PR Move of the Day. When you are a niche sport with a growing following or a minor league sport looking for new opportunities, usually you will take the chance to be different and find unique ways to draw fans. When you a sport pretty far off the mainstream, although with a very passionate local following, sometimes you have to go even further away from your core message to draw interest.Pittsburgh Passion of the Independent Women's Football League.? As reported and shown on severa. blog. today, the team wen. for the eye catcher plan of very feminine shots and catchy phrases to try and grab attention. Now is it off message for the core fa.? Yes. Will it sell tickets to justify a plan that although modest I’m sure by most media buy standards is probably a big part of the team's budge. Yes. But if the plan was to generate buzz and maybe get the team and the league a little brand recognition by not taking themselves to seriously and showing their players in a more mainstream light, then it works really well. For lovers of the underdog, the ad resonated enough on creativity to justify the spend. We hope ownership feels the same way when looking at the bottom line at the end of the season.
On to some other solid topics of the day…great piece in Media Post today on Kodak's buy-in for an activation program with the PGA Tour this year…the company's transition into the digital age, and the integration of that technology into their sports sponsorships (especially with NASCAR) continues to pay off, with this PGA Million Dollar Challenge keying on a course's most difficult holes, being the latest. Great brand re-invigoration with new age technology…also on the breakthrough side came news from this coming Monday's Boston Marathon, as Jenn Abelsen reported in the Globe reported today that the legendary road race will now allow advertisin. for the first time in 112 years…in a sport where the New York City Marathon has become a master and brand development, activation and enhancement for a one day event, this is a big step in partner growth, with hopefully even more to come. And on the athlete “insight” side, tw. good pieces caugh. our attention recently…first Vinny Mallozzi's New York Times piece yesterday on Vitali Klitschko and his run for political office in his native Russi. after he walked away from boxing showed a more cerebral side of one of boxing's great names of recent years, and Mark Kriegel's Fox Sports piece on the New Orleans Hornets’ Chris Paul was a great look into one of the NBA's fastest rising, yet still underpublicized stars. Lastly, SI.com had a good sitdown with USSF President Sunil Gulati, and for those who are a fan of MMA and the casino world, a must read is the Forbes Magazine piece on UFC masterminds (and Station Casino Owners) Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta.It is a great look into the background of some of the biggest success stories in sports and entertainment in recent years.
Also, the Covert publicity machine will continue on this week, with NBA Ref Bob Delaney making a trip to the CBS Early Show this Friday. Not only is it another great spot for Delaney to tell the story, it is a great hit for the NBA, with playoffs beginning this weekend to get some prime exposure on a network where they are not broadcast, leading into the postseason..
