Looking for Effective In-Game PA's?

All sports marketers realize that in-game PA's can often get drowned out by relative noise, on-court/on-field happenings, and other variables that sometimes cannot be controlled. But how do you overcome this and really capture the crowd's attention?

Consider a strategy implemented by Carlsberg at an AFC Wimbledon game in the clip below:

In the above clip, as the crowd waits expectantly for the game to start a loud tannoy announcement begins as the voice says: "We have a very important message for a dons fan Derek Wilkinson with a message from your wife who's just called from St Georges hospital where she's given birth to a healthy 6lb 4oz baby boy."

The message then becomes more detailed and includes the wife allowing him to name the child with a combination of Wimbledon players' names, to get an au pair from Sweden and telling him that she'll get a taxi back from the hospital on Tuesday so he doesn't have to miss the game at Bromley. The announcement then finishes with: "This announcement was brought to you by Carlsberg. Carlsberg don't do wives but if they did they'd probably be the best wives in the world."

Too often, in-game PA's pushing brand messaging are too serious. In essence, corporate partners need to step back and realize that most fans are attending the game to have a good time and do not need to have their experience interrupted by a serious sales pitch/message. Try a little humor (as seen above) in your PA's, it could go a long way! 

Score With a Dairy Queen Partnership!

Are you looking to activate your current partnership agreement with Dairy Queen franchisees? Are you searching for ideas that you can pitch to local DQ operators to drive their local sales efforts? If so, I have added a document in the Partnership Activation resources page that might assist your needs.

The "DQ Shoot From the Blue" promotion is a unique on-ice initiative that is designed to drive fan excitement in-arena and retail traffic at local Dairy Queen establishments. With fanbases looking for more interactive and integrated programs, the "DQ Shoot From the Blue" promotion serves as a great way to drive awareness for Dairy Queen and its select blizzard items.

Click the link below to see what the "DQ Shoot From the Blue" promotion is all about... It may help you score a local partnership agreement! 

http://www.partnershipactivation.com/partnershipactivationresources/dq%20pdf.pdf

Let Fans Shoot It Out For Charity!

In 2007, the Boston Celtics created "The Shamrock Shootout", an incredible event that allows participants the rare opportunity to shoot on the TD Banknorth Garden floor and compete for a chance to play against an All-Star team of Celtics legends in a halftime event. The best part? All money through the event benefits the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation. In 2007 alone, the team raised $250,000+ through the event.

How does the Shamrock Shootout work?

The Boston Celtics enable thirty-two (32) teams of five (5) participants the chance to test their basketball skills through an on-court competition:

• All five (5) team members have 45 seconds each to shoot five (5) basketballs from four (4) racks , for a possible score of 44
• Four (4) ball racks are placed at four designations: layup, free throw, foul line exended, and the three-point line
  • The foul line extended and three-point line shots each have a "money ball" shot (4 points and 5 points respectively)
  • All five (5) balls from each rack must be shot before advancing; the top 50% of teams advance to the next round 

Registrants can either select to enter with a VIP Parquet Package ($10,000 donation) or a Sharp Shooters Package ($5,000 donation) - each have a range of benefits. The Celtics are also offering a "Play-In" event for teams to compete with a donation commitment of $1,000.

Prizes for the First Place Winning Team Include:

• The chance to compete at halftime during the Celtics-Hawks game
• The chance to "Travel with the Team" for a 2008-09 away game
• Recognition and a photograph in the Boston Globe
• Pre-game courtside seats plus a picture at center court
• Premium tickets to watch the Celtics-Hawks game
• 2008 adidas warmups

This is an incredible event that should serve as a benchmark for all organizations/University athletic departments looking to develop an event to raise money.

See a clip of the 2007 Shamrock Shootout event below:

Selling "The Bank Shot"

Are you an NBA organization or University athletic department looking for ways to activate partnerships with banks and financial institutions? Take a page out of the New York Knicks' playbook by selling the "Bank Shot".

The New York Knicks are currently featuring the "HSBC Bank Shot", a promotion that rewards a select contestant for "banking their shot in".  The HSBC promotion features a selected contestant who has the opportunity to shoot three (3) free throws - if they can make just one (1), they receive the chance to take a three-point shot for $10,000. If the contestant banks the shot in, he/she wins $15,000!

Organizations and athletic departments can take the Knick's concept of "The Bank Shot" and alter it to meet their own objectives to drive fan awareness in-venue. Some ideas for "The Bank Shot" include:

• Contestant needs to "bank in" a shot from mid-court to win $10,000
• Teams/organizations can set up five ball racks around the court. For each "bank shot" a contestant makes using balls off the rack in :30, they can win $100. Teams can feature a green "Moneyball" on each rack that contestants can "bank in" for twice the value

How Are You Connected?

AT&T recently launched its "How Are You Connected" Team USA Sweepstakes that enables eight (8) consumers to win a trip for two (2) to the Beijing Olympics in August - the trip includes airfare, hotel accomodations, tickets to marquee events, and a unique chance to meet some of America's finest Olympians.

How are consumers eligible to win?

From April 1st to May 30th, consumers can register for a chance to win on http://www.att.com and/or text TeamUSA to 2008 from their AT&T wireless device. Participants can win by registering once per day and have an opportunity to earn a bonus entry by submitting an essay, uploading a photo, or posting a video with a short description of how they are connected to TeamUSA hopefuls on the AT&T website. One grand prize winner is recognized during each of the eight (8) weeks of the campaign.

Smaller promotional prizes include:

• Nintendo Wii consoles with "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" video game
• Team USA branded gear
• Autographed photos of Olympic Athletes

AT&T deems this the "ultimate once-in-a-lifetime, seemingly too-good-to-be-true-experience" - I wouldn't go that far... You might classify that as Buick's recent promotion dangling a chance to have Tiger Woods serve as your caddy. But this unique, high-rewards promotion does demonstrate AT&T's commitment to activate its Olympics corporate partnership. In total, AT&T spent nearly $172MM of its overall $805MM advertising budget on sports advertising (21.4%).

Outside of AT&T, who else is sponsoring the Olympics?

Worldwide Olympic Partners include: Coca-Cola, Atos Origin, GE, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Lenovo, Manulife, Mcdonalds, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung, and VISA

Beijing 2008 Partners include: Bank of China, CNC, Sinopec, CNPC, China Mobile, Volkswagen, Adidas, Johnson & Johnson, Air China, PICC, and State Grid (These partners pay $100MM+ to use the Olympic marks in China)

Sponsors include: UPS, Haier, Budweiser, Sohu.com, Tsingtao, Yanjing Beer, BHP Billiton

Exclusive Suppliers include: Staples, Schenker Logistics, etc.

BUT CAN YOU SAY CLUTTER? It is hard to maintain exclusivity when there is this much sponsor activity...

In total, sponsors have paid a total of $1.5BN in support of the Olympics...

Sprint's High Investment Offers High Rewards

How do you activate a 10-year title partnership agreement with NASCAR where you spend approximately 100MM annually? Sprint has answered this question by developing the Sprint All-Star Customer Celebration, an innovative rewards program for existing Sprint customers with thousands of NASCAR prizes at stake. 

How can consumers win? Sprint customers can become eligible by establishing an account on Sprint.com via MySprint, with prizes being offered on a first come, first serve basis (the promotional offer ends April 30th if all prizes have not been claimed).

Prizes included in the Sprint All-Star Customer Celebration include:

• 10,500 tickets to the NASCAR Sprint Pit Crew Challenge May 15 at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. Whie at the event, Sprint customers will have access to an exclusive Q&A with Sprint Cup drivers
• 1,000 tickets for lunch and a chartered bus ride to behind-the-scenes tours of Hendrick Motorsports, Michael Waltrip Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing May 16 in Charlotte, NC
• 20,000 tickets to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race May 17 at LMS in Charlotte
• A select number of pit tours prior to the start of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
• Opportunity for a select number of customers to be stage front for the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race pre-race for driver intriductions and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Victory lane

Sounds like a great way to retain customers, doesn't it? Sprint is taking a very interesting approach to activate its national partnership. Sprint is offering thousands of once-in-a-lifetime experiences for the All-Star race, a very interesting approach to activate a national partnership with a regional focus and not account for travel. I would be curious to see what the redemption rate will be on Sprint's offered experiences (accounting for travel, interest in attending the event, etc.). 

NASCAR claims a fanbase of 70 million persons (nearly 1 in 3 Americans); a strong incentive should exist for NASCAR fans living in the Southeastern region to register accounts online but it truly is amazing that this promotion is not open to general consumer base.

Dr. J Helps Nets Fans Say Yes!

The New Jersey Nets recently announced that all fans who purchase season tickets for the 2008-09 season by May 30th will receive a free Nets jersey hand-signed by Julius Erving! This unique "Early Bird Special" serves as a classic example of Brett Yormark and the New Jersey Nets' ceative efforts to stimulate fan interest in-market.

Erving, considered "The Greatest Net of All-Time", never actually played for the New Jersey Nets... But do fans really care? In this case, the Nets are offering an exclusive inventory item that should sway a number of fans who are sitting on the fence with their renewal decision. Terms of Erving's involvement were not disclosed.

What to watch for: 

• How are the Nets measuring the effectiveness of this promotional incentive?
• Will this offer backfire in the future with season ticket holders as they might delay their decision to renew in hope of receving a free item/experience?
• How much will season ticket renewals/new ticket sales spike as a result of this promotion?  
• What time of media coverage will the Nets receive from this promotion?
• Will the team find a way to leverage the Dr. J tie-in throughout the 2008 NBA season?

Boost Merchandise Sales with VIP Experiences...

Would you like to look like your favorite beer man? One would think that most persons would say no, but Americans are suprisingly fascinated with their favorite television icons.

To capitalize on this fact, Miller High Life recently launched a "Live the Life. Get the Gear." loyalty program that offers consumers an opportunity to own a Miller shirt like the one worn by William Middelbrooks during MHL's classic "Beer Delivery Man" ad campaign. But that's not it. Miller High Life drinkers can also receive free t-shirts, duffle bags, key chains, fire pits, baseball hats, screensavers, and boxer shorts - SIMPLY BY BUYING BEER.

All consumers have to do is register online at www.MillerHighLife.com and create an account. Upon doing so, users can upload codes printed on specially marked Miller High Life packaging to redeem points for prizes. Miller has spread word about the site virally by enabling users to send e-cards to friends and colleagues who arent enrolled, inviting them to join.

Translation? If you are looking to drive web merchandise sales, adopt a similar "rewards model" that shows consumers additional value for their purchase. Develop unique ways that will persuade fans to want to purchase items on your team/organization's website versus shopping at the local Sports Authority, etc. Here are a few examples:

• Develop an overall merchandise rewards model where all fans who purchase merchandise on the team website are capable of receiving VIP experiences
• Teams would need to create a model similar to the one detailed above. This would require an integrated website with a turn-key process involving purchasing and S&H
• Develop individual sales incentives designed to entice consumers using unique opportunities
• Reward fans based on spend: The first fifteen (15) fans who spend $500 on the team website from Saturday, April 12th - Sunday April 13th will receive an exclusive meet-n-greet with select players during training camp
• Reward fans based on number of items purchased: The first twenty-five (25) fans who purchase five (5) items on the team website will receive an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour on gameday
• Reward fans based on purchase: The first one hundred (100) fans who purchase a jersey of a select player (i.e. draft pick, etc.) will receive an invitation to an exclusive event where they get to meet that specific player
• Reward fans based on sex: The first 500 women/kids who purchase a jersey on the site will be invited to an exclusive Football 101 event at the stadium
• Reward fans based on time of purchase: The first 1,000 fans who purchase a jersey during the preseason will receive an exclusive invite to a behind-the-scenes practice

Papa Johns Wants Your Picture... And Business!

Papa Johns, the official delivery pizza of the NCAA March Madness tournament, recently created Papa's Pan Fan, a unique promotion that was designed to drive sales of pan pizzas. The legendary pizza chain is offering an exclusive discount to all fans who upload their best photos from the tournament action to http://www.papaspanfan.com/. All consumers who post pictures on the corporate site will receive an email confirmation with an ID number that is redeemable for the exclsuive discount offer. All fans can submit their photos through April 9th (the site runs through April 12th). Picture categories are segmented into: Featured Photos, Teams, Cheerleaders, Mascots, Pre-Game, Post-and Game.

The Pizza Chain is offering:

• One (1) large Perfect Pan Pizza with up to three (3) toppings and two (2) 20oz Cokes for $12.99
• The first 6,400 people who register to join Papa's Pan Fan Nation the chance to win additional prizes, which include free pizza for a year and free Coke products

This is an excellent promotional idea that captures fan affinity for college basketball. Papa's Pan Fan is a promotional model that many professional/college teams should look to mirror. I am suprised that more teams have not looked to create a similar website/database that helps them understand and see exactly the reach and diversity of their fanbase. Teams can leverage sponsorships with camera/film companies to develop such a website. The level of engagement is highly dependent on the level of monetary investment, but why have teams not tried to create a website that is for the fans and run by the fans? I am sure there are some out there, and I would love to hear your feedback.

Overall this is a great promotion and a benchmark for website development by Papa Johns. I just wish they would keep this concept running past the tournament!

Reward Those Who Team Up!

Would you be interested in carpooling with friends and colleagues if it meant that you could receive rewards and discounts from your favorite restaurants?

Dunkin' Donuts is looking to capitalize on this idea by teaming up with NuRide, Inc., the nation's largest incentive-based online ridesharing community to offer consumers a unique discount. All consumers who are using NuRide to make the environmentally safe choice to share rides will receive $5.00 off a "Box 'O Joe and a dozen donuts" that they can share with their fellow commuters and colleagues at work. With the promotion, Dunkin' Donuts joins a growing list of companies who are sponsoring NuRide participants (persons who register online, team up with neighbors to calculate driving distances and savings, and receive points redeemable for corporate partner rewards).

The big question is, how does this apply to sports?

Green Initatives: NuRide presents an opportunity for teams to demonstrate "green initiatives" without shelling out major dollars. Teams can reward fans who register with NuRide to commute to games (many franchises currently offer a bus service) with unique VIP experiences, special team memorabilia for their automobiles, and discounted prices on tickets.

QSR Activation: Teams can also use NuRide to further activate their QSR partnerships. In this case, the Boston Red Sox could leverage its relationship with Dunkin' Donuts to offer unqiue cross-promotions to NuRide registrants. Dunkin' Donuts' current promotion targets morning commuters; a partnership with the Boston Red Sox could drive their promotional agreement with NuRide during evening hours when consumers may need to stop for a coffee or a quick snack on the way to the ballgame.  

Some Prominent NuRide Corporate Partners Include: Applebee's, Bruegger's, Brookstone, Chevron, Rice University Athletics, Shell Oil Company, Disney on Ice, XM Satellite Radio, the Houston Zoo, Panera Bread, and the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus