Using sports as a vehicle to reach the male demo seems to have played very well for Senator Barack Obama thus far.Sports Illustrated and HBO Real Sports, and his NCAA predictions also got some added exposure, while his lack of bowling skills even grabbed a headline or two. Reaching the younger male demo and relating to them, while getting them to support and eventually vote, is a tricky road to navigate, but it is one that through sports the Senator seems to be doing well with.NASCAR. Tom Bowles piece in si.com this week revealed that the Senator will become the first candidate ever to sponsor a NASCAR car at Pocono in early August, a very interesting step to try and gain a consituentcy which is at best undecided and for Obama at worst will go the other way in November. It is a very loud statement about the power of NASACAR and the power of sports marketing and if it helps and works, will once again show how the dollars spent to reach a core audience and have them activate reside very deeply in one of America's biggest sports.
Some other good reads…The Bergen Record had a lengthy piece on the New Jersey Nets gas promotion and how the team thinks they will get ROI on the $250,000 spend…on the Olympic side, Ian O’Connor on foxsports.com has a good piece on the situation for the U.S. Men's Olympic men's hoops team…in the LA Times, Chris Hine has a great piece on APBA baseball, one of the classic baseball board games, and some of it's local devotees…lastly, many appropriate tributes to the passing of Yankees legend and broadcaster Bobby Murcer, including a great one by Mike Lupica in the Daily News…very sad day for baseball fans and to all who had met and worked with Bobby over the years.
