Not A Wise Choice….

September 1, 2010 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Mike Wise of the Washington Post is a very good writer and has built a strong and solid following on the radio side at WJFK radio in Washington.  He is a deep thinker who always looks for long form angles in his pieces and rarely follows the path that is easiest to tell a story.  Recently he had an extensive piece on Olympian Rafer Johnson that showed the great value that senior athletes can have for a young and sometimes uninformed get it done now world. Mike has also overcome a freak accident to return to good health, get married, and later this week will be a father.  He has some great long term relationships with media, and always speaks his mind and voices his opinion.

So We Now Move On…

July 10, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

Stephen King was once asked who his audience is for his novels, and his answer was that he writes for everyone who slows down to look at accidents. It is the sense of spectacle that makes events, no matter how bizarre or contrived they sometimes seem, that draws everyone to them.  Case in point was the past week, or month, or year, and all the information, misinformation, rumors and talk about LeBron James and free agency, all of which came to a head with a huge audience on ESPN Thursday night.  So now that the world knows and is debating winners and losers, what is it that we really know today that we didn’t know yesterday about James’ move to South Beach?  Some thoughts…

Finding The Happy Medium For Twitter…Howard yes, Johnson no…

November 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The twitter debate with regard to athletes and celebrities rages on as to what is acceptable and helpful and what is detrimental and contrived, and what at the end of the day is actually the best mix for use in the social networking space. Much like other media that have launched…sports radio, blogs, websites…the initial pushback is due more to the unknown as opposed to the medium itself. Sports remains a very traditional, very routine business, especially for those who are amongst its veterans in communications on the team side. The season has its patterns, and many times there is a reticence to differ from that pattern or try new things or embrace new technology, hence the pushback.

Being The Big Tweet In A Small Pond: The Griz Break A Record…

July 22, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

Earlier this year the Lakewood Blue Claws became one of the first teams to effectively use Twitter to move tickets and then unite their loyal Twitter followers with face to face meetings during a Twitter night. Now the Fresno Grizzlies, with a media partner (beehive..com), will not just do a little tweeting to build brand but also have “Fresno’s largest tweetup” at the end of the month for a July 30 game against Colorado Springs. The Grizzlies, who are one of baseball’s great innovators in fan activation and unique year-round events to keep fans engaged, will use the night to reward followers with instant twitter discounts, a special meeting area, twitter-only discounts and other text-related contests. Putting a “Fresno’s largest” bill to it and then bringing in a media partner is also a great move to expand their twitter base, build email lists and even engage more casual fans. There is one big irony in the whole announcement however, and it speaks perhaps more to the fact that minor league sports promotions, combined with social networking, has become more of a draw then the game itself…nowhere in the Griz announcement does it mention anything about baseball...not a player, not the opponent, not the Grizzlies standing in the Pacific Coast League…not a thing. Even with the omission, the Grizzlies tweetup event is great…great promotion, great way to show how to effectively use Twitter to drive brand awareness and ROI, great way to bring in a media partner and another great step up the innovation ladder for minor league ball promotion.

Social Networking For A Profit? Blue Claws Show How…

June 2, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

They have already done a Cash For Gold Night that gave local jewelers a chance to earn some money and drive traffic, they give away food for kids on Monday nights, and now the Lakewood, New Jersey Blue Claws have effectively used their Facebook and Twitter feeds to give their fans a special pop and move distressed inventory. The Phillies South Atlantic League farm team took their party deck on a recent weekend night, and went directly to those who subscribed to their Twitter and Facebook pages with an immediate call to action…an online response within a requested period would net those followers access to the party deck and all its free food and drink for the cost of a regular ticket. It also gave those subs a chance to do something oh so rare…meet face to face with others who used the medium and had a common interest…following the Blue Claws. The result was a 100% response rate that filled the deck and rewarded the social networking followers for their diligence. The promo was done without warning or reason for a signup, and the plan is to replicate the move again for future games when inventory is available. The potential result? Word of mouth drives new signups, which can now be captured for traditional e-blasts and other data mining. Those who subscribe and didn’t check now will have a much more frequent reason to check the pages and tweets for info and offers. More interestingly is it opens up potential sponsorship, not on the Facebook or Twitter posts, but to the Party Deck nights to brands that are looking to target first adopters and social networking fans who are also avid sports fans. It is a great example of how teams can use the platform to instantly drive revenue, create buzz and fill distressed inventory while sending people back to the social networking sites and looking for deals. Next potential idea? Twitter only or Twitter free zones at the games? Or speed twitter replacing fan trivia as a promotion.

Twitter As A News Vehicle…

May 3, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

One of the best sites on the web for sports things digital is Pat Coyle’s Sports Marketing 2.0, and they recently did a summary on the NFL Draft and teams use of twitter to actually break news (which was also put together by the Sports Business Daily). As brands and athletes jump to the twitter bandwagon, it shows that the technology may have an immediacy that others do not have for exclusive news distribution. Keeping in mind that it was less than three years ago when the Toronto Maple Leafs were vilified for breaking news on their website...now common practice in many places and the only place athletes like Tiger Woods send media for the latest news…the immediacy of Twitter remains intriguing, more for its news value than to know what Charlie Villanueva is doing in a halftime lockerroom or what miscellaneous WPS players are having for breakfast. Now of course there is still no way to make money off of Twitter, and it still remains that those using it look at messages and then get rid of em, but maybe in those 120something characters a sponsor mention creeps in to justify the spend, time and effort and the passalong value can grow exponentially. Now would it have been great to have Carl Edwards twitter that he was OK after his crash at Talladega, or Dikembe Mutombo twitter from the lockerroom that his career was done after he injured his knee last week, but the fact that teams used the service to allegedly break news before picks were made can be the most interesting development to date, and would be a real reason to sign up as opposed to the ramblings of miscellaneous folks looking for another place to “voice.” The latest mainstream news site to look at the Twitter phenominon was Sunday’s New York Daily News, with a piece by Ebenezer Samuel.

Majoring In The Minors: Fresno Puts Forth A Twitter Challenge For Its New Rival

April 27, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The value or effectiveness of twitter for teams, athletes and fans continues endlessly, even spurring a Maureen Dowd column about general use in the New York Times. However there is always room for innovation and proof that the simple technology, even without an ad compenent, can have some unique spin. Take the AAA Pacific Coast League Fresno Grizzlies, who last week set up a Twitter Challenge with the front office of the newest PCL member, the Reno Aces. While both teams acknowledge they are using the technology effectively to communicate information and promotions to fans, they are aware of Twitter burnout, turn off or overkill. So the two front offices agreed that the winner of this past weekend’s series….the first between the two franchises…would get all their tweets from the series re-sent to the twitter signup list of their opponents on April 30. What does it do? First of all it makes light of the seriousness of the Twitter “era,” showing that the technology is casual social networking and not always intentioned for the hard news sell. Secondly, it gives consumers an idea as to what other information is being communicated through the technology to a different fan base. Third, it created a news hook to drive some casual interest to the media and to fans who may not have known that the teams were even using Twitter as a tool. Fourth, it gives some ancillary added value to those already on the Twitter feed from a team, and can create some fun moments looking back at what was sent. In any event, it again shows the intuitiveness of teams in the minors and their ability to not just use a medium in the traditional manner it was intended for, but to find a way to take it to another level. Twitter wars amongst teams anyone?

Traditional News Outlets Going Quickly…

February 27, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As always happens in a society looking for change, especially in how we get our news and information, new ideas come and go, and the more “traditional” or established brands have to find ways to adapt, shift focus or decide to stay the course. Usually the more progressive brands are able to adapt, split fad from solid business, and re-invent themselves. It gives the entrepreneur the chance to excel in an open market, and lets brands on the marketing and communications side find new ways to connect directly with the consumer. One of the traditional stand-by’s has always been the printed newspaper. Even with the late adaptions that many have had with blogs, accompanying video and long form pieces online, the idea of the daily hard copy of a newspaper was one that brands knew could always reach a core group of casual consumers, especially in the sports marketplace. Hard copies are what many brands always looked for. However as dollars become more scant, production costs rise and information becomes distributed in various new media, especially on the electronic side, the local mass market newspaper seems to be dying very quickly. In the last 10 days the Rocky Mountain News is closing (Friday), the New Haven Register, Philly Inquirer, and Daily News and Minneapolis Star Tribune went chapter 11, and the San Francisco Chronicle and the Seattle Post Intelligencer are having major issues financially. So what does that mean to the marketer and the communicator? Innovate and address the places where your fans and partners go to find their news, and develop those partnerships while creating new ones. Mark Cuban on his blog recently listed some ways to aid the newspaper business, working with satellite and cable services. Many organizations have taken to making their site the place where their core fan can go for detailed information, but even others are now using their site as a place to break news which normally would have gone to “mainstream” outlets. Does this mean that all dailies will become a thing of the past? No. The need for the hard copy still exists and the smart brands will augment, with many even now sharing content. However as the newspaper world re-defines itself it is VERY important for those looking to reach the consumer and gain marketplace be aware of what the new opportunities are to maintain relevance, get exposure and grow return. Some key ideas:
1- Local is Local: People still look to local newspapers for news in their community. If there is a story that has local relevance, don’t slight the coverage one can get there and its home online as well. The same goes for non-English publications and ethnic outlets in print and online. Merchandising that coverage through hotlinks and viral emails is also important. A good story placed is a good story placed.
2- Blogs: While major sports organizations find ways to deal with the numbers of potential blog coverage and regulation, the days of thinking blogs are not credible news sources that reach the consumer and can grow brands are over. Embrace the key blogs, who may have the new era of journalist writing for them, set policy like one would for any media outlet, and give those who are looking to cover the team or brand or athlete and tell the story the chance to do it. It is not dissimilar to when sports radio started. There was pushback, but eventually the brands figured out how to work together to grow.
3- Check the colleges: Another key to distribution that are often overalloked are college radio, print and now even TV and digital. The young journalists there are smart, eager to learn and would be willing to probably help tell the story you are looking to tell, especially to a young audience.
4- Radio: From the traditional to digital to podcasting, the sound of the spoken voice and the ability to have audio tell the story is still very important, and the ability to push audio content to key decision makers is growing in importance. Somehow many have forgotten audio as a driver, but now it has a wide impact and again can be very effective.
5- Sports 3.0: From twitter to short form video to chat rooms and interactivity, there is any number of ways to learn more about distribution of good stories. Will all work and be effective for an athlete, team or brand? No. but having a casual working knowledge of what is out there, what is cost effective and what others are doing, and finding ways to adapt that technology is also a key part of the plan.