Twittering From The Blue Field…Boise State Gets Aggressive With Social Media Marketing…

May 13, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The have had proposals on air, the signature blue field, amazing comebacks and challenges to the BCS…now Boise State is looking to use aggressive social media tactics to grow its brands and expose its athletes to the widest grassroots audience possible in an attempt to market outside its nice audience. The Broncos plans for the summer were discussed in detail in this weekend’s Idaho Statesman, and though not unique as one off’s. they show a solid unified plan for a midmajor school looking to invest in its brand and get exposure where traditional media is limited. While a number of major schools have used twitter and Facebook and YouTube to push ticketing campaigns, most midmajors thus far have not made the investment across all the low cost mediums to tell their stories positively. Therefore the Broncos outreach is a smart one, and if they develop athletes who can compete for national awards like the Heisman, the grassroots base that they are building will give them a leg up. It is more than “cool” or niche for a school like Boise State. It is the right way to begin integrating with limited media coverage to sell product, tell the story of the school, and get recognition. Could it lead to added sponsor dollars? Maybe, but tough without all the marketing dollars and eyeballs that traditional media brings. However it is a low cost, calculated approach to go right to the core audience and show the right demo you understand how to get to them on all platforms. Good lesson to be learned and hopefully carried out over an extended period. Points for the Broncos.

Finding The Positives…

May 8, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Even with Selena Roberts’ A-Rod book grabbing headline and now trumped by Thursday’s Manny Ramirez disaster, the NHL complaining about lack of coverage on Versus and the controversy of the Coyotes going Chapter 11 , and a point shaving scandal brewing at the University of Toledo, there remains the positive news and the feel good stories that those who work on the communications and marketing side still have to find ways to push to the forefront. The two most recent ones were the triumphs of two great underdogs over the weekend, Mine That Bird in the Kentucky Derby and Manny Pacquaio’s stunning upset of Ricky Hatton. For two downtrodden sports, horse racing and boxing, the two events within six hours of each other showed that the interest of the North American fan in the story of the underdog remains high, and how with a mass audience on a large stage, those sports can be swept back to the top of the sports world in a second. Now just as quickly they can be lost again without the proper messaging, planning and marketing spend, but with the two week buildup to The Preakness and the tremendous money and marketing dollars HBO puts into its elite boxing events, the possibility for continued growth, new brands and mainstream exposure remains high. Eventhough it is greatly diminished, horse racing, like baseball, remains the handful of sports found somewhere in most newspapers every day. On that same note, the lure of elite boxing still carries a star power unlike any other sport, especially for the casual sports fan who can still remember elite heavyweight fights and the intense loyal group that follows the sport. So rather than dwell and pile on the negative of the last three days, we look forward to seeing how boxing and horse racing can show the rest of the sports world that comebacks are important and even necessary to grow audience and create excitement, even in the darkest of days.

Brand placement ON the athlete…its all about time and place…

May 15, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The actual “branding” of athletes in the U.S. continues to get more and more interest as the phyiscal surface for ads, from the playing surface with real and virtual ads to the NASCAR-like infusion, gets more filled.  MLS has certainly been the trailblazer in the American landscape with jersey branding (the latest being the VW deal with the DC United) and this week comes another step forward with McDonald’s being added to the front of select WNBA jerseys as part of a multitiered branding campaign.  The logo is certainly not overly intrusive but it is another step forward for an area in traditional American sport that has always been pristine, and if all goes well will move to other lucrative deals going forward.  Also on the branding front, some props should go out to the Phoenix Coyotes on their great sponsorship and logo placement of PGA Tour golfer Jeff Quinney.  The logo and the brand of the NHL team got amazing viewership this past week as Quinney finished third at the TPC.  Here a team took an unconventional step with a young athlete outside its sport and caught lightning in a bottle, with the timing and the placement for the logo paid a huge dividend.