Twitter As A News Vehicle…

May 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the best sites on the web for sports things digital is Pat Coyle’s Sports Marketing 2.0, and they recently did a summary on the NFL Draft and teams use of twitter to actually break news (which was also put together by the Sports Business Daily). As brands and athletes jump to the twitter bandwagon, it shows that the technology may have an immediacy that others do not have for exclusive news distribution. Keeping in mind that it was less than three years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs were vilified for breaking news on their website...now common practice in many places and the only place athletes like Tiger Woods send media for the latest news…the immediacy of Twitter remains intriguing, more for its news value than to know what Charlie Villanueva is doing in a halftime lockerroom or what miscellaneous WPS players are having for breakfast. Now of course there is still no way to make money off of Twitter, and it still remains that those using it look at messages and then get rid of em, but maybe in those 120something characters a sponsor mention creeps in to justify the spend, time and effort and the passalong value can grow exponentially. Now would it have been great to have Carl Edwards twitter that he was OK after his crash at Talladega, or Dikembe Mutombo twitter from the lockerroom that his career was done after he injured his knee last week, but the fact that teams used the service to allegedly break news before picks were made can be the most interesting development to date, and would be a real reason to sign up as opposed to the ramblings of miscellaneous folks looking for another place to “voice.” The latest mainstream news site to look at the Twitter phenominon was Sunday’s New York Daily News, with a piece by Ebenezer Samuel.

Gettin The Right Flavor of NASCAR: TMS

November 17, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As the economy takes its effect on NASCAR, one thing that hasn’t suffered is the diversity and depth of innovative promotion and the PR support that goes with it.  Latest example is Texas Motor Speedway, which brought in celebrity chefs like Rachel Ray, Tim Love and Mario Batali, linked in drivers, fans and other partners to create an “Asphalt Chef” competition to the early November race.  The result again lifted NASCAR to another level with the casual sports and entertainment fan…tieing the highly popular celebrity chefs and their ardent followers to the sport, which brings in new eyeballs at a time when the ardent fan is feeling the dollar crunch.  It also exposes the drivers involved, Bobby Labonte, Carl Edwards and Juan Pablo Montoya, to an audience away from the core, who will hopefully not just watch but activate with the other products each driver endorses, once again growing ROI for partners, the drivers and the sport at a critical time.  Great effort, wider exposure, no downside at a time when “food tv” and the celebrity chefs associated with it are growing faster in popularity than almost any other TV genre.

Edwards, Office Depot, NASCAR First Out Of The Box With Back To School Promo

August 8, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With the summer over halfway gone, retailers are already pushing back to school sales as hard as they can.  However in the sports world, the Olympics focus and the start of NFL training camp, combined with the traditional August vacation stretch for many sports, seems to push the “Back To School” programs until later in the month, when we will see a rush of teams and brands getting with kids and local school initiatives.  However once again a NASCAR driver promotion is out in front and leading the charge with a retailer to get the Back To School theme top of mind.  This time its Carl Edwards and his market by market program with sponsor Office Depot, donating thousands of dollars of school supplies with backpacks to kids in advance of the traditional push.  The use of Edwards as a sincerely interested, well spoken athlete is a great score for the brand as well, and Edwards appears to be yet another of the NASCAR drivers who gets the message, embraces the message and delivers it.  The program yet again will expand NASCAR’s touch points beyond their core fan base, especially in the inner cities, and will resonate even more with the traditional fan.  Great timing, great story, great plan for business partner, league brand and athlete.