FAU’S Schnellenberger Sinks His Teeth Into Activation

April 18, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day: The ability for athletes and coaches to participate in sponsorship activation is key for any partnership, but this week Florida Atlantic University football coach Howard Schnellenberger took that activation to a new level, agreeing to get his teeth whitened as part of a promotional campaign with FAU sponsor SmileXpress (as reported by Sarah Talalay on her sports business blog). Obviously FAU, which continues to improve under legendary coach and needs creative marketing to battle for the sponsorship dollar with area powerhouses like Miami, Florida, Central Florida, and Florida State, scored some big points and nice dollars with this one. Hopefully if they land a cosmetic surgery or weight loss center the coach will be able to pick and choose his spots of participation.

Back on Topps…

April 4, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day: As we move through the opening week of baseball season it is great to see hope springing eternal for all the fans of America’s pastime. One brand that has always been synonymous with baseball is the Topps Card Company, and thanks to the efforts of their marketing staff and the PR team at Dan Klores Associates, the hallmark brand in collectable trading cards is well on its way to a great season. First the company started the season by including cards of Presidential candidates in preseason packs, which led to some solid early spring training pieces, as well as great buzz around a fake card of Rudy Giuliani celebrating the Red Sox winning the World Series (featured on ESPN.com among other places). Then the company took the hoax cards to a grand new level, combining the interest in opening week with April Fools Day by including a “Future Stars” card of 16 year old flamethrowing phenom Kazuo Uzuki (nicknamed “The Uzi”). The card play got some solid national coverage across the country (as well as in papers such as the Daily News in New York) and had TV play on ESPN and CNBC as well. Now while some may think the card stunts may be old fashioned or played out, the placement at strategic points in the baseball calendar was a great branding move by Topps to set themselves apart in the collectable game and garner press that no other company received, not to mention showing that the brand, which is supposed to inspire fun, has the ability to not take itself so seriously. Great hits for the traditional brand.