Party City and the NY Giants Team Up to Celebrate Halloween

Retail partners looking for new, creative ways to leverage their team partnerships should consider benchmarking a recent initiative implemented by Party City and the New York Giants.

Party City partnered with the Giants to feature a contest on the team's website that gave fans an opportunity to vote for which Halloween costume rookie linebacker Mark Herzlich would wear on the team's official visit to a local hospital.

Party City promoted the initiative by inviting several veterans on the Giants roster to visit a local Party City store location and pick out Halloween costumes for all of the team's rookies to wear to the event as well. The retailer did a terrific job capturing footage of the event, as the players seemed to have a great time picking out embarrasing Halloween costumes for their peers, with some even trying them on in the store.

The footage is a great publicity piece for Party City as it demonstrates to consumers firsthand that Giants players do in fact frequent their stores and has viral potential! Party City could easily repurpose the content to feature on the jumbotron during the game, on Giants.com, or via social media.

Check it out below:

The Ravens Team Up with Jos. A. Bank to Host A Purple Fridays Promotion

The Baltimore Ravens recently announced a non-traditional partnership with Jos. A. Bank, a high-end men's clothing retailer. As part of the partnership, ten (10) Jos. A. Bank store locations in the Baltimore, MD and York, PA DMA will run a "Purple Fridays"promotion, encouraging fans to wear purple to work on Fridays throughout the 2011 season. Each of the stores will dedicated a special section within their stores to sportshirts, ties, sweaters, and dress shirts in shades of purple.

It will be interesting to see if more professional sports organizations look to form partnerships with similar high-end retailers, as it generates buzz and awareness in non-traditional retail outlets and enables teams to target a higher-income fanbase.

Jos. A. Bank will support also its partnership with the Ravens through direct mail, radio, television, and online advertising and it would be intriguing to see if they also consider running a sweeps that offers free suite tickets to a game.

The Chicago Cubs See Value in Newborns

The Chicago Cubs offer a Newborn Fan Club that allows loyal Cubs fans to purchase a commemorative "Cub for Life" gift pack for future sluggers. The concept of a Newborn Fan Club serves as a terrific non-traditional revenue stream for sports properties that are able to seamlessly weave it into their digital offerings and manage fulfillment through the team shop and/or a third party.

The initiative allows consumers a chance to spend $45 to receive a customized commemorative photo announcing the baby's birth (complete with the baby's name, birthday, and birth weight), a Cubs baby stocking cap, a Cubs "Rookie of the Year" onesie, and an exclusive birth certificate to hang on display. The Cubs even provide fans an option to purchase a wooden frame for $25 to display their marquee photo or commemorative birth certificate. Fans can input all of the required information to customize the piece and manage shipping/handling online.

Teams can look to generate incremental revenue streams through said initiative by affiliating a corporate partner with ties to retail and/or baby supplies. In addition to exposure, corporate partners can also derive value by offering post-purchase discounts, etc.

Modell's Uses Athletes in Disguise to Create a Hit Viral Series

Over the past few months, Modell's Sporting Goods has released a terrific viral series featuring professional athletes disguised as employees trying to sell their own jerseys.

The series kicked off in December when Modell's teamed up with Reebok to send Patriots RB Danny Woodhead to a retail location to push apparel. Standing 5-feet-9-inches tall, Woodhead served as the perfect athlete in disguise, as he went largely unnoticed and was even referred to as being "too little" by a shopper. The stunt, secretly captured on camera, became an instant hit with fans across the globe and generated 1MM+ views in a matter of days.

The second segment of the series featured prominent Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson posing undercover at a Modell's location in the greater Philadelphia area. Unlike Woodhead, Jackson was recognized by several shoppers but the filmed publicity stunt still managed to generate a significant amount of traction online with 108K+ views on YouTube. 

After producing two (2) viral hits, Modell's continued the series in February by sending New York Knicks rookie guard Landry Fields to a select retail location. An extremely animated Fields did a tremendous job posing as a Modell's employee named Leeroy Fields. The 6'7 forward did just about everything possible to call attention to himself (and his jersey), helping Modell's create yet another viral sensation.

Check out the three (3) classic retail stunts below: 

New England Patriots Running Back Danny Woodhead

Philadelphia Eagles Wide Receiver DeSean Jackson

New York Knicks Guard Landry Fields

The Yankees Launch Ticket Booth at Modell's in Times Square

The New York Yankees have teamed up with Modell's to create a ticket sales booth at the sporting good chain's retail location in Times Square. The unique sales location will offer tickets on sale at discounted prices, up to 50% off, starting at 8 AM for day games and noon for night games. Each customer willing to wait in line for tickets can purchase up to four (4) "Mo Saver" tickets, which will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Yankees and Modell's drove buzz for the launch of the new ticket sales venture on Monday by featuring former Yankees star Tino Martinez on hand to greet fans and speak to future opportunities. The booth is part of Modell's plans to turn its retail locations into more of an interactive experience for fans.

 The venture serves as a great way for the Yankees to drive buzz in Times Square and capitalize on selling tickets to tourists and busy fans looking to purchase tickets at a discounted price that are sold directly from the team.  The Yankees and Modell's senior management are expecting the new service to be an instant hit with locals and tourists alike.

The Mavericks' Great Baby Race of 2009

Are you looking for new ways to leverage cpg companies and non-traditional partners? Are you looking to create game entertainment that caters to all fans in attendance?

The Dallas Mavericks recently teamed up with retail partner Academy Sports + Outdoors to feature an All-Star baby race during the 3rd quarter of a recent home game that turned out to be a huge hit with fans. The contest pinned four (4) babies sporting Dallas Mavericks gear racing (slowly) across a mat in front of thousands of the team's supporters.

The Mavericks did a tremendous job executing the promotion by leveraging the PA announcer to drive fan excitement and featured some great camera angles of the action on the video board.

The All-Star baby race served as a great way for Academy Sports + Outdoors to distinguish the fact that it is the Official Headquarters for the Dallas Mavericks for all fans (men, women, kids, babies, etc.). The collaborating parties could bring the promotion to life slightly more by assigning sections to each of the four babies (with the winning baby's section receiving $5 gift cards while all other participating sections receiving a discount at purchase). Nonetheless, Mavericks fans in attendance won't forget the baby race (and Academy Spots + Outdoors) the next time they are shopping for their kids!

Check out the Mavericks' classic All-Star baby race below: