Nets Continue To Bounce The Promotional Ball During The Offseason…

August 15, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Many times we have said that minor league baseball does the best job of staying relevant with fans and finding ways to build brand even in the offseason, especially since they have such a transient problem with players. On the professional side, perhaps no team does a better job with staying relevant in a very crowded space than the New Jersey Nets, who again this week, in the dog days of August and with players scattered to all parts of the globe, not only found great exposure points but also took a potentially negative story and turned it into a very positive one. The story in point involved an innovative ticket promotion that saw fans have the opportunity to get reversable jerseys, Nets on one side, top NBA players on the other, with a partial season ticket plan. As it was posted on the teams site, Deadspin took the Nets to task for “faking” a team promotion by selling the reversable jerseies. However in the real marketing world, teams are marketing their opponents and their experience more than their players more and more, as a way to pull in casual fans in the hope that you can convert them to fulltime supporters of your brand. Not uncommon at all, only the Nets have taken it to a bit more of a “physical” play by putting opponents jerseys in the hands of casual fans. The innovation actually spurred some tremendous coverage, including CNBC, the New York Daily News and Associated Press along with some debate, which in the middle of a ticket and brand selling season with really one top marketable star right now (Devin Harris) is what a brand could want. Is there risk in driving fans away from the team with the promotion? Little. Is there upside if one of the Nets players on the reversable emerges? Yes. Will it sell tickets? Yes. Great play, great way to turn what was an initial negative into a positive and an innovative way again to keep the team brand fresh and relevant in mid-summer.

William and Mary Takes The Brand Choice To The People…

June 30, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Usually with expansion teams in sports, mascot or naming contests will be held to sample the local flavor and see what ideas can arise that brand marketers hadn’t thought of. Usually the name or logo still comes from a well positioned, well thought out plan intent on making sure that the merchandising rights, colors and traditions of the area are kept in tact. The choice, especially in this era of maximum return on the investment, is never random. So the College of William and Mary took a bold step, and one that certainly got them some solid publicity, in opening up the choice of their new mascot not just to local fans or alumni but to anyone interested in providing an idea. The school had to change mascots, but not nicknames, becuase their long-standing mascot was a misrepresentation of an Indian, which the NCAA ruled in appropriate for institutes of higher learning. The choices came from all over the country, and although the University President will make the final call, the Williamsburg, Va. school will get to unveil the final choices on ESPN Tuesday, again getting some great name recognition for one of the few Division I schools never to make it to the NCAA Tournament. In this digital age, most schools are still struggling to correctly embrace new media, so William and Mary’s choice is a great one, and could open the idea of other schools/minor league teams opening up “naming rights” for teams for a day, a year or for a permanent change at the right time. Smart, calculated investment, good payoff in exposure.

Of Pitchers and Catchers…A Great PR Pitch Catches A Phillie…

February 19, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

PR Move of the Day:  As pitchers and catchers report this week, we have to point to the folks at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia and the Phillies for pulling off one of the best PR stunts in recent memory, as well as capturing the whole process on video.  The cast included Phils Assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., the Phils Brett Myers and a group from Comcast SportsNet Philly led by reporter Leslie Gudel.  The group combined to pull an elaborate and very well orchastrated hoax on Phillies teammate Kyle Kendrick, informing him, invetrveiwing him and then letting it play our over a period of time that he had been traded…to Japan.  Although many such hoaxes are saved for April 1, this one, because of its timing…before most arrived in camp, with very willing buy-in from credible sources in the front office, and on an impressionable athlete, made for great TV that will live in the viral space forever and also get the regional sports cable outlet some great added exposure.  The entire story, along with the video, can be seen here.