Hebrew National Strikes While The Sanchez Dog Is Hot…

October 29, 2009 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

Timing is everything, whether you are an official team partner or not. Take Conagra Foods Hebrew National Hot Dogs for example. The Kosher Dog, with a few professional sports ties but not many, made a very smart play this week to tie to the Jets, the NFL and poster boy quarterback Mark Sanchez by capitalizing on the shots of Sanchez munching on a hot dog on the sideline during Sunday’s romp over the Oakland Raiders. In honor of the on-camera hot dog sneak, Hebrew national announced today a plan of free hot dogs for anyone holding a ticket to any professional football game this season (hello UFL) where a quarterback is caught on camera eating a hot dog. The announcement strikes home for many reasons. One it is a great ambush marketing play for a brand which is more regional than national and usually doesn’t get national exposure, especially even remotely tied to a professional sports brand. Second it is set up so that the chances of a mega-giveaway are slim, but if the viral nature of the offer gets out and there is a quarterback and a cameraman smart enough to catch the sneak during a broadcast, the exposure will fare outweigh the cost. Third, it is perfectly worded to avoid any mention of NFL team, so as not to infringe upon any rights, and fourth, it is a great example of a brand making light of an incident which probably was taken way to seriously anyway. Now will a team take advantage? Could a college or minor league brand up the challenge? Will Hebrew National be prepared for a deluge should the challenge play out? All to be seen. Regardless of the outcome, the brand beat the competition to the bunch and added in a nice PR spin, as captured in the New York Post and other places Wednesday. Good old fashioned spinning in a time when brands are always looking for the unique, cost efficient brand.

Majoring In The Minors: Sometimes It’s Just The Quest That’s The Fun Part…

August 24, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the keys to minor league promotion is buzz…buzz leads to ticket sales and family fun, which is key when you are limited on marketing stars, who on the minor league level, are very transient. With that in mind one of the keys in buzz is always “new” or “fresh” or “first” or “record breaking.” The last one, record breaking, is always the most interesting, since it will give fans a sense of history, not to mention giving the team the ability to move more collectables or mementos from the event. World’s largest pizza, world’s largest pillow fight etc etc…have all come down the pike this year. However, as our friend Ben Hill pointed out recently in his column on the Business of Minor League Baseball, getting the “record” is not always that easy, nor is it always important. Hill studied the Wilmington Blue Rocks’ quest for the world’s largest game of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” a fun effort to get fans interested in a between innings promotion, with maybe a little sponsor tie thrown in. Did it matter at the end of the day that there was a challenge issued by the real recordholders in Taiwan? No. Were people excited to be involved? Yes. Did it sell tickets, combined with other promotions? Maybe. Did it generate a little buzz, especially when there was a bit of “controversy” thrown in? Yes. Does it give the Blue Rocks a chance to re-promote and try the assault on the record again? Yes, especially since everyone loves a comeback. The key points here are that the Blue Rocks found a promotion that was affordable, simple, involved all their fans, generated buzz and was at least semi-attainable. Whether it is a real or contrived “record” is not really the point. The point is they created a quest for a record, and sometimes the involvement in that quest is what gets people juiced and contributes to the fun of the experience.

Browns, Jets Both Move Quickly But With Different Tacts…

December 30, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

With three teams moving very quickly with front office changes on Monday, the Lions, Browns and Jets all sent messages to their fans and business partners that changes need to be made to improve the image of the team, and by doing so the day after the season, immediately avoided the twisting in the wind and distractions that often come with “evaluations” after poor seasons.  Especially in New York, fans have seen coaches dangle while decisions are made, so the Jets move yesterday was probably the smartest one for the franchise at this point.  However now that the smoke clears, it appears the Browns may have the most on one page as they look for direction going forward.  The story on Cleveland.com today details Randy Lerner’s issues and opportunities and how he may make choices, and why he made the choices he did, and gives some good insight.  The Browns remain a solid brand in Ohio, with a strong following, sold tickets and…in a market that even with LeBron James and a strong Indians franchise in a down economy…they will hold their place and build by keeping things tight.  Now the Jets?  Different story.  Even though they stood together on the announcement yesterday, the difficult questions posed by the New York media, as well as some conflicts of story, remained unanswered, and with a quarterback controversy and PSLs going into a new stadium to be sold, their stance going forward should be organized, smart, forthright and aggressive.  The decision to change coaches was made and that news cycle is now closed.  Now having all on one page and providing information in an appropriate manner that communicates to the fans and the business partners what the plan is should be next.  Will be interesting to see how and when those messages are conveyed by the organization. 

Chinese Takeout…what’s on tap after the media focus shifts…

September 4, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The question about every post-Olympics push is what opportunities are left to capitalize on when the world leaves the host country.  While the Leverage Agency continues to sell the naming rights for The Birds Nest and the Water Cube, marketers and local hosts look for the potential boon in tourism and historic significgtance in Beijing to keep interest alive.  The Wall Street Journal took a look at the branding and tourism opportunities the Chinese government is pushing, while Mark Hyman in Business Week took a look at another group of athletes who this week are beginning to capitalize on their athletic prowess in Beijing…the paralympians (whose competition now begins on the heels of the regular Olympics). The quest for both groups to lure eyeballs and sponsor dollars is very similar, as both the tourism group and the Paralympians are following closely in the footsteps of megahit without the draw of the world’s media and attention.  Whether either group can seize opportunity on the coattails of the Olympics remains to be seen, and if they are successful could be a great model for post-Olympic success in 2010 and beyond.  The stories remain grand, but will the public and the media still want to hear them in comparison to the glory of Michael Phelps or Usian Bolt?

The Cost of Doing Football Business…Two Coasts, Two Issues

August 26, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Two pieces popped up on opposite coasts Tuesday that demonstrated the divergent issues football is going through from a financial standpoint.  On the east coast you have New York, where Rich Sandomir did an extensive piece today on the cost of building all the new venues in the area along with the costs being passed on to the consumer in terms of inflated prices and in some cases ticket licenses.  It is a very strong read  on the economics of major market professional sports these days, the growing concern over fan apathy and where sports may have to go to maintain fiscal responsibilty in the future.  Then you go west, and today’s San Francisco Chronicle, which has a piece on the effort Stanford University’s athletic marketing department is taking to reduce costs and guarantee a solid experience for Stanford football, with a money back guarantee if not satisfied.  It is a novel approach and a big chance the University is taking on revenue, given the Cardinal’s two win season a year ago.  However the no risk chance for a good afternoon of football in a competitive market is an enticing one and certainly a trend setter should it go well.  The two pieces effectively highlight the difference in the have’s and have nots in a major market, and the efforts that have to be gone into, regardless of on field success, to stay competitive from a financial standpoint and relevant from a fan perspective.

Match.com Scores Coverage with Phelps, Walsh Polls

August 24, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As brands scramble to vie for the attention, and dollar endorsements for the top athletes coming out of the Olympics, the folks at match.com came up with a great way to glean coverage the old fashioned way…by going to the court of public opinion.  Match.com not only ran polls amongst their very legitimate subscriber base as to who the most eligible Olympians would be…they offered up free subscriptions to the online dating service to signle athletes like Michael Phelps, thus enlisting their product with the name without paying any endorsement fee.  It was a great play for the dating service that scored them tons of free publicity, and if the option is picked up by any of the athletes, will get them even more bang for a buck not spent.  We are sure the “Michael Phelps Nights” by minor league teams will be upcoming and there will be a scramble to protevt the Phelps brand, but the first move by match.com was a very smart one in brand association for no cash. 

A Look At The Favre Saga To Date…

August 9, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As has been pointed out at the trade deadline, the firing of Willie Randolph by the Mets and countless other high profile moves that are scrutinized 24/7 by the media and the fans, the real long term impact of what Brett Favre means to New York, the Jets, the Packers, retailers, business partners and anyone else involved with the business of football won’t be known until all is played out on the field.  However the immediate impact for buzz, sales, long-term purchase of seat licenses and ratings has already been felt by the Jets, and was clearly laid out by Richard Sandomir in the Times and Darren Rovell in his blog on msnbc.con. The Jets found great ways to spin and have Favre positioned well in the first go-round, from getting news and jersey sales up immediately on their website to taking a slow Friday news day and getting an opportunity with Favre and Mayor Bloomberg at City Hall.  They also did a very good job of making sure GM Mike Tannenbaum stayed on message and that Favre stuck to the positive script with the same questions…there were no scenes of him being surly or running away from cameras, ala Randy Johnson in his first go-round in New York.  Conversely, the Packers did a good job of staying on message and moving on in Green Bay as well, and the Wisconsin State News did a good job of talking to many members and looking for holes…and finding very few…in the Packer family.  Even former Jet Chad Pennington, who moved on to the Dolphins, handled himself very well.  Now obviously this was a win-win for most people involved, and even the Packers now have a distraction put behind them. All the perceived silliness and airing of dirty laundry publicly has ended with the news cycle.  However what it does show is the well thought-out scenarios that NFL teams can orchastrate, especially when something is able to be played out for a period of days.  Now if this was midseason and the performance would be judged on field could the fallout been more controversial?  Yes.  But with the luxury of a preseason, the distraction of the Olympics, and the fact that the real impact of Brett Favre in NY on the field won’t be felt for some time, all the bells and whistles rang (as did the cash register) and the NFL and the Jets scored big points in buzz and partner growth.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also had a good summary of what other markets said about the trade.  Mark Kriegel also has his take on the move on Foxsports.com thats always a good read.