The Open Scores Again…

August 25, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

It remains the only major sporting event that brands can point to every year, at the same time, in the same location in New York. And when it starts the main draw next Monday (free qualifying goes on this week for those who can’t afford or locate a ticket) the US Open will again begin the brand activation bonanza that takes place in and around New York every year as summer moves towards fall.

Beware Sponges Filled With Cash…And Other Lessons…

March 16, 2010 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

Last year the brand of choice to fill displaced inventory on television and in stadia around the country was Spongetech. Their giant signs were splashed acroos all of MLB, their patches showed up on the NFL’s “Hard Knocks” show on Bengals jerseys, they appeared along the dasher boards at Madison Square Garden. Spongetech, and their pre-soaped sponges, appeared to be the cure-all for every team salesperson.  They helped balance budgets and create some buzz and all appeared grand.

Brand Agassi Has Tremendous Value For A Different Generation

November 9, 2009 by Joe Favorito · 1 Comment 

He came of age with the “Image Is Everything Campaign” eventhough his best tennis was years ahead. He came back from the bottom to be a successful professional, and even without a formal education made education is legacy in his hometown. Yes now that Andre Agassi writes an honest accounting of his life and career, a life which not many people on the inside would dispute as being controversial, many tennis lifers have seen to push his accounts to the side and shame him. Shame Agassi? Shame on them. In reality, Andre Agassi’s brand should be stronger today that at almost any point in his Hall of Fame tennis career. He is a role model for the serial athlete and has emerged as being sincere and creating life changing experiences for a new generation of children, not serial athletes. What the Agassi brand stands for today is what most successful people should aspire to…admitting ones flaws and looking to make the lives of those around you better with the success you have had. Agassi admitted drug use. Given the culture of athletics in the ’80’s…a time pre WADA and all glamour? Would that be surprising, especially for a rock and roll lifestyle that individual sports like golf or tennis lead professionals to? Not at all. As a matter of fact, most who followed Agassi’s career at that stage would probably not have been surprised at that time about the usage. What the Agassi brand should be remembered for and what it could be going forward is for resilience. A resilience and rededication to a career and a spirit to sincerely give back that is not just rare in athletes, it is rare in most high net worth individuals. Now one can be assured that Andre Agassi does not need more endorsement dollars, nor would he probably court the spotlight. However if there are brands looking for a role model for where America is today…a country on the rebound and dedicated to growing a generation, one may not look farther that Andre Agassi. He reinvented a career and a life and has come out as a man that not just had a Hall of Fame athletic career, but may be in a philanthropic Hall of fame at some point as well. Not a bad role model for today’s challenged times.

Squeezing Til The Sponge Is Dry…

October 14, 2009 by Joe Favorito · 2 Comments 

In the 1970’s and into the 1980’s big tobacco fueled some of the most successful sports branding opportunities in history. Whether it was Phillip Morris’ support of Virginia Slims tennis or NASCAR’s Marlboro Cup, the cigarette brands created some of the most large scale and effective activation platforms in sports history. Then came all the legislation against smoking and the tobacco brands, and for the better in terms of health and social consciousness, all the spending stopped from those brands. So sports moved on, using the lessons learned in many of those activation platforms to bring in new brands who would spend, maybe not at the large numbers of tobacco, but who would continue to grow business and fill the gap. Banks and financial institutions, insurance, and technology, filled gaps with new money and new ways to reach the consumer.

Even In A Down Economy, Open Activation Still Leads The Way…

September 7, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

As other mega-events like the Super Bowl, NASCAR, the NBA Finals, the All-Star game, golf’s U.S. Open shied away from large scale media activation and branding with many of their partners toward more subtle and community-oriented activation, the tennis US Open has moved steadfastly ahead in telling its stories, growing its base and solidifying its place as the mega event it has become, even in the slowest of years. Of course it helps that the Open is in New York at the same time every year, and can use its US Open series to build toward the two weeks. However the fact that the USTA and its partners continue to find stories from fashion, green efforts, celebrities, athleticism and grassroots, along with its business stories, is a testament to forward thinking business and smart and aggressive brand building. Even in week one, a look around found an NPR and Fast Company piece on the USTA’s leadership in green space amongst sports, stories on the value of selling oversized tennis balls, the value of the US Open “flame” as a brand motivator and story after story about the fashion styles of players and fans around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Then there are the brand activation stories, ranging from Amex’s expansion of their partnership to IBM’s expanded role with the USTA. Throw in the new TV deal with ESPN, the controversy with issues of coverage with The Tennis Channel and some rising American stars on the court, and once again the USTA gives all large scale events and brands a great run for their exposure dollars, and shows how even in challenging times an event can be creative and resourceful with messaging and partnerships instead of the running and hiding that has been seen elsewhere. Great effort by all to again take a world class event and find world class coverage.

Black Knights of the Hudson Look To Build Brand, Seize The Apple…

July 23, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It has long been one of the mysteries of sports branding. New York, the centerpiece of the sports branding and business world, has been a college football graveyard. Yes, bars full of displaced college alumni flock to watch games with friends on Saturdays, the Heisman is housed there, and there are many other things to do on a Saturday, not to mention the perception that it is a pro town with two NFL teams. The casual sports fan in New York has never been engaged by local college teams in almost 50 years, save for St. John’s terrific runs in hoops in the 1980’s. The last team with any local cache on the football side was Fordham, a program which lost its national stance in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. So can a local team capture the audience, the branding and the media attention? Judging by announcements this week, Army my just be making that push. The Black Knights of the Hudson, just 30 miles north of the City, have long been one of the jewels of Saturday college football, not for their onfield play but for the pageantry and patriotism that comes with games at Michie Stadium. This week, along with the Yankees (who need to fill suites more than seats), Army announced a series of college football games with Notre Dame, Rutgers and Air Force at Yankee Stadium beginning in 2010, which will give Army a great local stage to compliment their games up the Hudson. Now can it parlay into great new branding and revenue for Army? Maybe. It will become a great non-baseball sales tool for Yankee Stadium because of the opponents as much as Army. But with this week’s announcement of a presenting sponsor for Army-Navy, a new coach, a huge void in a football team to root for in the New York area (Rutgers too will still try and fill that void), maybe just maybe the Black Knights can become New York’s college football team.

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.

The Science of Effective Mommy Blogging…The USTA and Mother’s Day.

June 4, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

It has long been known that the female head of household is the decision maker on products, and the brands that can effectively communicate to those decision makers through sports or entertainment are often the most effective. Of course in sports the challenge has always been how to keep women interested and engaged in activities that might play more to the male demo. That problem has waned in recent years as girls have become more active, the head of household has shifted and women take a much more visible role in the overall positioning and delivering of kids to sporting events and choosing leasure activities to attend. NASCAR and soccer have been two of the leaders in connecting brand loyalty and women to their overall experience and choice of where their families spend their time and dollars. However with the advent of social media, new challenges have arisen as to how to capture the head of household and the decision maker in the right environ. Enter the mommy bloggers. The mommy bloggers, literally in the thousands, have become a huge voice in the decision making process of the household and a great source of information, especially for young families looking for all sorts of options in challenging times. Like so many other aspects of social media, the ability to exchange ideas, tips, product leads and thoughts amongst peers gives the group a very special cache for those who enter the mix. Since a good part of mommy blogging is also about lifestyle and health choices, as opposed to viewing or attending events, the opportunity for lifestyle sports to penetrate and activate in this space is both a huge challenge and a golden opportunity. The bloggers can be an insular group and really have to experience product in order to validate its usefulness so like any other pitch, taking the time to know the writer and her audience is critical. Also, the viral nature of blogging can give the right products or activities a huge boost if pitched and placed effectively. So how can sports brands effectively activate in the Mommy blogging world? A great example of success was demonstrated by the USTA and Coyne Public Relations, who were able to get the right kits to key Mommy Bloggers and have them validate all the claims of the USTA’s grassroots programs as fun and friendly and healthy family activities to their readers around Mother’s Day. The results may not have produced over the top clips or national show headlines, but for this project, delivering effective messaging to the decision makers, the payoff was very strong. Is using this core grassroots approach the best for all activities? Of course not. Extolling the value of Mixed Martial Arts may not be the right fit here. However as a smart, effective, well thought out plan, the Mommy Blogging route can add great value to a campaign or a brand in sports, like it has in many family-friendly non-sports brands. It is a great example of alternative support for a program in this digital age, and one that has yet to be fully taken advantage of by the sports community.

Is There A Doctor In The House…Individual MD’s Step Up Branding…

January 27, 2009 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

We have all seen the doctor “tips” usually affiliated with sports medicine sponsorships with teams and leagues.  The obligatory in-arena and on-air quick factoids on injury “sponsored by” have been around for years.  However it seems like the indicidual doctors have looked to sports more as a way to more directly reach the consumer on their own.  Maybe its the affordability of space, the need for individuals to stand out more as the competition for the health dollar gets more competitive or media and brands looking to create more one on one contact between a fan base that needs to exercise and is more health conscious these days, but the doctor as brand is on the rise, especially on the recreational side.  Some examples include the Florida Panthers afternoon game sponsored by dentist Dr. Larry Kawa, a new “X-Ray Vision” column in the New York Daily News by two prominent New York sports doctors, and a new website with expert information directed to the active recreational athlete, Sportsmd.com.   In each case the doctor, not the health care group or his own group, is stepping out on his or her own as the expert, and marketing to the sports fan directly.  It is not unlike other professions which work direct to consumer through sports, and could be a new larger revenue stream for teams and brands as they look for new money away from the traditional advertiser.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Brings Fans Into Virtual Battles With The Top Stars…

September 19, 2008 by Joe Favorito · Leave a Comment 

The engagement of the fan with the athlete, whether it is onsite, online or in another area, is always the key component in activation and building in long term support for the brand, the team or the athlete.  Once a fan can connect on a personal basis with the athlete, there is more trust and support in lean times and more emotion in good times.  In team sports, where the athletes are in market for large portions of the year, that connection is much easier to do.  In individual sports, like tennis, golf, volleyball, even auto racing, that connection sometimes is more difficult to do because of the lack of potential physical personal contact.  Now NASCAR has overcome many of those issues with their huge play into retail and television…the athletes are tied to products that consumers purchase and that builds loyalty.  The weekly network TV play also leads into more athletes coming into their homes on a regular basis, and the fact that NASCAR is all North American with its schedule gives the fan a window of tuning in that matches usually with his or her viewing habits.  Golf has some of the same opportunities, and the affinity amongst the male viewer also helps take it to another level of identification.  Golfers on any level can understand the nuances of the game, even if only pros can execute.  So on to tennis…strong grassroots, marketable stars but many non-American and a schedule that plays on a world stage that many times does not match fan viewing patterns no matter where on the globe they live.  The Tour schedules, although much more consistent in years past and with the help of the USTA in the United States have a natural run to the US Open now, still have multiple events on multiple continents on multiple weeks, making identifiablity a problem.  So what to do?  The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has found a very simple, very unique way to have fans address some of these issues with an online application, where fans take clips of their favorite players, and conduct a mock tennis battle against them using clips of themselves playing tennis.  Challenge Your Hero is a fresh idea, a great new digital application, it lets the fans identify with the player style of their choice and for the top clipmaster, will have the ability to meet their foe face to face at the season-ending championships in Qatar.  It also gives the individual one-on-one sport a digital and visual edge over team sports that few have ever looked at, as this type of challenge probably can’t be equalled by a team sport or any other individual sport.  Well played and well served by the WTA.  

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