Are You Cut Out for the Amazing Seat Race?
Thursday, June 25, 2009 at 05:53PM 
Are you looking for new ways to draw buzz and excitement during the offseason? Are you looking to create new promotional ideas at the ballpark?
The Winnipeg Goldeyes of the independent Northern League and Hot 103, a local radio station, recently teamed up to create The Amazing Seat Race, a promotion that pitted three (3) select contestants against one another for the chance to win season tickets. The promotion challenged the contestants to sit in as many seats as possible during a 63 minute timeframe.
The winner? Pam Chubinski, a stay-at-home mom who managed to sit in 2,000+ seats using a sliding strategy to outperform the others. Craig Kuhlman, an inside sales rep, placed 2nd with 1,656 seats (a tough 2nd place finish to say the least). For the chance to take part in the promotion, Goldeyes fans were asked to fill out a three page entry form/questionnaire.
The promotion serves as a great way for sports properties to create an inexpensive promotion that leverages their existing assets (empty seats), yet is very engaging for consumers. Teams can benchmark this example by:
- Hosting a pre-game promotion prior to their 500th sellout by challenging their fans to see who can sit in 500 seats in the fastest amount of time
- Integrate a sponsor like 7-11 by creating a promotion pre-game/post-game where fans are timed sitting in their seats for 711 minutes for the chance to win a $500 shopping spree at a local 7-11 (all participants receive a takeaway) or see which fans can sit in 711 seats the fastest
- Create similar promotions that leverage fitness sponsors (by hosting a special challenge for local gym attendees for the chance to win free season tickets)
Check out a clip of the promotional execution below:
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