

 

Filed Under: College Football, Gaming, Horse Racing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Best Practices: Pole sitting, Chiefs score for fans, Rutgers scores for Sandy

April 28, 2013 by

Time for a little best practices roundup from the past few days…from Arizona to New Jersey…

Stunts Gone Wrong Still Pay Off: There is the adage that any publicity is good publicity, so the Arizona Sundogs of the Central Hockey League should take note. The minor league team sent its captain and three members of the front office staff aloft on a scissor lift with a vow not to come down until they sold 300 season tickets. Trouble is season subs for hockey are hard to find in the desert, and five days layer they hadn’t hit their goal.

With a small ad budget the hope was that the stunt would go viral and drive sales, and after a slow start they came close without ever coming down. While the team didn’t hit their number they did get the exposure they were looking for, with Fox Sports and Deadspin, grabbing the story, which made for a PR coups for the Phoenix Coyotes affiliate. Viral as many have learned doesn’t equate into dollars right away usually, but it put their brand forward and may lead to more creativity and a bigger payoff down the line. Maybe they won’t get full season subs, bit the creativity led to casual exposure and maybe an additional sponsor or two, as well as individual game sales as well. Bottom line, while some may deem the promo a failure, it was un reality a great success on many levels…with over 200 season subs during a week when the team would have been an afterthought, as well as some great viral and local press, play on Sundogs, great example of spinning a negative into a plus.

 Chiefs Go To The Fans: One of the positives if having the first pick in the NFL Draft is the ability to plan outreach a little better than those picking behind you. You also are usually the worst team in the league from the year before, so there is a lot of work to be done with casual fans and brand restoration. The Kansas City Chiefs found another way to go one step farther in grabbing some props with fans and also getting some additional national exposure.

Moments after the team selected offensive lineman Eric Fisher as the top puck in the draft they made him available first…to their fans instead of the local media. Ten season-ticket holders entered a makeshift studio at the team’s training complex to ask Fisher questions via a Google Plus Hangout, one of several platforms the property had created with the NFL and the NFLPA this past week…

The fans from as far away as Wisconsin and Iowa, lined up, slipped on headsets, stared into a laptop and found Fisher staring one on one with them.  The questions ranged from his interest in the city to his knowledge of Chiefs history. Not hard hitting journalism but a nice perk for those who may need a little more ROI and TLC from the downtrodden team.

 Maybe a few years ago this type of access to fans first would have been pooh pooed by the local media on deadline. Now it was accepted. It took less than 10 minutes, didn’t slow down the access to media by a great amount of time, was not done behind closed doors and was a feel good for all. Media got all the access needed after the brief interlude, which other years could have been done in a back room at Radio City Music Hall before Fisher entered a spot to do his first presser, so it was all transparent, and it sent the message that the team is liking to perk their fans, and that they understand the need for more access.

 Little damage, good upside and another innovation dropped into play through technology. A winning move by a team that needs more wins on the field and off.

 Rutgers Wins For Sandy:  The past winter has not been overly kind to Rutgers athletes on a national scale. However on Saturday the football team scored some much needed points with its community, wearing jerseys with the names of all the towns affected by Super Storm Sandy on player’s uniforms for their annual spring game. The team also dropped a “B” on their helmets for the tragedy in Boston, and carried out a series of recognition programs to raise money and awareness for the victims in their state still struggling to recover from the devastating storm. New Jersey seems to be all about recovery from tragedy of all kinds this spring, and the Scarlet Knights, in a time where it seems college athletic uniforms are all about bold and silly fashion statements, took the time to make a statement of their own for the people of their state. Good messaging and effective promotion, a nice legacy statement crated by former Athletic Director Tim Pernetti.

Filed Under: College Football, Fox, Minor League Hockey, NCAA, NHL Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Conveying A Message Through The Narrative

April 26, 2013 by

On Thursday of NFL Draft week, NFL Players Association Executive Director deMaurice Smith addressed a group of media at Google headquarters in New York, and a few thousand other interested parties via a live stream, on the challenges of the organization. Behind him on a series of screens weren’t images of his players or even logos of the PA, the NFL and the Draft.

 They were rotating grainy shots of immigrants and buildings of long ago New York. The images seemed displaced at first; perhaps a mistake, or some historical reference to the SoHo building where the event was taking place. However as Smith continued to talk, discussing the state of his players and the ability for technology to keep us informed today, the pictures came more into focus and their true purpose was revealed.

The images were of the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory fire, one of the worst industrial disasters in the Nation’s history, and a seminal moment in the history of the union movement in the U.S. Dozens of immigrant workers, many of them women, died when a fire broke out in the building and women could not escape because fire exits were locked. The working conditions were deplorable, and the lack of a union voice, collective bargaining and the ability to have someone watching out for the needs of the worker doomed many, and forever changed the face of business in the United States.

That story, probably new to several in the room, is the first story Smith said he tells to NFL players coming into the league. While maybe a bit extreme to some, it clearly spells out the need for why a union exists and what role a union, the NFLPA in this case, can play for its members. It is not talking about dollars and drug testing, it is about health and well-being, and in this day and age the NFLPA mantra is about protecting the long term health issues of its players.

Why would Smith use such an extreme story to get his message across? It shows the value of the narrative to weave together the issues in the bigger picture. An audience is expecting to hear preaching (he mentioned several times his roots coming from the Baptist ministry) about the game and its value are surprised to hear a very real connection to a bigger piece of history…this is not just about football, it is about large issues that tie the athletes to mainstream America and the longtime plight of workers, who unions have helped since the early 1900’s. It gives the listener a greater understanding of his role in the fabric of American labor history not just football, and it makes the listener pause and think about his actions and his or her role.

Now the use of the narrative from the pulpit or the campaign trail is certainly not new, but it is very much a lost art. It is a great tool for leadership, and is one that often gets lost in a world where effectiveness is sometimes based on how well you can get your message across in seconds and characters, and how loud you can shout above the din of those yelling around you. Narrative usage, when done correctly, gives the listener a unique takeaway from a conversation, and hopefully inspires though and clearer direction.

One may say in looking back. that to have athletes equating a tragic and momentum changing moment in the history of labor to what they are going through in an ongoing give and take with the NFL is a mixed metaphor…they are million dollar celebrities who choose to go out on the field, and certainly are not migrant workers struggling to survive. But at the core the message is compelling in the narrative, and that’s why, at least for internal consumption, to an audience that may not know why labor is important in a big picture, Smith’s thoughts work really well. It also helps, with a preacher’s background, that Smith can deliver the story with the right cadence and in the proper context of what his mission is…to work with, support and protect professional football players.

In “sports leadership” there is enough yelling and screaming and boasting by gurus, ambassadors, evangelists and experts. Many of whom can learn from the value of storytelling that leaders like deMaurice Smith and others use. They tie a common message together cleanly and effectively, make the listener think, and leave the audience wondering about what will come next, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the politics.

Filed Under: College Football, ESPN, Fox Sports.com, NFL Tagged With: , , ,

In 140 Characters or 120 Minutes…The Communicators Who Communicate

April 1, 2013 by

One of the opportunities and also one of the issues with social media is that the stream and the quest for information and access is never ending. The pipeline if you choose to use it, never really shuts off. So into that vacuum of information, especially for the consumer, comes the communications head in sport of teams, leagues, governing bodies, and broadcast entities.  Like every new medium, some choose to embrace, some run and hide and others take a wait and see approach. Sport, on the team level at least, is a business of ritual which can sometimes be endless, and for some teams with long rituals and full press areas, those rituals are sometimes hard, if not impossible to change, even if there is benefit.

Some teams see the social media space as a way to reinforce the company line and that’s about it. Buy tickets here, here is tonight’s promotion, here are some facts about our players…much of it is not new or innovative, but it is effective to use social media to make sure that followers have some information, especially about the bottom line for the team. Often times these feeds are not personalized, they are generic, and can be generated as much by an intern as they would be by a senior staff member. They provide a service, but don’t really give the consumer much more insight or added value than they would get in other places. It’s access, but not access that enhances the experience or sheds light into what is going on with the team, or the athlete they passionately follow.

As a communications tool to the masses, for those teams that choose that path it works for them.

The tragedy of taking that path is that many times those communicators on the staff are great storytellers who often times can provide a very unique glimpse through their daily interactions. Little slice of life anecdotes which followers of the team, media, business partners, would find interesting. Because these men and women spend so much time inside the business of sport, and they are usually skilled communicators, they have both a different take on things and see the business from a side that is pretty unique. Can they mix in the obligatory shill for a giveaway day? Sure. Would they take shots at the team or officials in lean times, probably not.  However using social media as a fun way to peer inside the glass tower is a way for those who do the communication to better communicate even humanize the team or the entity that they represent in sport.

Who does the mix well? Some, like Josh Rawitch at the Arizona  Diamondbacks or Ron Colangelo at the Detroit Tigers  or Jim Saccomano at the Denver Broncos, or Charles Bloom who was at the SEC for a long time and is now at the University of South Carolina, or Mike Kelly who went from the ACC to the BCS,  do a great job of mixing in information and anecdotes from a long career. One of the first, and best, adopters of social media is New York Giants longtime communications head Pat Hanlon, who not only gives some solid insight into team goings-on but is not afraid to mix it up with fans and the media, usually in a good natured way. Most recently, the New York Mets longtime PR leader Jay Horwitz became a media story himself when he took to twitter like a fish to water, and provided amazing insight every day from a life dedicated to the orange and blue, telling tales of players past and present, mixed in with a lighthearted look at himself, in 140 character bursts. It is a fun and very unique peer into the inner workings of sport at its highest level. It is genuine, fun and very sincere.

Now that type of look, or the work that Hanlon and others do is not sanctioned by every organization. The Brooklyn Nets for example, recently cut off their lighthearted “Nets PR” twitter feed, which was providing some fun, some silly little slices of life inside the team.  While no real reason was given, the feeling is similar to what other teams, colleges and leagues feel…social media should be a marketing tool to push product, not to entertain fans. It’s may not be the right approach for some, but it is the choice of the organization. Sure, sometimes the rat-tat of social can also burn those who get caught up. Several teams and colleges have had to recant statements when front office execs, even some in communications, have fired off shots at media members or fans too hastily. However all that can be avoided if you think before you hit send…the same advice, most communications executives give to their players and coaches.

So no it’s not for everyone…however for those who use the medium well, communicating with the top communicators can be fun and effective, and a strong tool to engage fans and even grow brand and media following. The folks who do it well don’t shill, they are good story tellers and communicators, with a gift to spin a tale efficiently and make the game and those who play very human.

They make social media fun and interesting to their followers with their genuine approach learned from a lifetime of being on the inside. After all, sport is big business, but it is supposed to be fun, and communicating that fun is what brings fans, brands, and even media, engaged and interested, in good times and bad.

Filed Under: College Baseball, College Basketball, College Football, Minor League Hockey, MLB, MLS Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Can Football Spring Eternal?

February 7, 2013 by

This Wednesday those fans of the gridiron reach what is an unofficial official end to all things football for a while…the media frenzy of national signing day. From coast to coast on every sports network and radio show, young men who are the best at their sport tell the world in choreographed press conferences, streaming video feeds and press conferences where they have decided to go to join the big business ranks of major college football. From this day, booster hopes rise, coaches careers are stabilized, dreams are dashed and season tickets are sold, all on the backs of 17 and 18 year old student athletes. Ironically the day follows another American tradition that is also based on what might be…Ground Hog Day. Whether a little furry creature sees his shadow doesn’t really determine the fates of thousands, but it is just as safe a prediction as to whether those who commit to college on National Signing Day can turn the fortunes of college football.

Signing Day has turned from a clerical necessity to a media extravaganza in just a few years, but now for football it really serves as the end of a long trek that starts at the NFL Draft and marches almost unceasingly through the Super Bowl. On every level across America, the pageantry of college football starts in Radio City Music Hall in New York and goes through the day when high school players officially make their mark for where they will go. After that, the sport goes into a lull, despite the passion and yearnings for millions of fans who can’t seem to get enough.

Now there is the Arena Football League, although the latest version is nowhere near the media and entertainment draw that its previous bankrupted version was. This spring there remains the specter of the UFL returning to finish a season which started in the fall and never went anywhere amidst a sea of red tape and financial losses. Other than that, fans have to wait for the draft, and talk about the perils and fortunes of free agency for the NFL, with maybe some spring practice banter mixed in.

So with the lull in gridiron action, is there a chance that a spring football league can fill the void? It is a sexy, intriguing idea, but can it work?

The sad thing is that the UFL could have made great brand inroads had they played in the spring in their first few years, as the NFL went through its now completed labor pains. Into the void they could have gone loudly, filling an interest for the casual and the disgruntled, testing the marketing dollars of brands who may have been worried about the NFL, and providing a great showplace for the free agents and unsigned who needed a chance to play somewhere. It would have also continued to have been a great testing ground for new rules, new styles and coaches looking for a chance to either re-engage or find a new home.

Alas we received none of that.  There remain mid-markets that love football that probably can use cost-containment professional football, and if the NFL does not grow roster size there has been proof that there is still a solid amount of talent waiting to be turned over. Would brands take an offseason Hertz to the NFL’s Avis? Would TV support a promotable spring product and not have to worry about NFL backlash when new deals come up? One thing is for sure, America is a football crazy country. The question is…is the market important enough to support year-round football? The WLAF failed with the NFL’s backing, as had other leagues. The UFL started off with the right capital infusion and found some niche’s, but at the wrong time of year for fans to get energized. The argument that you have one NBA. one MLB and one NHL is different…those seasons are very long and give fans ample opportunity to see the product. The NFL, even at 16 games, still limits the in-season experience for fans, which could create an off-season alternative.

Over a quarter century ago the USFL saw that opportunity and had some level of success, in the days before regional sports networks were en vogue. The latest version of the USFL has made some noise to grab the space again, but a 2013 launch was scrubbed and a 2014 season announcement has come and gone with little talk of capital raised, TV contracts signed or cities announced. Another spring league has proposed public funding, selling shares to raise the millions needed, but that effort is doomed before it starts, as using the public markets for sports is fraught with needs to satisfy millions of investors and pay down the large administrative costs needed to keep a business running in the public sector. If you can’t find investors in the private market, forget the dealings of a business that has to be transparent to all who come looking.

So is there a need and a void to bring football back to play in a league format in the space from say, early March to early July? The NFL could use a developmental component, especially one they would not have to fund but could look seriously at technology and enhanced player safety. The plethora of regional and now national TV networks still have time to fill, albeit not on their own dime for production. There are any number of brands which would enjoy the engagement of football but not at NFL prices, and technology partners would crave using the space as a way to test activation projects that they could then implement at the NFL level in a more refined manner. Would fans turn out in numbers to make franchises financially viable? Would TV audiences tune in to watch a product that may be quality but not at the level of the NFL, on a national level? Would the digital space provide enough of a revue stream to also offset costs of running an expensive proposition like professional football, given its size of rosters and events? Could you find stadia that would be of the right size and standard in enough markets?

We don’t know the answers yet, but the demand for more football has grown in recent years, not shrunk. There are markets that clamor for more professional sports, but whether the private sector will take such a high risk remains to be seen. Secondary leagues in an age where the primary major team sports are striving to give fans more access are not what they once were, and the launch of any league in the United States, major or minor, has not seen any level of true success since Major League Soccer.

So while we hit the football lull, the specter of a never-ending stream of live games to tide the public over is still ripe in the entrepreneurial mind. Whether that mind can bring the league to bear is a pipe dream right now, but certainly one that bears watching as the dollars and the interest in football still seem to hold strong as we head into the final phase of a winter where the gridiron falls silent, at least for 2013.

Filed Under: CBS, College Football, ESPN, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Super Gamble Fight Continues

February 2, 2013 by

We reach Super Bowl weekend, a spectacle that has advanced well beyond the vision that Commissioner Pete Rozelle and the others in charge of the AFL/NFL merger had probably even envisioned. So little is about the wins and losses of the teams on the field, the Ravens and the 49ers, and so much more is about the buzz, the National Anthem, the commercials and the social media…and the gambling.

According to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, approximately $93.9 million was wagered on the 2012 Super Bowl at sports books across the state, the largest total ever for a Super Bowl, but most of that figure was returned to bettors in the form of winnings. After paying out to bettors, Nevada sports books earned $5.1 million on 2012’s game. Certainly not a figure that would be a cause for major investment, however when you consider of the total amount bet on the Super Bowl, only about 1.5 percent is wagered legally; these bets are made by those over age 21 and physically present in the state of Nevada.

So there you have the reason why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and fellow legislators like Frank LoBiondo and Frank Pallone are going head to head with all comers…the Federal Government, every professional sports league and the NCAA, to overturn a law that gives the State of Nevada and its casinos the only legal sports books in the United States. It is a law that New Jersey legislators feel is unfair and should it be overturned, will open the way to re-energize the State’s casinos and racetracks and bring millions in much needed taxable income to the infrastructure of the State, much like the lottery and the casinos originally did when they were first brought into State control.

The concept of well-run, corruption free sports wagering is not new around the world, but it is new to the United States outside of Nevada. In the UK, sports gambling, especially with mobile devices is an accepted part of the fan experience, with millions of regulated dollars flowing to government and private entities. Teams have official gambling partners, and many athletes, including tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, endorse an online or traditional bookmaking partner. In the US, it is still seen as a dirty business run out of back rooms.

That all appears to be slowly changing at least in the eye of some legislators. The monopoly that Nevada has should come to an end, and many states, with New Jersey and possibly Delaware leading the way, some quietly, some boldly, to help open up the regulated flow of dollars into a sports book.

For their part, the professional leagues and the NCAA are holding firm with the Federal government against New Jersey. The NCAA has even pulled several championship events from state colleges because of the tact officials have taken to try and change the law…a move, when you consider that fact that the NCAA allows college basketball games to take place in venues within casinos in places like Connecticut and Nevada, seems very petty and hurts the schools more than the State.

It is also worth noting that the WNBA has both a team playing in a venue that is in a casino (The Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun) and this past week had a team approve a casino as a jersey sponsor (Osage Casinos on the front of the Tulsa Shock jersey, not as a patch but across the front of the uniform). Teams in most professional sports in the US also are allowed casino sponsors to bring in millions in advertising  as well, and Canadian franchises like the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Raptors  even have advertising for online gambling sites surrounding their rink at the Bell Centre and the court at the Air Canada Center.  All of which is perfectly legal and very much regulated, but there is no public outcry at all when these entities that involve gambling are infused into professional sport.

As the Super Bowl comes to New Jersey next year, it will be interesting to see where the fight goes. The leagues, without admitting it, are leaving millions on the table in revenue by not having the federal law overturned and States continue to see large amounts which could go to public projects go instead to shady backroom organizations that are not controlled.  This also doesn’t include the millions that could be generated as mobile technology and second screens become more infused with the revenue of sport in North America. The more you can keep fans engaged, the more revenue you stand to make. The more new revenue streams, the less the chance there is to raise ticket prices.

Now this is not to say that the floodgates of legal sports gambling should just open without more study and strong regulations. It’s also not to say that everyone in a Super Bowl pool should suddenly turn their $20’s and $50’s earned into the IRS. What it does is cast another light on a very valuable revenue stream in its biggest one weekend of the year and open healthy debate as to whether an old law should be revisited for the betterment of millions, or whether the status quo should hold and sport should find other streams of revenue.

It is certainly a game, maybe the biggest game, worth watching in sports business in the coming months, especially with Super Bowl 2014 poised to take place in the state looking to upset the gambling applecart again, much like it did with casinos in the 1970’s.

Filed Under: College Basketball, College Football, Crisis Management, Gaming, NCAA, NFL, WNBA Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Akron Gets Zipped

January 30, 2013 by

The University of Akron is atop the Mid-American Conference as February approaches,  and their on=court performance should draw more national attention as March madness approaches.

However this past week Akron drew the attention of the NCAA, who stopped the men’s and women’s teams from putting the school’s hashtag on the back of their uniforms for “Social Media Night” on February 2. The school will still go ahead  with hashtags like #ZipsGameday and #ThinkBigger on sidelines and basket supports.  The reason the NCAA gave was the phrase was outside of what is considered “conventional” on uniforms, and is a defacto form of advertising that could set a precedent going forward.

While it seemed like a good stunt for Akron as part of the night, the uniform hashtag thing has kind of come and gone. It is not really visible and may drive some traffic, but not huge numbers. Putting an effective hashtag on the court for the season or using dasherboards to drive special promotions through social media is a much better way to try and see what a social ROI can achieve for any league, property or brand. The days of doing social media just to be “cool” should be past us right now. There has been enough experimenting with what works and what doesn’t to use programs to help drive awareness and market share.

It is great Akron is trying to use social to engage their fans and get buzz and it will be interesting to see what the night achieves in terms of sponsor and fan engagement. The NCAA has let many abuses of uniforms slide this year, and others have had phrases dropped on the backs of jerseys. What are being watched carefully now are commercial endorsements or frivolous moves for the sake of being first to the party.

Social is getting more powerful, what’s even more powerful are the growing efforts of brands to make it not just fun and interesting, but effectively engaging and revenue generating. Gotta give the Zips credit for trying to crash the party.

Filed Under: College Basketball, College Football, ESPN, NCAA Tagged With: , ,

An Alternative Pro Bowl Idea With A Great Impact…

January 27, 2013 by

Sunday night as Super Bowl week began the NFL brought everyone the Pro Bowl, which for any number of reasons seems to have become the least interesting and most controversial of any professional all-star event. Instead of championing the great players of the season past, the Pro Bowl continues to become more of an afterthought, even lodged into the week before the Super Bowl. Other than the obvious difference…all other All-Star games fit into a break in the regular season…the game has become one to avoid as many players look to heal, relax and avoid injury for the future.

Now the game has some great benefits for the NFL…it is a big sponsor perk for companies who invest heavily in the game throughout the year. It provides a nice financial bump for the state of Hawaii and for those fans who would never get a chance to see the NFL live…especially those in the military stationed in and around the Islands. The trip is a very nice reward for the players and their families not moving on to the Super Bowl, and in recent years the game has served as a mice way for the league to test some fun and innovative digital and sponsor initiatives in a real-time setting that usually can’t even happen during the preseason. The give and take for the game will probably go on for a while longer, as the league weighs the cost benefit of putting on the event, which will still draw OK ratings on NBC despite its perceived lack of interest…it still does have many, albeit not most, of the league’s biggest faces, many of whom are its rising stars.

So if the game is scrapped, is there something the NFL could do that would benefit a wide audience, maybe not millions on TV, that would showcase these stars in another setting? How about a league-wide day of service. Now this is not to say in any way the NFL and the NFLPA do not give back to their communities. They do, in the form of millions each year. But instead of playing the game, have each of those selected for the game…either in the city they play in or their home town, use the Sunday between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl to give back. It is somewhat along the lines of the Yankees Hope Week, but here, as a homage to the season, every top star takes one more day to work in the community of his choice. There is no risk of injury, it could combine teammates, and benefit the charities of their choice. The publicity received, as well as the opportunity to lift brand partners with a CR initiative, could not be beat in market and would make for a very interesting one day compilation of best practices to send off into the craziness of Super Bowl week. Heck, you could even send a contingent to Hawaii to work on a charity initiative if that is needed.

It certainly doesn’t have the flash and buzz of an All-Star Game, and yes it would be complicated and probably more work market by market than staging the game in Hawaii, but if the game is going away and the stars want to align, why not do it for the greater good that would put a nice cap on am amazing season for top stars of the NFL, not to mention a very nice give-back to the communities that have supported the team and its stars throughout the year and into the future.

Filed Under: College Football, NFL Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Did Some Brands Post Wins During Bowl Month? Sure.

January 8, 2013 by

Monday night marked the end of the College Bowl season, one of the longest, and probably last few, extended series of Bowl games as  college football moves toward a national playoff and a trimming down of the games that lead to what is now the BCS Championship, which title sponsor Discover has paid a hefty price to activate against.

But what about all those other bowls and what is their value for title sponsors? Why sponsor a January game in Mobile, Alabama or Birmingham or December in Boise or Pontiac, Michigan? Is there a better way to send those dollars? Brands think so, especially when those bowls, no matter how insignificant they seem to the national media and the casual fan, still capture national media attention, philanthropic exposure and match the needs of the brand that ante’s up for the dollars.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Russell Athletic brand for example used the Virginia Tech and Rutgers matchup in Orlando, to not just court consumers, but to get a chance to speak to decision makers at a host of schools about their commitment to college athletics year-round. It also gave the brand a special tie-in to a Bowl and a city that may be in contention for a BCS Playoff game in years to come, a smart hedge by the brand for now against a future payoff. The Famous Idaho Potato Bowl may get mocked for its name, but for the consortium that grows and markets spuds to a nation of millions it provided a cost-effective and well controlled infomercial for their products to a core audience of consumers who also happen to be passionate football fans. It also showed a loyalty and give-back to those in Boise who make their living in the agricultural business, a good local investment with a national media play on ESPN. Will it make more people buy potatoes v. broccoli? Hard to say, but given the location of the game the fit seems pretty strong. While Chick-Fil-A ran into some issues with the company’s stance on Gay marriage earlier this year, they ran into no problems sponsoring the game between LSU and Clemson in the Georgia Dome. The brand got the chance to direct market to a host of cities where Chick-Fil-a does a huge amount of business, and they took their home city and turned it into a week-long celebration for all things about their product, a great way to thank the consumer and their employees while continuing to connect again with loyal fans of their product…like spuds in Idaho, chicken works in Georgia.

For anyone in the financial world, the turn of the New Year means tax time. So if you are an up and coming brand ,maybe you use the heavy play on New Year’s to exposure your url to a casual consumer trying to find a way through the fiscal cliff. Welcome to Taxslayer.com at the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville. Ads a plenty on TV and on the field, which the brand things gives them an edge over the Turbo tax and H and R Block spends that will follow in the weeks ahead. Might not convert buyers right away, but it got them in the marketplace. For GoDaddy.com and BBVA Compass, the two brands that titled the Bowl games AFTER New Years? GoDaddy’s spend may be curious since it was in Mobile, Alabama with a game featuring Arkansas State and Kent State, but it was in the heart of NASCAR country at a time when fans are starting to look toward Daytona, and it brought the GoDaddy marketing machine, led by Danica Patrick, to the city as a reminder of what’s to come. It also served as a good kick off for the brands usual strong campaign that leads toward their always popular NFL post-season spend. The game was also relatively unencumbered for fans looking for a little more college football, on the weekend leading into the BCS Championship. A little out of the ordinary for the domain company, but a good appetizer for their key spends on the horizon. As far as BBVA Compass, the European bank with its US headquarters in Birmingham made the event as much about hometown and regional support and branding than anything really national, but it fits in their continuing growth of activation that includes Houston Dynamo soccer, the Dallas Mavericks and on a larger play the NBA as well. A hometown bank that wanted to find a way to remind national sports fans of their growing presence but also needed to reinforce their brand messages to the community where they live.

Now not all sponsorships worked out great. From snow and high priced pizza in Detroit for the Little Caesar’s Bowl to no military ties in Washington for the Military Bowl to smaller than expected audiences on crowded nights for some earlier games, the system is not perfect. However for a brand that knows its market and needs to hit very specific criteria, the bowl season was not in any way a loss. What the future will hold with a coming playoff and the shifting of conferences is really unclear, but for 2012 at least, some of the “lesser” bowls may have delivered more for those who put up the dollars and their names. Those that hit their goals certainly chalked up a win for effort and activation in what was a really busy six weeks for the ever-growing business of college football.    

 

Filed Under: College Football, ESPN, Fox, NCAA Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Watching Bowl Week Closely? If You Are In Austin Just Look Up…

December 28, 2012 by

While the various and sundry college football Bowls play themselves out this week from Idaho to New Mexico and Yankee Stadium to Las Vegas, college football fans are readying themselves for the stronger marquee matchups that will really start New Year’s Day and go through the Championship matchup between Notre Dame and Alabama on January 7. However that New Year’s stretch, a busy time when people are still bopping about with end of holiday plans and are shuffling back to work and prepping for school, can still pull even the ardent fan away from the TV where he or she might miss some of the action that he or she may otherwise have enjoyed…the iconic moments, the touchdowns the fumbles, the turnarounds and the upsets.

For some time now, the aggregation service “Are You Watching This” has been supplying viewers with alerts for consumers in front of the TV when a big moment is about to happen in sports and there are multiple choices of games. Using patent-pending algorithms that process in-game statistics for games around the globe and television listings across the U.S. and Canada in real-time, the consumer and his or her DVR know when it’s time to hustle to the couch. TV lineups for U.S. and Canada are examined daily to determine games each user can watch. However what about for those times when you are out and about, like during Bowl week?

Well if you live in Austin, Texas, the home or RUWT the company came up with a very unique stunt. They will  be transforming a skyscraper in Austin into a 323-foot tall “app” for College Football fans.  The building will be wired in to the  algorithms, and the roof will light up different colors based on the excitement of the night’s game.  Lights are White?  No games are underway.  Green?  A game is in progress, but isn’t exciting.  Red?  Beg, borrow, and steal to get to the nearest sports bar. All you have to do is look up and know whether the game that night is worth tuning in to.

Does this mean that someday those wandering Manhattan will have to just look at the Empire State Building to know whether the Giants are driving for a score? In a world where smart phone technology rules and updates and highlights can be delivered to your hand, no. However as a massive promotional tool in a college football crazy town, RUWT has found a way to drive interest and awareness in its business model in a fun way that will attract the curious. Not a bad way to engage by a smart engagement platform and its founder.

Filed Under: College Football, ESPN/ABC
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