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Last January, with Scott Price's Sports Illustrated piece on then-candidate Barack Obama, we wondered if other candidates would take to sports to try and pull in the casual male voter who may not really be interested in politics but would put a guys guy in the White House. Price's piece was followed by the now …

As budgets get cut and sponsorship dollars and budgets are frozen due to the economy, brands and other organizations continue to reshuffle the deck in hope of finding a correct mix…literally cause and effect…to keep the dollars flowing, the brand growing and the opportunities interesting. Even today with Chrysler declaring Chapter 11, one of the …

The story of the week will be the Yankees taking an about face to lower ticket prices, and Darren Rovell in his blog on Tuesday took a detailed look at some of the reasons. On another level, the rule of thumb many times is to hold the line and never lower or discount in season, …

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 …

One of the most effective ways to grow brand remains at the grassroots level. The direct daily contact with the consumer still cannot be beaten by all the Facebook-ing, blogging and YouTubing that brands attempt, and even the high impact effect of mass media, both print and broadcast, still resonates only partly with what we …

As we move into the weekend extravaganza that has become the NFL Draft, it is interesting to see the continued activation, both print and digital, of the NFL machine as fans look to where the future stars will come from. No other off-season “event” has the power for two days that the NFL Draft does. …

Sometimes on the surface the matchup of an athlete or celebrity with a brand may be a little quizzical, and such was the case when high-end shoe retailer Cole Haan announced its first-ever athlete endorsement deal with tennis star Maria Sharapova. Now Sharapova is already becoming the stuff of legend in the endorsement world, even …

As one season starts for a star-crossed franchise (the Washington Nationals) and one ended (The New York Islanders) it is interesting to look at the messages sent to fans by the actions of the team. This weekend, the Nats benched and fined one of their young, marketable players, Elijah Dukes, for showing up a few …

Often times colleges in mid or low mid major positions will look to take risk in order to shock the system into a new level. The hiring of coaches, the jump to a new division or a new league, an aggressive marketing campaign all usually revolve around the elusive grab for both attention and the …

The NHL postseason begins in earnest this week, falling at a good time after the Masters, just ahead of the NBA playoffs, before the NFL Draft and following the hype of opening day for baseball. It also helps to have many of the major markets where hockey has a strong brand presence…New York, Chicago, Boston, …