Spectacle Du Jour…The Red Bull Air Race

June 22, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

The stunts and events that take our breath away always draw lots of buzz and interest when they come to town…tractor pulls, NASCAR, you name it.  They have the daredevil quality that surpasses generations, and can draw large crowds for events.  The latest was in New York this past week, the worldwide Red Bull air race. The event featured New York as a panoramic backdrop, lots of thrills and chills over New York Harbor, got great press and buzz for the always viral Red Bull brand, and out itself up as “the sport of the future.”  Ticket prices were at a premium as people gazed skyward onSsaturday and Sunday as the daredevil pilots rocked and rolled all over the eater and between the logoed pilons at speeds of over 200 miles an hour.  Like another “race of the future,” the now defunct Rocket Racing League, the Red Bull Air Race series seems to have it all.  Thrills, chills and a great atmosphere.

MLS Cup Sets Template For Future Soccer Success…

November 24, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the most significant games in the history of professional soccer took place in the Pacific Northwest in the late summer of 1977, when the New York Cosmos, led by the legendary Pele, won their first North America Soccer league title by defeating the original Seattle Sounders 2-1 in Portland Oregon. This past weekend, perhaps the most important game since then in the evolution of professional soccer in the United States again took place in the Pacific Northwest, where a crowd of over 40,000 saw Real Salt Lake defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 on penalty kicks to take the 2009 Major League Soccer title?

Garden Growing New Partners, Ideas Again…

October 27, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It has been tough times in recent years for patrons of “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” The lack of on court success, a slowing economy, an aging building and a weak public perception had caused a good deal of the shine to come off of Madison Square Garden and perhaps lower the perceived standard of excellence the building and the organizations housed in the building had long held. However, steadily it appears that perception, consumer confidence and new and innovative promotional partnerships may be returning the business of MSG back to where it had resided for so long, in the upper echelon of sports and entertainment marketing and branding in the world. The announcement of a long rumored renovation, the ever improving on-ice play of the New York Rangers, an enhanced outreach through digital media and an ever-growing unified community presence for all the Garden brands have led the uptick in interest and buzz as the NBA season approaches this week. On the business side, a just-announced landmark airline deal with Delta Airlines, complete with Garden icons Mark Messier and Willis Reed filling the captains outfits, new entertainment sponsorship plans, and brand extensions to other Garden-related properties are all contributing to an uptick in interest, new best practices for partners and a more entreprenurial overall atmosphere than has been seen in some time above Penn Station. Now can all go sour with bad teams on the court and on the ice? It certainly won’t be a positive. However what is being seen is the aggressive ability to effectively tell good business and branding stories to all constituents, much like the cross river rival Nets have been doing so well, and that sort of business buzz can help insulate partners if the athletic performance falters. Even with problems on the athletic side, all the moves are smart and solid and send great messages to partners that the Garden is more than willing and ready to solidify and create new business than ever before.

Fantasy Is The Reality Of Good Brand Activation…

September 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The question often asked with social media these days is a simple one…how does it make money? With all the work being done to give fans more insight and access to athletes and properties, very few if any can prove that the efforts on their own can translate into hard sponsorship dollars. Increased visibility? Yes. Buzz factor? Absolutely. ROI for the spend. Still very questionable, especially for big brands and mainstream properties. It is good to see the NFL setting their social media policy this week, and it remains frustrating that colleges and other properties still fail to see social media as part of a bigger picture media strategy in many cases…just like sports radio was in its infancy…but the answer to how it all justifies time spent and dollars allocated remains a mystery that is slow to unravel.

Marveling At A New Opportunity For ESPN…

September 1, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It was only a few years ago that Marvel Entertainment caused an uproar amongst baseball traditionalists by trying to put spider webs on the bases at MLB games as part of their promotion for the first “Spiderman” movie. The backlash caused MLB and Marvel to scale down the promotion and saved the “sanctity of white bases” for the time. Flash forward to today’s more challenged times, where outfield signage and in game promotions dominate as a way to gain more ROI for partners, and MLB is now one of the leaders in finding ways to integrate unique content and promotions into their games and production, albeit still not on the bases.

How To Deliver The Message…

August 14, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Two week’s ago Sports Illustrated’s George Dohrmann had a great piece on the amount of useless recruiting mail top hoops recruit Roberto Nelson received during his high school days, and it brought to light one of the biggest problems that marketers, salespeople, and communications folks deal with every day. How to cut through the junk, decide whats the most effective way to deliver a message and who is the best person to deliver it to. In the easy world today of spamming emails and press releases or sales pitches, or in this case, volumes of recruiting mail, the personal touch is lost, and with it goes the relevance. Many times people get caught up in trying to do things because “thats the way its always been done” instead of trying to be more innovative and effective with a personal touch. The digital world today has made it easy to hit send and hope to deliver a message, many times without knowing if the recipient ever reads, is interested or even knows the sender, or even worse, if the info is relevant to the recipient at all. In the “old days” editors and reporters would get deluged with faxes of press releases or volume of mail, but today’s world makes the deluge even bigger because there is no real cost to blast or spamming email. The cost lies in reputation of the sender. Many times the inexperienced will not personalize letters or note, send to people no longer employed in a position or with a company or outlet or even worse, pretend to know someone when they really don’t. So what’s the answer? Simple. Personal touch matters. Take the time to know who is on the beat, covering the story, selling or marketing the product or making the decisions. Are there points for mass distribution? Of course. Are there times when you send info to try and remain relevant or top of mind? Yes so long as the info is useful. Is snail mail…a personalized hand written, note or item sometimes still the most cost-effective way to set yourself, your brand or your sales pitch apart? You betcha. The worst thing you can waste is your reputation for doing well and knowing your business and someone’s precious time. Even asking periodically if someone wants to stay on a list, or if information that is being sent is appreciated or useful, is also a good idea. In these days of not just cost efficiency, but time efficiency, personal contact goes a long way in delivering the right message, and quality usually wins over quantity.

Yankees Take A Leadership Position With Hope Week…

July 20, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Sometimes being the premier brand in a city, let alone a country, can lead to complacency. Even in a down economy, the demand as a destination and a brand to be associated with still conveys great opportunity with little effort. On another side, the relevance of brand can also lead to a guarded stance with regard to creating partner opportunities…one which does not allow the brand to do the “extras” for attention or brand growth that others need to be successful. Also, being a brand in demand can put those involved on such a high pedestal that the downside of not being all inclusive in projects, leaving out a partner or not being able to assist all involved, can bring more negative than the positive of assisting most. So with all that in mind, the Yankees deserved some credit for creating their first-ever HOPE Week. All week the team and staff will be in the city doing community service events, all tied in with various goodwill around the city. Now some may say that this is what a premier brand is supposed to do to give back to the community, and it is true that teams do community events year-round. However for the Yankees to make a concerted effort to use the power of their brand, especially without a corporate push, to touch so many charities within one week, a great followup to all the work MLB did in St. Louis around the All-Star break, is a great move. The positioning of the events, between Sunday’s Old Timers Day and this coming weekend’s Hall of Fame induction, and during a time of year when media are looking for events (no NBA, NFL, NHL or college, and minimal NASCAR and just off the British Open) also makes great sense. A solid, well positioned week-long event for a team and its players which sometimes do not get their due for all they can do off the field.

Why Being A Fan Helps The President…

July 17, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

There are many cynics that may say President Obama can spend his time, and the countries’ dollars…doing better things than glad handing the MLS champion Columbus Crew at the White House before heading off to throw the first pitch and hang out in the FOX booth at the All-Star game. However, the man who the Washington Times called this week the “Sports Fan Chief” , was astute enough with his team to recognize early on in his run to the White House that sports is a common bond for those on the fence about anything political, and gave him, more than any other candidate, another link to a demo that may or may not have voted or listened to him at all. Starting with his one on one with Scott Price of SI, his pickup games, his throwing out of the first pitch at a White Sox game, his NCAA tournament brackets, played a little golf and pickup games with the North Carolina hoops team, the President took the time to show that human side of him through sports, and it resonated with the casual fan who in tough times may give his administration pause and a bit of a second chance that they may not have if they had no connection to him at all. The ceremonial aspects of the Presidency, whether it is meeting a championship team or saluting the Girl Scouts, are part of the job and rarely if ever detract from the duties that need to be performed. If those ties for President Obama to sport are more public, especially in a time where America is looking for heroes and is working to get the 2016 Olympics, then so be it. There is a need for heroes and good messaging through sport to address needs like childhood obesity, girls participation in an active lifestyle, and even the growth of brands attaching to sports and entertainment, and if the President can use the cause celebre’ through sport to raise the profile of those issues, it makes great sense. Sport is also a great tie to diplomacy and as a way to connect back to those in the military who are defending the nation, and in these times of transition for the nation on a global scale those ties no matter how subtle can also be beneficial to the overall health of the country. Yes sports is a multibillion dollar industry. No it is not insurance or health care or education, but it does touch all, and if sport provides a bridge to the everyday business of the country as well as feel good opportunities for the people, it makes great business sense to be involved.

The Need For Spectacle To Draw Attention…CFL and UFL…

July 6, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As we inch closer to NFL Training Camp, two interesting notes popped up again in the football world over the weekend, both showing what it will take for the casual fan to take notice of football outside of college or the NFL. The first was up north in the CFL, which incidentally has done a good job of rebranding itself and working with, not against the NFL in many ways. This past week, Toronto receiver Arland Bruce took the Ocho Cinco route by doing a “touchdown tribute” to Michael Jackson, complete with acting dead after a score. The move earned him not just the wrath of the league and probably his teammates, but got Bruce some great exposure on newsshows, blogs and YouTube during a week where football was nowhere near top of mind, and could draw those casual fans to watch some CFL over the next few weeks to see what antics are next for the “perfomance artist” turned wide receiver. The second move was the UFL saying again that if Michael Vick is available and free of legal trouble they would take him for their Orlando franchise. Again the piece drew the eyeballs of the media and the casual fan to the soon to be starting league at a time when people are still not thinking football, and got the league more exposure as they move toward their next steps. Any downside to entertaining Vick? For the UFL none at all. It will bring spectacle both positive and negative should it happen, and will give their efforts more relevancy for TV and fans than they would have without him. Placed in a slow media week it was a very good move, whether or not it pans out. While one was planned (UFL) and one was not (CFL) both drew attention through spectacle and got both leagues added attention that they need for casual interest. Will be interesting to see next moves on both.

Fragmentation In Niche Sports Proves To Be A Killer…

July 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Speaking with one voice, whether it is to a business partner, the media, or to fans is always important, especially in the alphabet soup of niche or second tier sports. With the limited dollars and eyeballs available for the casual fan, splitting the marketplace with alphabet soup of organizations usually leads to confusion and can ultimately drive partners on to a platform which is much more simple to understand. The latest example of split markets being a killer is in indoor soccer, which despite the huge success the outdoor game is seeing in the US, just fell further off the roadmap this week. Last year the Indoor game split into two “leagues,” both of which struggled for any kind of existence in far-off marketplaces, and despite the local success of teams like the Milwaukee Wave and the New Jersey Ironmen (who were in two different leagues by the way) the sport is on the verge of extinction. Another sport teetering but doing better with some unity is lacrosse, where the National Lacrosse League extended commissioner George Daniel this week, sending a positive message to all involved. Still, lacrosse, indoor and outdoor, needs to be presented as one platform to be an effective tool, but at least in their case the sport has a platform of success to build on. Indoor soccer has hurt itself with divergent forces for the indoor game, forces which told the sports world they were too fragmented to present a unified front, and in the end, all suffered. Would having one unified league have worked? Perhaps. But with the alphabet soup presented last winter to fans, media partners and business partners there was no chance of survival in an already tight marketplace. Hopefully the indoor game can be resurrected and lifted by the continued success of the outdoor product, but with too many cooks it will be next to impossible to deliver.

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