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!