Sponsorship Review... Miller Park

I had the privilege of attending the Milwaukee Brewers - Cincinnati Reds game at Miller Park on Tuesday. The game atmosphere at Miller Park was great. To capture the event, I created a detailed sponsorship recap which I posted on the Partnership Ideas section of PartnershipActivation.com. Click here for the entire recap.

Enclosed below is a video of the infamous Klemster's Sausage Race from our seats at the park... One of the best in-game promotions in all of sports!

Taco Bell Ties Rewards to In-Game Occurences!

Teams looking to drive in-game fan excitement should consider creating promotions tied to team performance. Taco Bell has done a very effective job creating promotions based on in-game occurences. In 2007, Taco Bell offered a "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion that rewarded consumers across the nation with a free taco when Jacoby Ellsbury stole a base during Game 2 of the World Series. I posted a few clips in the Video Vault that detail Taco Bell's activation around this event.

Taco Bell has also run a promotion at multiple properties that rewards all fans in attendance with a free taco when the team scores "X" points. Below, I have enclosed a clip that demonstrates Cleveland Cavalier fans chanting "Cha-Lu'Pa" in eager anticipation of the team scoring 100 points.

Sharing The Experience With "Time Share" Tickets

The Dallas Cowboys recently announced that they will become the first team in the NFL to allow groups to share tickets. The Cowboys are slated to implement a system that enables a group of people to purchase a single ticket, and once inside the stadium, the group can take turns going into the game.

It is rumored that the Cowboys could allow 20,000 fans to buy tickets to standing-room-only party plazas outside each end zone where the game will be featured on digital screens (this would be an interesting strategy to drive game and site attendance for the Super Bowl, etc.

Could this be a new wave in team ticketing strategies?

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

Create B2B Opportunities for Your Ticket Holders!

Are you looking to show season ticket holders incremental value? Are you looking to do so at a minimal cost? The New York Knicks may have the answer for you...

The New York Knicks created a "Business Alliance" for season ticket holders, and online forum that enables season ticket holders to post information about their business (Business Name, Contact Information, Address. Phone/Email, Website). The Knicks Business Alliance was designed to drive fellow season ticket holders and fans of the NBA to season ticket holders' place of business. The Knicks claim that the season ticket holder B2B directory will provide incremental value to all season ticket holders by providing discounts to local businesses. The Knicks send a printed guidebook (containing all B2B information) to all season subscribers.

Developing a "Business Alliance" is a great opportunity to show season ticket holders incremental value at minimal cost. The Knicks drive business for their season ticket holders, learn more about their businesses, and possibly open up the door for integration opportunities. This would be a great idea for University athletic departments to show incremental value to large donors and/or local businesses. Teams/organizations can support this online business forum through a partnership with CareerBuilder.com/GoDaddy.com/the Yellow Pages, executive hiring firms, etc.

Look for this practice to become implemented at organizations/Universities across the nation!

Generating Online Buzz...

When it comes to generating online buzz, does anyone do it better than Nike?

Here are two great clips that Nike created to drive online awareness and buzz for its soccer brands...

Ronaldinho Touches Gold

Rooney Strikes the Target

Need Help Driving Online Buzz for Your Brand?

Are you looking to create positive buzz around your brand/organization but lack the resources to do so? Have you exhausted all television, print, and radio efforts for promoting new ticket offers, initiatives, and team-related moves?

Here is a new option for you to consider:

Doe Anderson

I recently came across the services of Doe Anderson and was very impressed that such a company even exists. Doe Anderson is a company that prides itself on being "Building Brand Enthusiasts". The company features professional bloggers that build positive brand mantra on message boards, online discussions, and circulates positive awareness for your brand throughout the digital landscape. Doe Anderson did an incredible job enhancing Jim Beam's "Rally for Robby" campaign (supporting NASCAR driver Robby Gordon in '08) and appear to have an impressive client list:

• Wendy's, Valvoline, Umbro, Skoal, Papa Johns, Copenhagen, Maker's Mark, Louisville Slugger, etc.

I really like the idea of a team/organization outsourcing some of its marketing dollars to a company like Doe Anderson, among others, to build positive buzz in the social landscape. Why not put some of your dollars within the hands of professionals, who can take buzz building to another level in an area (the digital landscape) that you may not specialize in? Control systems would need to be implemented (to ensure that the correct messages are being relayed to consumers) but I think this would be a great trial-and-error move for an organization looking to drive messaging and awareness through the web.

NOTE: This article does not support Doe Anderson in any nature. The objective of the article is to simply to inform readers that Doe Anderson serves as an outlet for building brand buzz in the digital space.

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...

Looking to Target HS Athletes and Their Families?

As a property sales rep or corporate sponsor, you may be targeting high school consumers and their families for a number of different reasons:

PROPERTIES

• Group Sales (targeting teams, local area athletes, etc.)
• Low-Cost Single Game Ticket Sales
• Driving Younger Fanbase
• Drafting/Recruiting (NHL, etc.) 

CORPORATE SPONSORS

• Platforms/programs designed to target high school consumers
• Product Trial / Awareness

It really is no suprise that this demographic is targeted by a number of different parties... Why? Because they are so elusive - teen consumers use a variety of different mediums for entertainment/information purposes (Internet, Television, iPod/iPhone, Radio, Print, mp3, YouTube, etc.) and they are very conscious of which companies are selling to them versus who ARE them.

So, what is a new platform that you can use to target these individuals?

beRecruited.com

Founded in 2000, beRecruited.com is an online community that features 175,000 HS athlete profiles (representing 14,000 high schools) registered on the site promoting themselves. beRecruited.com claims to have at least one person registered on the site from approximately 70% of the 20,000 high schools across the United States. 

beRecruited.com and its partner website, http://teams.berecruited.com offer virtual networking environments for HS players and coaches to promote themselves. The site breaks down athletes by state and enables users to set up profiles where they can share stats, photos, and videos - the site currently supports 18 different HS sports.

States with the most users include:

• California (6,207 profiles), Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio (St. Ignatius Boys High School is the #1 school represented on beRecruited Teams), Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey

The site does account for advertising, yet it's corporate partners page is not too extensive. However, this platform can easily expand with the growth of social media and technology use amongst consumers. If Facebook or Myspace were to develop a similar application to this, beRecruited.com would be in trouble (since those two social networking platforms already have an extensive user base) but for the time being, this is a great concept. This online communuty could turn into a very powerful platform for properties looking to target this segment. While the site is still in the early stages of development, sports property representatives and corporate partners may want to consider this while the iron is hot.

NOTE: This article does not support beRecruited.com in any nature. The objective of the article is to simply to inform readers that this web community exists, among a number of opportunities, to target HS consumers. 

Build-A-Bear UPDATE!

A week ago I mentioned the recent publicity surrounding Webkinz and Build-A-Bear, two (2) companies who have built successful business models around the growing use of technology among America's youth. Yesterday, Build-A-Bear announced its emerging presence in Major League Baseball.

As of Opening Day, Build-A-Bear will feature five (5) in-stadium workshop locations and is slated to offer an exclusive game day giveaway at eight (8) select ballparks during the 2008 season. Consumers can purchase Build-A-Bear stuffed animals for $18-$25 and MLB outfits for an additional $6-$15 in-stadium.

In 2008, Build-A-Bear is featuring Workshops in the following MLB Stadiums:

• Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Offering fans the chance to make their own Phanatic
• Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati, OH)
  • Offering fans the chance to make their own Gapper
• AT&T Park (San Francisco, CA)
  • Offering fans the chance to make their own San Francisco Giants mascot
• Busch Stadium (St. Louis, MO)
  • Offering fans the chance to make their own Fredbird
• Nationals Park (Washington, DC)
  • Offering fans the chance to make their own Screech

Build-A-Bear will provide exclusive game day giveaways at the following ballparks on select days:

• Chicago Cubs (Saturday, May 17th and Friday, July 25th)
• New York Mets (Saturday, July 12th)
• St. Louis Cardinals (Saturday, August 3rd)
• Cincinnati Reds (Saturday, August 10th)
• Kansas City Royals (Sunday, June 1st)
• Pittsburgh Pirates (Saturday, July 27th)
• Los Angeles Dodgers (Sunday, August 3rd)
• Florida Marlins (Sunday, August 31st)

Watch out for Build-A-Bears...This simple product offering could easily evolve into the next Beanie Baby craze!

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.