Media Post

One of the big problems with the team sports environment is the reluctance to work together on joint projects that could benefit multiple markets. Because the focus is so much in-market to grow ticket sales and relevance for brand partners, rarely will teams focus on projects that could be mutually beneficial to both without being an encumbrance on anything the team is doing in their area. It is viewed as a missed opportunity of focus, because in today’s marketplace fans exist everywhere, and to find ways to cultivate out of market fans, especially when your home market is a travel destination, is a mistake.

One of the big problems with the team sports environment is the reluctance to work together on joint projects that could benefit multiple markets. Because the focus is so much in-market to grow ticket sales and relevance for brand partners, rarely will teams focus on projects that could be mutually beneficial to both without being an encumbrance on anything the team is doing in their area. It is viewed as a missed opportunity of focus, because in today’s marketplace fans exist everywhere, and to find ways to cultivate out of market fans, especially when your home market is a travel destination, is a mistake.

One of the most elusive searches for traditional sports and entertainment properties is the quest to get younger…to identify with and activate against that very active audience that may have already grown tired of the traditional and looks elsewhere for its thrills. For an audience more interested in the half pipe and BMX than baseball or football, the ways for brands to reach them have changed in some ways, but in many ways remain the same.

One of the most elusive searches for traditional sports and entertainment properties is the quest to get younger…to identify with and activate against that very active audience that may have already grown tired of the traditional and looks elsewhere for its thrills. For an audience more interested in the half pipe and BMX than baseball or football, the ways for brands to reach them have changed in some ways, but in many ways remain the same.

As we head toward the All-Star break in baseball and get past the halfway point in NASCAR, it is worthwhile to point out a nice recent mix of the two…driver Kenny Wallace’s loyalty to his hometown Cardinals tied to the All-Star game. Wallace, who has shown his loyalty to the Cards by wearing Cardinals red at races, talking about the Cards on twitter and his facebook page, and even indulging in online chats about the team when he is not racing, got to go home and meet the Cards recently, throw out a first pitch and even help promote the All-Star Fan fest with some ticket giveaways, a great crossover promotion for both sports.

As we head toward the All-Star break in baseball and get past the halfway point in NASCAR, it is worthwhile to point out a nice recent mix of the two…driver Kenny Wallace’s loyalty to his hometown Cardinals tied to the All-Star game. Wallace, who has shown his loyalty to the Cards by wearing Cardinals red at races, talking about the Cards on twitter and his facebook page, and even indulging in online chats about the team when he is not racing, got to go home and meet the Cards recently, throw out a first pitch and even help promote the All-Star Fan fest with some ticket giveaways, a great crossover promotion for both sports.

Within a 24 hour period this week, the brand value sport of professional soccer in the United States took a huge jump.

A few weeks ago we touched upon the great opportunity that college athletic departments of all sizes have in these troubled financial times to learn, become more business-like and show true value as community leaders to the students and the institutions they represent. Still the troubles continue ahead, as instead of investing and learning the business of sports, more colleges are looking to cut around the edges and find ways to slow the process of media relations and athletic branding down, rather than taking steps to grow through investment, a practice which certainly is taught in the classrooms of any basic history or economics class.

The patriarch of one of America’s legendary families, Joe Kennedy, always preached to his famous sons “You Are Who You Say You Are,” and that creedo is a good example of how today’s brands can best pitch and stay on message. Remembering “who you are” and “what you do” and making sure everyone in the company is in line with that vision is the best way to effectively and consistently communicate. A great example of that consistent messaging, and the placing of a steady stream of information around that message, is being done by the New Jersey Nets as they battle every obstacle in their planned move to Brooklyn in the future.

It is definately more entertainment than sports, but it has athleticism and now all the flash and dash of entertainment so as Cinco de Mayo ends we decided to take a look at the Mexican wrestling niche phenomenon Lucha Libre, and its crossover into burlesque and entertainment in LA, Lucha Libre Vavavoom. NPR highlighted the new entertainment property on Tuesday morning, and pointed to its crossover from the Anglo to Hispanic audiences, its fun entertainment appeal, the showmanship and the athleticism of the performers and many of the brands that are looking to crossover, from mainstream American brands like Miller to traditional Mexican brands to grab that audience.

Sometimes on the surface the matchup of an athlete or celebrity with a brand may be a little quizzical, and such was the case when high-end shoe retailer Cole Haan announced its first-ever athlete endorsement deal with tennis star Maria Sharapova. Now Sharapova is already becoming the stuff of legend in the endorsement world, even in a down economy. Her deals with companies like Canon, Tiffany and the watch brand Tag Heuer pull in millions, almost as much for her ability to understand and deliver messages to a high end consumer as for her on court results and tennis pedigree. Still, matching Sharapova with Cole Haan still could be a stretch for a brand with little TV presence and no sports marketing background.

Often times colleges in mid or low mid major positions will look to take risk in order to shock the system into a new level. The hiring of coaches, the jump to a new division or a new league, an aggressive marketing campaign all usually revolve around the elusive grab for both attention and the sponsor dollar, and with that the even more important alumni dollar. Into that mix usually goes some strange bedfellows…New Jersey Institute of Technology and their foray into a western conference, Army to Conference USA, Bob Hill going to Fordham as hoops coach are just some examples of bold and sometimes unsuccessful moves made by Universities that come to mind.

Prior to the drop in the economy, major brands were making smart spends across all platforms to find ways to activate and grow marketshare with the growing Hispanic audience in North America. Like the female decisionmakes, the Hispanic audience has become more powerful and more brand loyal in the past five years than ever before, and the rise of powerful entities like ESPN Deportes and Telemundo and Univision support that growth. However with the cutback in spending, a good deal of that activation in the Hispanic community was curtailed, with the thought that many brands had to spend where they knew they would get immediate results as opposed to where they could build from.

A few recent instances have come up which show when sports or entertainment brands can test the waters to see what is acceptable for their fans and more importantly, their business partners. First was the UFC. CEO Dana White has done a phenomonal job of building that property to as close to mainstream as MMA may ever get, especially in a down economy where discretionary dollars will still go to the main four team sports, as well as NASCAR and soccer, in North America. Still, the UFC, with their great TV partner in Spike, have carved a niche with sponsors like Bud Light and Harley Davidson among others. Not huge spends, but very smart ones to access the demo and the UFC experience.

We have often talked about the new ways NASCAR has derived in a down economy to reach the consumer and work with their partners. This week brought another series of innovations, the biggest of which is a new education module tied into science to reach students who love invention and innovation, but may never have gotten near a track, a driver or any of the brands around the sport. The Science of Speed , an online teaching component available free to all teachers, marries NASCAR’s racing and engineering experience with simple experiments and programs for science teachers to apply in their curriculum to students.