Tennis

Beware Sponges Filled With Cash…And Other Lessons…

March 16, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Last year the brand of choice to fill displaced inventory on television and in stadia around the country was Spongetech. Their giant signs were splashed acroos all of MLB, their patches showed up on the NFL’s “Hard Knocks” show on Bengals jerseys, they appeared along the dasher boards at Madison Square Garden. Spongetech, and their pre-soaped sponges, appeared to be the cure-all for every team salesperson.  They helped balance budgets and create some buzz and all appeared grand.

MLK Day A Missed Branding Oppt. For Sports?

January 18, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Monday is a National Holiday honoring the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It would seem a perfect time…NFL in full postseason, NBA and NHL gearing up for All-Star, college sports pushing ahead, the Olympics on the horizon, the holidays in the distance…for a brand or an organization to take ownership of the weekend, especially in the area of community service and philanthropy. Yes, the NBA does do a good job of playing during the day and looking at projects that serve the spirit of Dr. King well.  Yes, some NFL teams like the 48ers are doing community service events Monday.  However, as brands look to be more community oriented and find opportunities to partner on community programs that give back, there remains no national push.  Maybe it should not be the professional teams or leagues, who would find it hard to muster full support on a Monday in January.  Maybe it should be the NCAA or High Schools that should find a brand to turn the day into one where young athletes and coaches each give back in their community. Maybe it should be the announcement of a mentoring program by each or any of the leagues, with some kind of tie to Dr. King’s spirit. Maybe it should be MLS, coming off their draft and meetings last week, or the PBR, who just started, or tennis or golf, both looking for more diversity. It just seems like with the issues of elite athletes today, and the obvious need for brands to connect to the community, that this mid-January weekend would be a prime spot to reflect, connect and reenergize the spirit and influence that athletes can have, especially young people looking for role models on any level.

MLS Cup Sets Template For Future Soccer Success…

November 24, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the most significant games in the history of professional soccer took place in the Pacific Northwest in the late summer of 1977, when the New York Cosmos, led by the legendary Pele, won their first North America Soccer league title by defeating the original Seattle Sounders 2-1 in Portland Oregon. This past weekend, perhaps the most important game since then in the evolution of professional soccer in the United States again took place in the Pacific Northwest, where a crowd of over 40,000 saw Real Salt Lake defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 on penalty kicks to take the 2009 Major League Soccer title?

The Sports Branding World Continues To Shrink…

November 18, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With every passing week the global transparency of sports events continues to grow. Whether it is high school hoops stars looking to build their brand and their game going to Israel, Emirates Airways using the Breeder’s Cup in Los Angeles as a prime global marketing tool or more Chinese brands signing endorsements to promote brands never seen before in the United States, the sports and entertainment world continues to contract in distance and expand in potential opportunities.

Brand Agassi Has Tremendous Value For A Different Generation

November 9, 2009 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

He came of age with the “Image Is Everything Campaign” eventhough his best tennis was years ahead. He came back from the bottom to be a successful professional, and even without a formal education made education is legacy in his hometown. Yes now that Andre Agassi writes an honest accounting of his life and career, a life which not many people on the inside would dispute as being controversial, many tennis lifers have seen to push his accounts to the side and shame him. Shame Agassi? Shame on them. In reality, Andre Agassi’s brand should be stronger today that at almost any point in his Hall of Fame tennis career. He is a role model for the serial athlete and has emerged as being sincere and creating life changing experiences for a new generation of children, not serial athletes. What the Agassi brand stands for today is what most successful people should aspire to…admitting ones flaws and looking to make the lives of those around you better with the success you have had. Agassi admitted drug use. Given the culture of athletics in the ’80’s…a time pre WADA and all glamour? Would that be surprising, especially for a rock and roll lifestyle that individual sports like golf or tennis lead professionals to? Not at all. As a matter of fact, most who followed Agassi’s career at that stage would probably not have been surprised at that time about the usage. What the Agassi brand should be remembered for and what it could be going forward is for resilience. A resilience and rededication to a career and a spirit to sincerely give back that is not just rare in athletes, it is rare in most high net worth individuals. Now one can be assured that Andre Agassi does not need more endorsement dollars, nor would he probably court the spotlight. However if there are brands looking for a role model for where America is today…a country on the rebound and dedicated to growing a generation, one may not look farther that Andre Agassi. He reinvented a career and a life and has come out as a man that not just had a Hall of Fame athletic career, but may be in a philanthropic Hall of fame at some point as well. Not a bad role model for today’s challenged times.

Getting Along and Working Together To Grow…South Florida Sets The Pace…

October 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The idea of teams in market working together has been a foreign idea for a long time. Most major market teams would rather act in a vacuum than share data, sponsors or branding opportunities, and often times attempts at shared events…especially on the community side…often ended up with arguments about top billing or conflicts of interest and ended creating more harm than good. However in recent years we have seen teams in market start to work together…the Blackhawks and the White Sox, the Indians and the Blue Jackets…to co-promote, co-market and co-brand. It is a smart thing to do…share expenses, approach brands as one, give added value to fans and partners and keep brand top of mind in the offseason. Now the South Florida sports community has taken that approach one step further, as Sarah Talalay reported in the Sun Sentinel this week. A number of teams and events are banding together to offer discounts, merchandise and special events to fans in the area, ranging from the Dolphins to golf and tennis events, a year-round, comprehensive offer for the fan. It helps move distressed inventory, creates a platform from which the teams and organizations can share data and gives each of the brands a little more shelf life when they are not in season. Could these lead to all the brands working together to find some common sponsors in categories and giving brands some added value? Could they tie in media and social networking platforms for off-season get-togethers? Could there be an outreach to travelers and other communities offering packages to multiple events for visitors to South Florida? How about even including arts programs and other areas where competition for the dollar is at a premium? Even better, maybe there could be education or community tie-ins across all the brands, or links out of market to other teams looking to run special promotions…maybe there is an Amtrak tie which connects teams in New York, Boston, Washington and Philly? It all makes great sense in these challenged times, and for even the most elite brands to worry about “damage by association” is just silly and shortsighted. Yes in good times maybe teams scale back offers, but by no means should partnerships be eliminated. This partnership and others around the country like it, is long overdue, and it is great to see the South Florida sports community leading the way with an idea that has applications in every level of sport where discretionary dollars are needed.

Great Example Of How Far Women’s Brands Have Come…For the Better…Serena Williams and Tampax

September 22, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It was not too long ago, 1997 to be exact, when the WTA Tour, the worldwide governing for women’s tennis, faced an issue of crisis with regard to budget, branding and perception. The Tour, after taking the media power of William Morris for years as the Virginia Slims Tour, was suffering from a lack of identity, and for that matter a lack of sponsors and interest. Octagon and IMG were both tasked to help the Tour, which at this point was in between its young guns on the horizon and its recently retired stars, find a title sponsor to replace the dollars and branding muscle of Virginia Slims. The best option, one that would provide marketing dollars, a healthy lifestyle platform, and the ability to give the Tour room to explore more traditional secondary branding categories, was presented by Octagon…Tampax. By far the leader in feminine hygiene, the brand was looking to take the category out of the traditional area and attach itself to vibrant, global accessible female athletes who could grow with the brand. The dollars would dwarf other potential suitors and could create a revenue stream to help the Tour, which was struggling to find its identity, move forward as a viable sports brand.

The State of Rutgers Gets Some Great Guerilla Exposure

September 18, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Saturday Rutgers will take on Florida International University in Piscataway, New Jersey but despite the result, the two biggest gains in popularity for the school may have been made away from any court or playing field this past week. First, on Tuesday night’s Jay Leno Show on NBC, award winning documentarian Michael Moore sported a Rutgers hat for his time on stage with Jay. Then later in the week, urban designer Mark Ecko announced that he was creating a line of Rutgers-themed apparel in honor of his alma mater. Moore has been wearing the Rutgers caps as a tribute to Scarlet Knights grad Ann Sparanese, who started the letter writing campaign to save his first book “Stupid White Men,” which criticized President Bush, while the limited edition Ecko line pays homage to the designer’s time spent in New Brunswick on the Rutgers campus (he is an alumnus) and will be sold online at Shopecko.com.

Even In A Down Economy, Open Activation Still Leads The Way…

September 7, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As other mega-events like the Super Bowl, NASCAR, the NBA Finals, the All-Star game, golf’s U.S. Open shied away from large scale media activation and branding with many of their partners toward more subtle and community-oriented activation, the tennis US Open has moved steadfastly ahead in telling its stories, growing its base and solidifying its place as the mega event it has become, even in the slowest of years. Of course it helps that the Open is in New York at the same time every year, and can use its US Open series to build toward the two weeks. However the fact that the USTA and its partners continue to find stories from fashion, green efforts, celebrities, athleticism and grassroots, along with its business stories, is a testament to forward thinking business and smart and aggressive brand building. Even in week one, a look around found an NPR and Fast Company piece on the USTA’s leadership in green space amongst sports, stories on the value of selling oversized tennis balls, the value of the US Open “flame” as a brand motivator and story after story about the fashion styles of players and fans around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Then there are the brand activation stories, ranging from Amex’s expansion of their partnership to IBM’s expanded role with the USTA. Throw in the new TV deal with ESPN, the controversy with issues of coverage with The Tennis Channel and some rising American stars on the court, and once again the USTA gives all large scale events and brands a great run for their exposure dollars, and shows how even in challenging times an event can be creative and resourceful with messaging and partnerships instead of the running and hiding that has been seen elsewhere. Great effort by all to again take a world class event and find world class coverage.

Will Soccer In New York Ever Hit The Goal?

August 30, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With the first hint of fall you start to hear the bounce in thousands of parks and recreational centers across the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It is the thwack of kids from four to their mid-teens dribbling and passing soccer balls. Like baseball and softball in the spring, fall soccer is a rite of passage more now than ever before amongst young kids. Still even with the grassroots success, the connection to the pro game still lags behind, perhaps in the New York area more than anywhere else in the United States, and it is that disconnect which has continued to slow the growth of MLS in the biggest media market in the world. While MLS has had great success in Washington, great buzz in LA, solid plans built out in Dallas and Columbus and Chicago and New England, the New York market remains a frustrating afterthought.

Next Page »