Use Stairways/Escalators to Demonstrate Brand Attributes...

Is your organization looking for a unique way to drive awareness for beverage offerings in-venue? Is your brand looking for new ways to demonstrate product attributes?

Coca-Cola and McDonalds teamed up to create a unique guerrilla marketing tactic that helped demonstrate the benefits of Coca-Cola Light versus Coca-Cola. The collaborating parties redesigned a staircase and an adjoining escalator to help consumers compare the attributes of the two brands (as shown in the picture below)... a creative way to bring some light to your brand that stops consumers in their tracks!

Sports marketers should consider finding similar ways in-venue to assist supporting parties with their promotion of multiple product lines, etc. Ample opportunities exist for sports marketers to capture the attention of fans pre-game/in-game/post-game by using a little creativity in the concourse level!

Source: Invisible Red

Text Qwest and Receive a Personalized Adrian Peterson Photo...

Is your brand looking to reach consumers via text messaging? Are you looking to provide consumers with a personalized giveaway?

Qwest is currently a very cool promotional offer that enables consumers to receive a free personalized Adrian Peterson photo in their inbox. According to Mylocalpub.wordpress.com, consumers simply have to:

1) Text Adrian (add a space) Your First Name (add a space) Your Email Address to the Qwest shortcode: 95495

2)Consumers with a compatible smartphone may click the URL in Qwest’s response text message to see their personalized digital autograph photo. Otherwise, they will will receive a personalized digital autographed photo in their email inbox momentarily.

The text promotion serves as a great way for Qwest to connect with Vikings fans throughout the Minnesota/Dakotas region. With fans looking for personalized content, this is a very effective messaging tool if consumers are willing to click through to Qwest's content. Thus far, the program has proven to be widely successful.

Here is a quick snapshot of the personalized photo that consumers receive in their inbox shortly after texting in their promotional code:

Remind Soccer Fans Why Dental Care/Healthcare is Necessary...

Is yourorganization looking to drive awareness for a dental care/health careprovider?

Creating an in-game :30 vignette that resonates with fans might just do the trick. To drive in-venue awareness, consider creating short guerrilla-style videos that demonstrate different scenarios in soccer where plays can go wrong and affect one'sdental/health status(as shownin the video below):

Need a few other ideas? Search for videos that detail:

• A soccer kick that doesn't make it past the wall (and one player feels the pain for his teammates)
• Two (2) players go up for a header and both come down with injuries
• An errant shot hits a fan in the stands

Remember, in-game messaging needs to resonate with fans. The more unique ways that organizations can effectively connect with the mindset of fans, the better off all parties will be in the end (a more educated/drivenfanbase, more results for supporting partners, andhigher credibility for the property to deliver).

Cricket Wireless Teams Up with Greg Oden to Reward O-Fōn Owners...

Is your brand looking for new messaging channels to drive awareness for a product endorsed by a professional athlete? Is your brand looking for new ways to reach fans in-venue and in other public areas?

In October 2008, Cricket Wireless signed a PSA agreement with Greg Oden to produce the O-Fōn (pronounced O-Phone), a limited edition mobile product targeting sports fans in the Oregon and Southwest Washington marketplace. As a way to drive awareness for the new O-Fōn hitting the market, Cricket Wireless wrapped several elevators in the local Portland marketplace (malls, etc.) with Oden's picture and the product.

But that's not it. Cricket Wireless created a captivating program to support sales of the O-Fōn device (a product that began selling on the shelves for $279.99 on November 7th):

• Cricket Wireless is donating $80 from every Greg Oden O-O-Fōn sold to Oregon Mentors, a local non-profit organization that Oden strongly supports
• Cricket Wireless is providing each consumer who purchases an O-Fōn with a variety of exclusive materials, including:
  • A limited-edition Greg Oden O-Fōn handset etched with Oden’s autograph and jersey
  • A Greg Oden Topps rookie card designed exclusively for Cricket
  • Text messages from Greg throughout the season, sent exclusively to O-Fōn owners
  • An exclusive discount on Trail Blazers merchandise
  • Coupons for discounted Cricket accessories, including accessories for the O-Fōn
• Cricket Wireless also threw a VIP launch party at a local retail outlet for any consumer who purchased an O-Fōn or received an exclusive invitation.The wireless company featured Oden at the party to personally thank and mingle with O-Fōn owners and fans and partnered with Buffalo Wild Wings to cater the event
• Cricket Wireless recently held an Oden O-Fōn karaoke contest offering fans the chance to win an O-Fōn and three (3) free months of wireless. All fans had to do was download the MP3 of the O-Fōn anthem, videotape their karaoke version of the song, and upload it through OregonLive.com's community videos portal.

A special thanks to Chris Lindauer of Sports Career Consulting for his contributions to this column.

In-Stadium Turns Stadium TV's into Sony PSP Branding Pieces...

Are you looking for ways to derive value out of the hundreds of televisions situated throughout your venue? Are you looking for new opportunities to leverage partners looking to drive awareness for their products?

Dave Dressman and his group at InStadium created an incredible in-venue branding campaign designed to drive awareness for Sony PSP's "Madden Entertainment Bundle" among males 12-34 years of age. InStadium worked with Sony PSP to develop a life-size Sony PSP prop that turned flat screen televisions into giant advertising pieces. The props were attached to strategically located televisions in the concourses, pro shops and bar/lounge areas of four (4) NFL venues:

• Cleveland (featured at five (5) home games utilizing sixteen PSP wraps)
• San Diego (featured at four (4) home games utilizing 18 PSP wraps)
• Dallas (featured at five (5) home games utilizing 17 PSP wraps)
• Oakland (featured at four (4) Raiders games and ten (10) A's games utilizing 10 PSP wraps)

InStadium and Sony collaborated to feature the campaign over a three (3) month stretch. The parties complemented the concourse/Pro Shop/lounge branding with a video board "Play of the Game" sponsorship. In total, the unique branding campaign generated nearly 1.7MM impressions.

A special thanks to InStadium's Dave Dressman for his contributions to this column. For more information, please reach out to Dave at ddressman@instadium.com.

Check out some additional pictures of the unique branding campaign below:

Looking to Promote a New Shoe to Fans?

Adidas could have distributed miniature premiums to promote Chauncey Billup's select Adidas TS Creater shoe.Is your brand looking to distribute a premium in-venue to drive consumerawareness and interestfor a new shoe product? Is your brand looking to promote an athlete's new shoe in the marketplace?

To drive an increased level of awareness in-venue when star athlete's are wearing select models of new shoes, footwear companies should consider distributing miniature sized versions to fans. A similar tactic was created by Adidas, who was looking to promote its various lines of footwear for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China.

Footwear/apparel companies could also consider distributing similar premium items to runners at marathons. If Asics was looking to drive awareness fora new shoe model, it could distribute similar premium items (a container filled with a packet of information detailing the benefits/attributes of the shoe and a product model on top) to all runners participating in a marathon.

Consider new ways to drive awareness for your brand's attributes to consumers in a valuable way!

San Jose and Seagate Create BlackArmor...

Are you looking for new ways to leverage supporting corporate partners? Are you looking for unique ways to incorporate 3rd jerseys?

The San Jose recently partnered with Seagate, the world leader in storage solutions, on an unprecedented sponsorship idea. The Sharks and Seagate partnered to create and name the team's Rbk 3rd jersey "Blackarmor" for the 2008-09 season. What's unique about the name is that it coincides with Seagate's new BlackArmor product, the world's first safe portable hard drive.

To promote the launch of the jersey, the San Jose Sharks are featuring a debut countdown for 30 days (leading up to the Sharks' matchup against the Washington Capitals on November 22nd) and are enabling fans to pre-order the new jersey online or at the Sharks store.

With jersey naming rights commanding high-dollar figures, the idea of creatinga jersey moniker that associates with a company product/brand provides teams with a new inventory piece to own and create revenue streams from.

The Shark's BlackArmor jersey promotion caps off a 12-year relationship with Seagate. To drive awareness for the partnership, Seagate will also host "BlackArmor Nights" and currently sponsors the Seagate "Sharks Player of the Month" and the Seagate "Sharks Player of the Year".

The San Jose Sharks will wear the BlackArmor 3rd team jerseys on 14 occasions (12 of which will be played at home) during the 2008-09 season. The team is confident that its fan base will be drawn to the distinctive look of the BlackArmor jerseys and it will result in a big win-win for both parties!

A special thanks to Kristin Toth of the San Jose Sharks for her contributions to this column.

Interested in Selling Sponsorships for Water Polo Events?

Is your organization considering the thought of selling sponsorships for upcoming water polo events? Are you looking for inventory that you can sell poolside?

T-Mobile recently served as the presenting sponsor of a major water polo event that took place in Budapest and they branded just about every piece of inventory possible around the pool.

While these pictures do not demonstrate a sponsorship "best practice" in thewater polo space (can you say cluttered?), they do provide a clear view of the available inventory that organizers of the sport can sell to prospective partners.

Check out the two (2) pictures below. It is interesting to see what appears to be LED technology featured poolside!

Take Team Sponsorships on the Road...

Is your organization looking to sell additional inventory to team partners? Are you looking for ways to drive brand affiliation out-of-venue?

European soccer clubs have found a new way to capitalize on their modes of transportation. Teams are now beginning to spend large sums of dollars to brand their team buses, which are often used to travel to various matches, etc.

In doing so, teams have now begun to feature the logos of their supporting partners on the team bus. In other words, these soccer clubs are taking their supporting brands with them when they take on opponents on the road (or the logos of their partnering brands at least).

As an example, check out the FC Koln soccer club's team bus below:

The Celtics and Dunkin' Donuts Team Up at Retail...

Are you looking to leverage a sports partnership at retail? Are you looking for new ways to leverage a championship season?

The Boston Celtics recently collaborated with Dunkin' Donuts to create a unique offer and experience for fans at retail chains across the Boston DMA. To celebrate the team's 17th NBA Championship, Dunkin' Donuts offered customers a 17-cent doughnut with the purchase of any coffee on Opening Day of the 2008-09 NBA season.

In an effort to drive incremental interest for the promotion at retail, the collaborating parties agreed to have Paul Pierce appear at three (3) Dunkin' Donuts locations to operate the cash register and sell extra doughnuts to fans. On the day, Dunkin' Donuts also raffled off free tickets to the team's home opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers and 'Free Doughnuts For A Year' to one (1) lucky winner.

Talk about an incredible retail experience for Dunkin' Donuts customers!