Are You Looking to Activate Within the Running Space?

Are you looking to activate within the running space? Are you looking to gain a better understanding for different ways that sponsors are leveraging their marathon, triathalon, and 5K assets? Are you looking to enhance your knowledge of running events from the ground up?

Look no further than Nate Demercurio's website, Running the Best Races.

Nate does a tremendous job providing an in-depth perspective of activation tactics, technology, and sponsor involvement in the running space. In the past few weeks, Nate has posted some great articles on:

• Leveraging Cheer Boards
• Maximizing Venue Setup Space
• Investing in Mobile Billboards
• Creating Video and Mobile Vehicle Displays
• The Impact Technology has had on the Running Industry
• Audio Entertainment
• Sponsorship Integration Ideas
• Maximizing Retail Displays
• Parking Strategies

Continue to expect some great content from Nate's website. If you are looking for some insiders knowledge on activation tactics, best practices, and quality events in the running world, he is an ideal contact. Check out his site here!

Partnership Review: Lord's Cricket Ground

The Wall Street Journal recently featured an interesting editorial piece by Tunku Varadarajan on the aura and nostalgia of the Lord's Cricket Ground, located in St. John's Wood, London. In the article, Varadarajan referred the facility as the Mecca of cricket and spoke highly of the stadium's affluent culture and pleasant experience.

But what exactly is the Lord's Cricket Ground? It is the Wrigley Field of cricket - a facility built in 1814 that is revered as one of the most famous stadiums in the world. Like Wrigley Field, operators of Lord's Cricket Ground have battled with incorporating corporate presence ($$$) into the facility's historical setting.

While the facility is considered traditional, it features a number of non-traditional elements, including the Investec Media Centre (as displayed on the right). Investec signed a three-year deal in 2006 to become the title sponsor of the facility; a deal that also provides the company with widespread attention throughout the venue.

Take a moment to check out the facilities amenities and corporate signage here.

From an outsider's perspective, there are a few interesting things to note about the Lord's Cricket Ground:

1. All event attendees are allowed to bring in one (1) bottle of wine or two (2) pints of beer
2. All stadium signage is static - a very conservative, traditional setting
3. Concessions within the venue offer a variety of offerings, including True Indian food, The Great Australian Pie company, and FBC Fine Barbeque
4. The stadium is host to the oldest sporting museum in the world
5. Lord's Cricket Ground recently launched their own clothing line
6. The venue features a "Father Time Weathervane" that symbolizes the venue's history
7. The stadium features an outfield bar that enables its alcoholic sponsors to hand banners as backdrops

Over the past few years (since 2004), a number of companies have taken advantage of promoting their brand within the confines of the Lord's Cricket Ground, including:

• Vodafone
• Toyota (promoting the Avensis)
• Friends Provident
• Ask.com
• Betfair.com
• Qatar Airways
• nPower
• Deutsche Bank
• Red Stripe
• Nat West
• Hewitt
• Volkswagen
• Adidas
• Marston's Smooth Beer
• Predigree
• Icon
• Barclays
• Frizzell Insurance
• Fuller's London Pride
• Wold Blass Wines
• ebookers.com
• ToteSport.com
• The Daily Telegraph
• Ecb.co.uk
• sky Sports
• Airmiles.co.uk
• Invesco Perpetual

Hopefully this article will provide you with a greater understanding for the sponsorship landscape in England (players, branding) and the Lord's Cricket Ground approach to sponsorship integration in a historical setting. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or would like to learn more. Again, be sure to check out the gallery!

Take Control of Your Parking Lots...

Are you looking for new ways to generate revenue from your parking lots? Are you searching for innovative ways to streamline your parking operations? Are you looking to show fans incremental value before they enter the stadium?

Click and Park recently formed a partnership with Standard Parking, Soldier Field's parking operator, to provide Chicagoans with special parking services when attending games and events at the stadium. Click and Park recently launched a website to support the initiative and provide fans with a way to pre-pay for guaranteed spaces... Click and Park is implementing its pre-pay parking service by offering a limited number of pre-paid "print at home" parking passes for select lots, which the company can designate and block off ahead of time.

Click and Park's pre-pay parking service is the perfect way to create artificial demand for parking (and hopefully in turn, drive incremental revenue and/or ease the consumers experience on-site). Sports marketers all understand the demand for premium parking near the stadium and should begin to investigate similar methods to create artificial demand.

Once more organizations pursue similar pre-pay methods, will we see teams offer exclusive benefits for certain parking sections? For instance, if the Miami Dolphins implement a pre-pay process, they can market different "exclusive benefits" opportunities to fans who are willing to pay a slight premium. The team can offer Lot D parking for $35 (as opposed to $20 regular parking), but provide season ticket holders with two (2) vouchers that print out on the pre-paid parking sheet for an exclusive pre-game autograph signing in the parking lot (leveraging team alumni, cheerleaders, mascot, coaches, personnel, personalities, etc.).

To fill stadium lots (as opposed to neighborhood lots), teams can also begin incorporating food concessionaires couponing with these parking passes (attached coupons that consumers can tear off) to demonstrate incremental value to fans.

Teams can also consider integrating/selling a corporate partner on an opportunity to brand pre-paid parking lot passes. Automobile companies and car part manufacturers can brand utilize such opportunities to drive consumers to retail (feature a "bobblehead offer with purchase/test drive" on the parking pass that catches consumers when they are open to engagement. With pre-pay parking methods, the opportunities are endless for sports marketers... Now take advantage of it!

Expanding Your Fanbase in Foreign Markets...

Are you implementing any initiatives to capture fans overseas? Have you realized the star power of professional athletes in foreign markets?

Raphael Bartholomew recently featured a great piece in the NY Times on Gilbert Arenas’ trip to the Philippines as part of his global Agent Zero tour. Arenas was taken back by the affinity and support of young Filipino consumers, a demographic with an extreme interest in the game of basketball. Arenas’ reaction to the reception he received in Manila was,

“It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve seen crazy fans all over the world”.

As a sports marketer (especially those working in the NBA), what does this mean for you? Re-focus your efforts on targeting fans in foreign markets and consider ways to expand your players’ marketability.

Red Bull's Team MascotThe practice of corporate sponsorships has risen in the Philippines with the induction and popularity of the game of basketball. Filipinos are more advanced within the sponsorship aspect than one might first expect, shown their implementation of a number of creative ideas:

• Branded seats on team benches (Gold’s Gym)
• Branded mats on the poles of basketball nets (Samsung)
• Corporate mascots (Red Bull)
• Multiple jersey placements for sponsors
• Krispy Kreme offers a retail promotion where it creates a signature donut for each of the four (4) teams in the Final Four

A number of American companies (or well known in the United States) currently sponsor basketball initiatives in the Philippines, including:

Technological/Photography

1. Canon – Courtside rotational
2. Samsung – Foam Fingers, Basketball hoop branding

QSR’s / Casual Dining

1. Dairy Queen* – In-Venue Signage
2. Taco Bell* – In-Venue Signage/Video Board Signage
3. Pizza Hut* – In-Venue Signage / Court Branding
4. Burger King – Courtside Rotational
5. Krispy Kreme - Retail Promotion

Apparel Companies

1. Nike – Apparel, Athlete Appearances, Marketing, Signage, Equipment
2. Adidas – Apparel, Athlete Appearances, Marketing, Signage, Equipment

Performance/Energy Drinks

1. Gatorade – Retail Activation
2. Red Bull – Title Sponsorship of a Team, Mascot Integration, Jersey Sponsorships

Other

1. Lee - Signage
2. Mentos - Signage
3. Petron - Signage
4. Gold’s Gym – Bench Signage

* Dairy Queen, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell are all owned by the Araneta Group, who also own the Araneta Coliseum (a major arena landmark in the Philippines)

Understanding the aura of NBA players in the Philippines, Nike has brought Kobe Bryant to the region twice (Supernatural Tour), while Adidas has introduced Gilbert Arenas (Agent Zero Tour) and Tracy McGrady (T-MAC Asia Tour) through in-market appearances. All signage and corporate marketing materials are displayed in English in the Philippines (English is considered the official language). For a better perspective of corporate partnership activation in the Philippines, please take a moment to check out a gallery that details “Basketball in the Philippines”. 

Check out some clips of Kobe Bryant and Gilbert Arenas' trips to the Philippines (Manila) below...

Update on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 09:01PM by Brian Gainor

Go Guerrilla With Your Soccer Branding Tactics...

Are you looking for an innovative idea to drive some awareness for your soccer club in-market? Are you looking for some guerrilla efforts to benchmark?

Guarana Antarctica devised a clever branding idea to promote their affiliation with the Brazilian Soccer National Team. Guarana Antarctica placed actual size goal posts in bus shelters throughout San Paulo and tagged the guerilla displays with a pretty creative branding campaign.

The guerilla efforts were designed around Guarana Antarctica's $10MM jersey sponsorship of the Brazilian Soccer Federation around the 2006 World Cup. Upon the tournament's conclusion, Guarana Antarctica created these clever ads to help drive awareness for the initiative...

The Grizzlies Unveil The Toyota Pickup Center...

Has a unique venue branding tactic ever made you say, "That is really creative, why didn't I think of that?"

If so, here is another to add to the list...

Mike Redlick and Brent Schoeb of the Memphis Grizzlies recently led a project at the FedEx Form that converted an interior box office into The Toyota Pickup Center... This is an example of a great branding tactic that drives consumer awareness (opportunity for fans to gaze at the Tundra as they wait in line), consumer recognition (of Toyota's affiliation with the Grizzlies) and enhances the overall fan experience at the FedEx Forum (featuring a Pickup Truck over the ticket window creates a signature mark for fans in attendance to remember where they need to "pick up" their tickets)...

It will be interesting to see how the Grizzlies take this branding piece to the next level. I am excited to see how the team leverages the "Pick Up Window" to really engage fans (exclusive test drive opportunities for suiteholders who pickup their tickets at the window? street teams engaging fans while they wait in line? exclusive tickets/experiences for select fans picking up tickets in the Upper Deck? ticket pickup tie-back to local Toyota dealerships?) 

Check out the video below, which captures the extensive measures the Grizzlies needed to take to make the "Toyota Pickup Center" happen: 

Have You Seen Adidas Futsal Park?

Adidas Futsal Park is incredible. The facility, located atop a department store in Shubuya, Japan, is a premier footprint that is unlike anything offered in the United States. Adidas Futsal park is open to the public; nearly 500 teams have signed up to use the facility during both day and night. Adidas uses the facility (outside of a signature awareness play) to offer personal memberships, host soccer clinics, and run competitive local tournaments. The innovative "soccer playground" is surrounded by nets and other precautionary measures to keep all soccer balls, equipment, and players/spectators on the roof of the building.

The facility debuted in 2001 after the Tokyo Sports System Co. realized that there was no space left within the city to build a soccer facility. They had no choice but to look upward to build, leading to a compromise with Adidas to build the facility. Due to space constraints, most department stores in Shibuya have used their long rooftops for entertainment purposes, but none to the extent of Adidas Futsal Park.

When will a brand or league do something similar like this in the United States? Why hasn't something like this been attempted in Times Square? or LA? or Chicago? For brands (especially athletic wear/apparel) looking to make a media splash, this would garner instant attraction/consumer interest.

Check out a video of the facility below:

Adidas football park Tokyo Shibuya 3
Uploaded by metsy

Are Fans Talking About Your Brand at Events?

Are consumers talking about your brands at events? Are you looking for a unique way to leverage your brand at a running event (marathon, half-marathon, 5K, running expo)?

In 2006, Adidas ran an innovative "Reason to Run" campaign that served as an incredible way to get runners talking about the Adidas brand on race day. The program, a benchmark for others, distributed bibs on race day to runners that asked them to fill out what their reason to run was (along with their name and email). These "Reason to Run" bibs became conversation starters throughout events across the globe (from Singapore to Toronto to San Francisco) as it spurred people to discuss their "reasons" pre-race, during the race, on their blogs post-race.

The "Reason to Run" bibs also translated to Adidas' activation at indoor running exhibitions. Adidas would ask all consumers who entered their footprint to fill out a Reason to Run bid and post it on the Adidas wall. The collection of bids would become a wall of art that would attract herds of people who were interested in seeing why others were running... The bids also became a database of names and emails of runners that Adidas could market to in the future.

The "Reason to Run" bibs are such a great, unique way to get people talking about your brands on race day. At a relatively inexpensive cost, you can make a big splash in an uninterruptive manner at race events and running expo's. Even if a race already has a title sponsor (who in turn, has the rights to the bibs), your brand can consider handing out similar "Reason to Run" bibs as a premium that you encourage runners to wear pre/post race.

"Reason for Being an "XXXXXX" Fan"

Is this an idea that also translates to other sports? Have you asked your season ticket holder base why they are fans? This could be a great idea to implement at draft parties, women's 101 clinics, and team appearances (for consumers to fill out while waiting in line for an autograph at a player appearance) for team's looking to build their fan databases. 

Looking To Target C-Store Partners?

Are you looking for new ways to derive value out of a c-store partner? During troubling economic times, are you looking for new "consumer-facing" ways to demonstrate incremental value at lesser costs?

Consider a strategy that the Sprint Center and QuikTrip recently collaborated on as part of a multi-year partnership. The Sprint Center provided QuickTrip the opportunity to become the first c-store to ever open up a retail location inside an actual arena. The QuikTrip offers a unique selection of sandwiches, cookies/pastries, slurpees, and energy drinks at costs less than nearby Levy Restaurant concessions.

How did the Sprint Center pull this off with having a concessionaire in-house? QuikTrip, as one of the arena's ten (10) founding partners, has a separate deal with arena concessionaire Levy Restaurants. QuikTrip uses Levy’s point-of-sale system and shares a portion of store revenue with Levy. None of QuikTrip's items directly compete with Levy offerings and all perishable items that go unsold on game night are given to consumers as they leave the Sprint Center...

This is a great example of a way that the Sprint Center discovered they can show direct, measurable value back to QuikTrip and also provide a unique stadium element that demonstrates value to consumers...

The results? On many game nights, fans line up and wait for up to twenty (20) minutes to purchase items in the QuikTrip retail location. QuickTrip is now considering the thoughts of opening a similar location within the BOK Center, Tulsa's 18,000 seat arena set to open in September.

Check out a quick tour of the Sprint Center's QuikTrip below:

Partnership Industry to Watch: Movie Theaters...

Have you considered using non-traditional media channels to help promote your brand/product? Have you considered forming a partnership with your local movie theater, a venue that offers some unique ways to reach a broad range of audiences?

Sunrise Sports & Entertainment, the business arm that operating the NHL's Florida Panthers, recently formed a partnership with Muvico Theaters. Through the deal, the Panthers will receive in-theater and on-screen team advertising. The team will also feature:

• "Featured Matchups" Presented by Muvico 
• "Florida Panthers Movie Critic Promos" Presented by Muvico
• "Muvico Double Features" for Panther home games played on Sundays
• Promotion where fans can receive a complimentary ticket for any movie shown Monday-Thursday with a ticket stub from a Sunday home win.

In return, Muvico will receive signage in-arena at the BankAtlantic Center and the team's training center as well as website advertising and promotional exposure on the Panthers flagship station WAXY-AM.

Why is this deal significant? It marks a signaling trend for sports marketers as more teams and leagues are partnering wth movie theater chains in-market to drive awareness, promotional activity, and reach. The L.A. Lakers (movie critic vignette), the NBA (3D HD NBA Finals viewing parties), the Dallas Mavericks (3D HD viewing parties), the Boston Red Sox (live games in theatres) and the New York Mets (showing live games in movie theatres) have all implemented innovative programs that incorporate movie theater chains in an effort to promote their brands...

The New York Times recently featured a great piece on movie theatres hosting a variety of events nowadays...