NHL Begins Maybe It’s Most Critical “Second Season”…

April 16, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

They had a great bounce for the Olympics, the NHL did.  As a league, they have done more embracing and testing what works and what doesn’t in social and digital media more than anyone else.  They have identified a signature event and have built around it to the point where other groups (the NCAA, the WNBA, the AHL etc.) are copying the format to draw interest and eyes.  They have found ways to embrace their core fans, and they have almost every large market…Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Montreal, Boston, and New York (well New Jersey, but maybe the best energing brand in hockey in the Devils)…all in the playoffs. They are finding new and innovative ways to increase the ROI for national sponsors and work together to encourage regional participation. And if you believe the spin, more people watched, logged on and bought tickets than ever before. So the question is, can the NHL ride this wave of brand growth to even more success, dollars, partners, and casual fan interest in 2010-11 and beyond?  Maybe.

Hall of Fame Voting: A New Brand Through The Power of the People?

January 5, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

This month two of the strongest, if not the strongest, Halls of Fame will reveal their 2010 selections, the Baseball and Football Halls.  The annual selection issue always operates under stealth and the very tight control over the voters, and usually has more than enough intrigue, suspicion, and debate.  However with an ever shrinking number of potential voters on the baseball side, and the need for more overall recognition on the football side, could changes in selection be in the offing? The baseball side, which includes only votes by those in the Baseball Writers Association of America, is suffering from the loss of so many fulltime newspaper  jobs recently and may have to add other segments, especially broadcasters, in order to keep the legitimacy of those who actually cover the sport on a fulltime basis intact.  That of course does not also reflect the ever-growing and more influential bloggers choices, or for that matter, the input on some level of the fan.  One interesting move this year was a vote by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, a group of the top bloggers in the space,  to announce their Hall of Fame choices and the reasoning, in advance of the actual Hall vote.  It wasn’t in any way disrespectful, and it showed professionalism and great forethought, and could be a foreshadowing of a group that could be influential in coming years.  The opening up of fan debate and blogger interraction also gives rise to the notion that the voting system could be tied to a partner, with a full digital integration platform.  With the right safeguards put into place, and by providing all the right information, such a system could bring added revenue, more interest, more innovation and even greater visibility to the Hall, at a time when all institutions are looking to grow fan base and visitors year-round.

The “Owner As Brand” Fades Into The Twilight…

November 27, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The passing this week of the beloved Washington Wizards owner Abe Pollin was the latest in a series of instances recently that seem to show us that one of the great storylines of American team sports, the iconic “owner” that we loved or hated and sometimes followed with as much or more passion than the players themselves, is fading into the distance of corporate America. Yes, we still have Jerry Jones with the Cowboys and a community and business leader like Mike Ilitch with the Tigers and Red Wings, but these days a single owner as the personality of his or her franchise seems to be more a hindrance than a help when teams’ cost of doing business or connecting to a community is in play. In addition to Pollin’s passing (his legacy is well detailed in many pieces this week in the Washington Post, including Thomas Boswell’s great read), we have the fading health of the Yankees George Steinbrenner, the recently disclosed illness of the Seahawks and Tralblazers owner Paul Allen, Lakers owner Jerry Buss taking a back seat in running his franchise, and the disfunctional issues with the Raiders and owner Al Davis. Then pile on the public divorce cases of the Padres John Moores and the Dodgers Frank McCourt, both effecting those franchises bottom lines, and there is a very good case that the individual leader has gone the way of the dinosaur. Now in today’s all access media market the argument can probably be made that there is less of a need to have the owner as the organization front man or woman. Fans want access more to the players who they are spending the money on, and probably are less interested in the billionaire owners footing the bills for the talent. Still the owner as the brand and the face of a franchise, more as promoter and pillar of the community than as rich playboy, was what drew many to sport in the first place. The Maras and the Rooney’s of the NFL, a man like Sonny Werblin with the Knicks and the Rangers, Lamar Hunt taking his oil money to help start the AFL, the Yawkeys of Boston…all became touchpoints as sport became big business and their faces and reputations rose and fell in the community with the fortunes of their team or teams. Now these men certainly did not act alone, and the most successful always assembled the right business teams to run said franchises on the day to day. However the team brands and their individual personal “brands” were one in the same. Steinbrenner’s Yankees took on the personality of their owner, both good and bad. Maybe today’s high demand world of everchanging loyalties and interests may not lend itself to such individuals as much as in the past, especially as the battle for the discretionary dollar, but the personality of the owner was part of the mystique of the team brand and was part of the passion that drove the business of sport. Yes its easier to be lukewarm about corporate ownership and maybe it puts more focus on the athletes. However knowing the owner always made it more fun and a little more intriguing, and that personality involved with the imprint of the franchise got sport to be the business it is today. It is probably an era lost, but one which should be reflected on positively as another icon passed this week.

Playoff time…Dodgers Take Brand To The Streets…

October 5, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It is now playoff time in baseball, with Tuesdays Twins-Tigers winner take all game getting fans started. The Los Angeles Dodgers, however, had the luxury of something the teams that battled to the wire didn’t have…the luxury of time. Yes they struggled and almost blew the division lead to the Rockies in the last week, but Joe Torre’s team will be in the postseason, and coming down the stretch used that time to get out and find new ways to engage fans especially with the Angels also heading to the postseason. Now have the Dodgers had to struggle to sell tickets and gain brand recognition? No, they remain one of the iconic draws in MLB. However, their brand development folks, led by people like Dennis Mannion and Charles Steinberg, have found ways to make it grow, just like Steinberg did with the Red Sox before he moved west. Recent case in point, the Dodgers took the ticket and memorabilia item to the streets, by using the neighborhood ice cream truck model and turning it into a door to door ticket selling truck. It was a very smart move in a region that is spread so wide and not connected by mass transportation…a way to bring the Dodgers brand literally to the doorsteps of each community with a vehicle that people can relate to as it has been seen in their neighborhoods countless times before. It is not the “fan van” that many teams use for community and traditional field marketing. It looks different and offers a different product and leaves a solid branding impression, whether it sells tickets on the spot or not. Nice piece of innovative and simple branding that resonates with the community in a very unique way. An initiative that is surely going to be copied and expanded on.

Fins To The Left, Fins To The Right…Dolphins Hit It With Short Deal…

May 15, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Steve Ross is a billionaire or has made the Related Companies into one of the most successful commercial real estate companies in the world. He has purchased the Miami Dolphins, has shown savvy to find a way to keep Bill Parcells around, has let the team continue to grow after a surprising playoff season a year ago, and has a host of minority partners who he will tap into, including the legendary Jimmy Buffett. So this week the team announced a short-term deal to rename Dolphins Stadium after A-B’s Land Shark Beer, a Buffet brand. Eventhough, as Terry Lefton pointed out in the Sports Business Daily this week, the NFL will have the team remove the name for the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl, the short term benefit to the small brand plus the good will and fun that will be built up through the summer of Marlins baseball and into the fall with the Dolphins will get the team and the area some much needed traction, spin and maybe a little bit of controversy in a down economy. This is not rent a stadium for the day, as some minor league teams have done. This is a smart, calculated move by some very savvy branding folks who probably have a bigger picture play involving the Buffett brand in mind, not to mention a great test market for Anheuser Busch. Will it “devalue” future naming rights deals? In this economy few are actually happening and none at premiums, and today when brands are looking to extract every ounce of added value into any deal, this one may be a bit cash poor but brand profitable. The biggest challenge will be to match branding and goodwill and fun for the new naming rights deal if Land Shark does go away. The images of The Coral Reefer Band may resonate deeper than a bank or other institution who may be willing to pony up after the season. Could it have been done earlier to give the Marlins more chance to adjust? Maybe. But there would have never been an optimal time and if played right, everyone will know where the action is for both teams. Fun, smart branding move for the Fins.

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.

Honda Uses Racing, Online Platforms To Speak To Consumers On All Levels…

January 13, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

In these economically challenged times for the auto industry, even those brands perceived as “doing well” are looking to refresh, remind and build brand.  Such is the case with Honda, as Karl Greenburg points out in Media Post.  The brand has reluanched its successful camapign which used to look at more futuristic endearvors, and will now use its racing platform and its engineers looking not just at success but how they built success through failure.  The brand will use digital to push longer vignettes that may appeal to a younger buyer, while looking to engage the casual fan through traditional advertsing tieing in their auto racing platforms that will be coming in the spring.  At a time when NASCAR is finding ways to deal with their own issues with regard to fan attendance, American car makers cutting back on spending and the like, perhaps this is an opportunity for forward-thinking brands like Honda to push the open wheel agenda to the casual auto racing fan and gain some market share.  If nothing else, the campaign is easily identifiable to all of us going through times of self-doubt, and shows how both the savvy brand and those tasked with delivering brand results…the engineers…overcome failure.  Nice mix of all aspects to keep a strong brand fresh.

Caps May Have Found Innovation In Experiential…

December 14, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Now it may have happened by accident, but an interesting development this past week for the Washington Capitals actually gave a front office staffer a few seconds of a lifetime on ice close to game time, and could unleash a new round of experiential marketing for teams and fans going forward, especially for the minors.  An injury and a late arriving backup forced the Caps to petition the NHL to have a third goalie, that being web programmer Brett Leonhardt, off his computer and into uniform for warmups until Simeon Varlamov could arrive from minor league Hershey.  Now Leonhardt had played in college and had actually worked out with the Caps in some practices, but whose to say a team couldn’t give a relatively competant fan a chance as a coach for a half inning, a batting practice pitcher or a chance to skate a shift on game day outside of the regular prep.  It again gives the fan a chance to have that ultimate experience, is totally sponsorable and would gain media play and in this day of looking for every ounce of justification of dollars, could help lure a new brand or two, especially in markets just below the top rungs.  Does it create distraction or a circus mentality?  Perhaps.  But so did mic’ing coaches, guest ballboys and fans sitting courtside at one point.  But by filling a dire need, the Caps may have opened a door and it will be interesting to see if any brand can walk through.

Playing On The Global Stage

October 18, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Businessweek this week put out their Top 100 Power Brokers In Sports, and in that was a Top 25 worldwide (meaning outside the U.S.).  The list is a great one for anyone to have on hand as sports becomes more global, and continues to show the domination of motor sports (notably F1 despite its financial issues) and soccer as the world players.  In an Olympic year, the key Olympic players also move up the list, and the presence of Yao Ming (the only basketball element) and Lalit Modi show the continued diversity into the Far East and the power the Indian and Chinese markets will have going forward.  One interesting aspect is that there are only four names probably…David Beckham, Maria Sharapova, Roger Federer and Yao…that the casual sports fan in the United States may know.  The smart marketer or ardent fan will at least know almost all, but as brands expand (no names from the Middle East made the list, something that will change in the future) both globally and into this country (as non-American brands look to capture the sports marketplace here) this list and its offshoots will become increasingly more valuable, and the crossover from this list to the largely American 100 will become much bigger.  The entire list as well as the features can be seen here. 

ESPN Sends Collegiate Bands Battling With Indiana Jones…

September 29, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Credit Brian Gainor at the Partnership Activation blog for uncovering a great month-long promotion that ESPN is doing with seven top college marching bands and the multiplatform release of the DVD of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull in October.   ESPN is working with Paramount and LucasFilm to see which of the seven bands can come up with the most unique performance of the Indiana Jones theme song, with the winning band getting $25,000.  The promotion is taking place online and on campus at all the schools, ranging from the Univ. of Florida to USC, with fans getting to vote for the best performance.  It’s the latest example of movies becoming more and more savvy using sports to reach their core demo, this time for a DVD release of a movie whose previous films were obvious favorites of those growing upo and now in college.  Although the Crystal Skull may not have skewed to the college crowd, using the band platform to promote on campus is a smart one, and one which will generate more unique interest in that demo for an audience that is much more used to the download than the DVD buy these days. Nice foray into the market with a great spin.

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