Headed to Ohio University's Symposium Weekend...

I will be taking a weekend hiatus to attend the Ohio University Sports Administration Program's Symposium weekend, an annual event that welcomes the program's 1,300+ alumni back to campus. Symposium is truly an exceptional weekend for networking and reconnecting with the program and its current MBA/MSA students. The Ohio University Center for Sports Administration is proud to announce Scott McCune, Vice President and Director of Integrated Marketing for Coca-Cola, as the honorary recipient of the Charles R. Higgins Distinguished Alum Award.

Symposium's weekend activities include a golf tournament, poker tournament, cookout,  speaker series, panel discussion, and a banquet. To complement the Symposium festivities, the Court Street Drinking Team shirts will be making their return to campus - if you are interested in purchasing one (1), please email bgainor@partnershipactivation.net. The Court Street Drinking Team Shirts are $15 and are available but limited in supply.

Alumni representing all facets of the sports industry will be in Athens this weekend for Symposium:

• Professional Franchises: Columbus Blue Jackets, LA Clippers, St. Louis Blues, Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys
• University Athletic Departments: UNLV, Arizona State, Michigan State, Utah, Florida, Oklahoma, St. Bonaventure
• Agencies/Rights Holders: GMR Marketing, CBS Collegiate Sports Properties, ISP Sports
• Brands/Corporate Partners: Nike, Office Depot, Coca-Cola
• Research/Measurement: Scarborough Sports Marketing, Sponsor Direct
• Other: Tennessee PGA, PHPA, Harlem Globetrotters, Lake Erie Monsters, Banshee Music, New York Road Runners, Minor League Baseball, LMS, Toronto FC, NCAA, K&K Insurance, CLC, LVMS, TBS/TNT, etc.

It should be a great weekend... Look for some updates early next week!

Looking For A Home Court Advantage? Consider "Speedo Guy"...

The clip below details how Duke fans leveraged "Speedo Guy" to distract UNC shooters at the free throw line... A very interesting in-game tactic that seems to have worked! Off-the-wall sponsors (i.e. Axe, Trojan, etc.) should consider identifying similar personalities on college campuses to drive unique in-game guerilla marketing tactics...

What Would You Do For UNC-Duke Tickets?

What would you do for UNC-Duke tickets... arguably the hottest ticket in all of college sports? At the University of North Carolina, the Carolina Athletic Association (CAA) hosts a contest as part of "Beat Dook Week" that dangles four (4) riser tickets and four (4) lower-level tickets to the game for students who are willing to perform the greatest (craziest) stunts.

The contest is said to get bigger every year... and the 2007-08 season did not disappoint! The "What Would You Do For Dook Tickets" contest is held annually, with a Pokey-Stick eating contest and a soda-chugging contest complementing the promotion in the Pit in 2007-08.

This is a great tactic to drive student fan interest/demand for rivalry games... but most athletic departments would want to act with caution due to the potential legalities with being involved!

Introducing You to the Chipotle Blimp and the Moo Force One...

The video below captures some great footage of the Chipotle blimp doing some acrobatic tricks at a Dallas Stars home game. The blimp often drops restaurant coupons into the hands of fans in-arena. A great activation tactic by the Stars organization!

Chick-fil-A featured the Moo Force One at the 2007 ACC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greensboro, NC...

Signage... That Reflects In-Game Team Performance?

While watching a few of the NBA playoffs this past weekend, I began thinking about "signage of the future"... In the past few years, the sports world has seen a number of new advancements in the realm of signage inventory - LED ribbon board, courtside rotational, baseline rotational, 360-degree scoreboard, VMS, digital billboards, ProStar, Galaxy LED, ProFence field displays, fascia, outdoor marquee - teams are starting to cover an array of options.

But with the advancements in LED technology, will we soon see brand messaging that reflects in-game team performance? (This could be happening currently, I just haven't seen it)... Teams could customize brand messaging to fit in-game scenarios. Here are a few examples*:

When the Team is Winning:

• "The offense is running like a well-oiled machine" (Tie-in messaging for an automobile company)
• "That score gives them a big cushion" (Furniture retailer)
• "They've answered the call" (Cell phone provider)
• "This one's in the bag" (Trash bags, etc. (i.e. Hefty)
• "They're putting on a clinic" (Healthcare Clinic, etc.)
• "That's the nail in the coffin" (Morgue services)
• "Warm up the bus" (Bus Service)

When the Team is Losing:

• "It ain't over till the fat lady sings" (Jenny Craig, other weight loss companies with unique tie-in)
• "The wheels just fell off" (Junkyard, Towing, etc.)

During the Game:

• "Fans, get on your feet!" (Podiatrist, etc.)
• "You can feel the electricity" (Power/Utility company)
• "That was a textbook play" (Local university bookstore)
• "It's Gut-check time" (Specialist/Docter)
• "The clock is their ally/enemy" (Senior Citizen Center)
• "(Insert team name) draws first blood" (Red Cross)
• "Good call by the official" (Miller Lite - "Good Call" Campaign)
• "Ice the Kicker" / "It's time to milk the clock" (Local grocery store, ice company)
• "He cleaned his clock" (Clock manufacturer/repair service)

Just a thought. On a side note, I started a Signage Inventory Gallery (a visual representation of the different types of signage in-venue)

*Sports sayings courtesy of: The Sports Cliche List

The Ultimate Father-Son Promotion...

Gillette recently announced a unique promotion that offers five (5) lucky consumers the chance to compete with their fathers against three (3) of the world's greatest athletes. The promotion, "Play a Champion with Dad", supports the Gillette Champions platforms and pins consumers up against the likes of either Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, or Thierry Henry.

This promotion serves as a great way for Gillette to link its generations of consumers and provide a boost of sales momentum leading into Father's Day. Gillette aims to create lasting memories for the five (5) participants, who will share an incredible experience with their loved ones. The grand prize winners will receive airfare, multi-night trip accomodations, $1,000 in cash, and the opportunity to meet one of their favorite stars. Gillette is also supporting the promotion with thousands of instant prizes.

I foresee many more promotions down the pipeline that take a similar approach in offering fans the chance to win a unique experience with a close family member/friend... it only makes sense for services/products that weigh heavily on buying behaviors being passed down through the family!

Create Your Own Exclusive Coverage...

Have you ever heard of Yardbarker.com? If not, check it out. The site has recently done an incredible job capturing off the record one-on-one conversations with dozens of professional athletes. The website is taking user-generated content to the next level...

On Draft Day, Keith Rivers became one of the first players to share his entire draft day experience online through his blog on Yardbarker.com. Darren McFadden, the Oakland Raiders' first round pick, also used Yardbarker.com during Draft week, sharing video blogs from his draft experience in New York.

Yardbarker.com considers itself the web's most interactive sports media network, compiling original content from top athletes such as Donovan McNabb and Carmelo Anthony. Watch for this site to capture the attention of sports fans across the nation in the near future...This seems to offer exactly the type of content that consumers are looking for... off-the-record and original footage (Videos from the Yard - Right column of the main page). Take a look at some of the clips they have compiled on the site and begin brainstorming some ways that you can generate some unique content for your organization and its fans!

Tie-In Your Non-Profit Partners With Unique Promotions!

Are you in search of innovative ways to engage your non-profit partners? Have you considered activating non-profit partnerships in a way that directly speaks to your fanbase?

The American Red Cross recently launched Red Cross Racing, a national Blood Donor Rewards program that offers frequent donors the chance to receive points, which can be exchanged for Red Cross Racing gear (hats, t-shirts, jackets, die-cast cars). Consumers can register to join the Red Cross Racing promotion either online at redcrossracing.com or at one of nine (9) NASCAR tracks where a Red Cross trailer is featured in the midway. To spike consumer demand, the Red Cross is offering all participants who sign up between April 24 and October 1 the chance to win an all-expense-paid trip for two (2) persons to the Phoenix race (11.9.08).

The Red Cross will support its promotional activation with a full paint scheme of the #16 Greg Biffle car in two (2) Sprint Cup races (Talladega - 4.26.08, Phoenix - 11.9.08). In addition, the Red Cross logo will be featured on the #16 car in eight (8) other NASCAR races in 2008.

Use this rewards concept to drive thinking for innovative ways to tie-in your non-profit partners!

Activate Your Running Partnerships... Adidas Guerilla!

Are you looking for unique ways to have a presence in the running/marathon world?

Check out the clip below, which details an interesting tactic that Adidas developed to drive brand awareness among consumers partaking in a marathon in Auckland, Australia.

Leverage Team Personalities to Promote Upcoming Flicks!

Have you considered targeting film companies/music labels as corporate partners? Have you considered using team personalities to drive viral marketing efforts (for both internal and partnership purposes)?

The Los Angeles Lakers recently partnered with Columbia Pictures to create a unique vignette to promote the movie "21". The team leveraged the personalities of Ronny Turiaf and Michael Cooper to film an "At the Cinema" feature that showed previews and outtakes of the upcoming film. The Lakers did a tremendous job integrating the personalities of Turiaf and Cooper to promote the film (Turiaf currently wears #21 for the Lakers; Cooper is a former Lakers star who wore #21).

The Lakers posted the vignette on YouTube and supported it with messaging on various blogs and message boards to drive awareness and viral buzz.

Overall, a great initiative by the Lakers organization! See the feature below:

Looking to Draw More Eyeballs to Your Outdoor Signage?

Billboards... We see them every day driving to work. Some stand out from others and serve as provocating thought starters in the morning. But what are some ways that you can draw additional eyeballs to your outdoor messaging?

The video below that demonstrates a strategy used to promote the European Football Championship, tying in a partnership with Die Bahn, the German Railways. Constructed in Lepziger Platz (Berlin), the billboard has drawn significant attention largely due to the fact that the company covered the building behind it with artificial turf. With sufficient lighting, this backdrop magnified the billboard's presence in the high-traffic area.

Ten Under Par = 10% Interest Rate?

Wachovia is taking a very interesting approach to activate its title sponsorship of the Wachovia Championship next weekend. The financial services provider will reward all of its Way2Save savings account customers with an interest rate equal to the under par score of the winner through a promotion entitled "Save Like a Champion". 

Thus, if the leader scores a -10 under par in the tournament, Wachovia Way2Save account holders will receive a 10% interest rate for three (3) months (verses the standard 5%). Wachovia sees the promotion as a great way to engage people around the tournament in both, a traditional and non-traditional means.

Wachovia is supporting the promotion with a full-page ad in USA Today, television spots on the Golf Channel and CBS, print ads in Golf Digest, SI Golf, and Golf World. The company will also complement the promotion with digital and POS components.

The Evolution of Coca-Cola's Sponsorship Approach

Sponsors:

Take a moment to read the following excerpts from a 4.7.2008 IEG piece that details the evolution of Coca-Cola's sponsorship approach. Coca-Cola is an industry leader in the sports sponsorship space and serves as a great company to benchmark "best practices" in strategic sponsorship thinking and execution.

Coca-Cola's Sponsorship Evolution

I. Pervasive Presence (1890-1990) - Coca-Cola used marketing to ensure that the company's product was available anyplace that beverages were sold. Coca-Cola looked to place its product within an arm's reach of desire of consumers. 
Coca-Cola evolved to expand beyond availability and started sponsoring things and "painting things red" (an ubiquity strategy). With time, the space became cluttered with numerous brands, forcing Coke to seek out a new strategy to avoid diminishing returns.

II. Marketing Activation Strategy / 360 Degree Marketing (1990s) - Coca-Cola began using marketing activation to tap into consumer passions (going beyond just having a presence), and started exploring experiential marketing - creating personal interactions with consumers where they could tap into emotional connections. Coca-Cola began putting their brand in the middle and surround it with advertising, on-pack, POS, and related promotions. Coca-Cola eventually realized that they were confusing consumers with this strategy by having three (3) or four (4) 360-degree programs in the market at one time (NASCAR, football, Six Flags).

III. Marketing Fusion (Present) - After realizing that consumers were confused with Coca-Cola's messaging, the company decided to evolve its sponsorship strategy around "marketing fusion". Marketing fusion places the consumer at the center of Coca-Cola's strategy and is surrounded with a core creative idea (i.e. The Coke Side of Life). Coke's new strategy requires that it be choiceful where it interacts with consumers (selective partnerships/advertising). 

The marketing fusion approach forces Coca-Cola to understand what the critical areas are to develop relationships with consumers (as opposed to just gaining exposure). Coca-Cola also must determine how to synergize the different places that they choose to interact with their consumer base. The company also needs to ensure that its fusion strategy and marketing assets align with its overall vision platform and five (5) P's: profit, portfolio, people, partners, planet.

To achieve the demands of the fusion strategy, Coca-Cola developed six (6) operating principles that guides the sponsorship team in their strategic thinking processes:

• Understand the Consumer Environment
• Gain Alignment
• Be Choiceful
• Integrate and Activate
• Be Innovative and Fluid
• Measure with Objectivity

In addition, Coca-Cola focuses on four (4) different areas when deciding on partnerships:

• Common Business Objectives
• Brand Fit
• Value-Based Relationships
• Willingness to Innovate

Looking for Solutions for Your Recaps?

Recaps. A dreaded word for some in the sports sponsorship industry... 

What are corporate partners expecting out of a recap? What content, photos, and results are appropriate to include? What are some ways that teams can over-deliver on their recaps?

Low budget teams and organizations should be aware that Adobe recently released a FREE 2.0 offering of its Photoshop program, entitled Adobe Photoshop Express. While the online program fails to offer all of the trinkets and tools that Adobe Photoshop CS3 includes, it does serve as a user-friendly way to improve the looks of your pictures and their lighting aesthetics. Users can run Photoshop Express in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari (no download required).

If you have a moment, check out the online program - it could greatly enhance your ability to prepare photos for recaps and various decks. At the very minimum, it is an upgrade from using the Paint tool!

Create Unique In-Venue Branding Tactics...

Have we seen the invasion of guerilla marketing in the sports arena space? Not quite yet. But there are a number of unique branding initiatives that you can develop to drive awareness for your corporate partners in-venue...

With teams, agencies, and sponsors alike pushing for out-of-the-box ideas, please check out the "Sports Guerilla Marketing" page of the Activation Gallery for a few ideas to get your thought process flowing.

Tactics in the gallery provide unique insights into branding:

• Parking Lots
• Concourse Levels
• Bathrooms
• Outoor Pavilion Areas
• Escalators
• Elevators

Give Your Fans a Reason to Buy Season Tickets!

Are you struggling to sell tickets? Have you ever sought additional reasons that fans should purchase season tickets outside of the fact that you have a good product on the field/floor?

Check out the following strategic tactic created by the Stockton Ports of the Class A Advanced league... The team created 70 ways that fans can use their season tickets in a simple one-sheeter. A great tactic to support your ticket sales initiatives!

Driving Viral Buzz... Create Unique Team Content

Have you considered using practice/walkthroughs to generate unique content for your team website? Sponsors, have you considered leveraging the skills of your brand ambassadors off-the-court to drive some additional buzz for your brand? The clip enclosed below is a perfect example of the type of user-generated content that consumers are looking for nowadays. Fans want more... and teams/corporate partners need to look for more unique ways to provide original content.

Here is a look at Mike Conley Jr.'s skills behind the scenes...

Here is a video of Conley Jr. featured at a charity bowling event...

Postseason Partnerships for Non-Playoff Teams?

SportsBusiness Journal featured a great piece this week on the New Jersey Nets' ability to sell a postseason team sponsorship to T-Mobile, DESPITE MISSING THE PLAYOFFS. Brett Yormark, President and CEO of Nets Sports & Entertainment, orchestrated the deal, which provides a variety of postseason events for Nets season ticket holders (the deal is figured to be in the six-figure range and runs from April 21st through May 15th).

T-Mobile sponsored season ticket holder benefits include:

• Lunch with the Nets dancers
• Porsche driving school event
• Playoff viewing party with Nets players and coach Lawrence Frank
• 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Nets training facility

The postseason partnership directly parlays into T-Mobile's "Stay Connected" motto and provides the company with a chance to have a presence in the #1 media market in the U.S. T-Mobile will receive brand exposure on all Nets events and communications, and the company will have a heavy presence on the team’s Web site during the contracted period.

Has your organization/brand considered a postseason partnership? This may be something to consider benchmarking from one of the (10) teams in the 2008 NBA playoffs with a similar type of deal.

Did You Know? ... Online Sales

Did You Know?

Online retail sales are projected to increase 17% in 2008, based on a survey of 125 retailers. - Forrester Research

In other words, boost your efforts and resources to support online merchandise sales, etc. in the near future! Begin identifying online sales trends and patterns and develop effective mediums to better understand your consumer base!

Are Your Auto Partnerships Diesel Powered?

If the Phoenix Suns are looking for a potential partnership that will offset their costs to acquire Shaquille O'Neal, the team should look no further than the hot topic stiring conversation in the auto industry. Leading automakers (Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, and Kia) have identified North America as a key market to introduce a new generation of diesel-powered passenger cars. These automobiles, deemed "clean diesels", will boast good fuel efficiency (up to 35% better mileage) and potentially could overtake hybrids in the market for eco-cars.

Currently, diesels account for just 6% of sales of light-duty vehicles in the United States but it is predicted that by 2015, the market share for these diesel autos should hit 15%. In contrast, hybrids are slated to account for 6% market share in 2015. Volkswagen is leading the way, introducing a diesel Jetta in all 50 states this year (these light-duty vehicles have emission levels that pass tests in all 50 U.S. states). Honda is following Volkswagen's lead with a six-cylinder diesel Acura.

By now you are probably thinking that these autos will never catch on in the United States with rising gas prices. But while diesel prices at the pump are running about 12% more than gasoline, their per-mile fuel costs are 15-20% lower than gas-powered autos.

For properties selling/looking to sell the automobile category, beware of this new trend!