I apologize for the light posting recently. I’ve been traveling for work and am going down to Atlanta tomorrow for the Georgia Tech-UNC football game. While on the plane today, I was inspired by reading Fun is Good and I started brainstorming some crazy, off-the wall promotion ideas that sports teams could try. Here’s the best of the worst:
Barry Bonds Honesty Day - Inspired by Barry’s repeated denials of knowingly using PEDs, fans can talk/write about a time they got caught for something and kept denying it, even when all evidence pointed the opposite way. The best denial wins free seat upgrades and a lie-detector test in between innings to see if he/she was really telling the truth or not.
Scott Boras Exaggeration Day - The man obviously way over-valued A-Rod and exaggerated his worth. On this special night, select fans give interviews about their wife/husband and the best exaggerator wins…
Rain Dance Night - We had a big drought in the Southeast this summer. While this was a serious issue and water restrictions had to be put in place, why not add a little humor to the situation and stage rain dance contests in between innings. The winner gets a year’s supply of bottled water from whoever the water/beverage sponsor is.
That’s all for now. Trust me when I say the rest of my ideas should never see the light of day. Peanut Butter and Jelly Night anyone??
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The NBA’s NJ Nets have rolled out a new marketing campaign themed, “More Than A Game.” The campaign reportedly will play up the fact that being a Nets fan and going to games is not just about basketball–it’s about access and entertainment. According to Brandweek.com, the campaign will debut in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and will replace the three-year old “Bring it” campaign.
The Nets have done a lot recently–announcing the move to Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the 2009-10 season, signing additional corporate partners last year, and now this. Led by Nets President and CEO Brett Yormark, they’ve also implemented new events designed to attract season ticket holders, hosting parties for existing and potential ticket holders at players and coaches’ homes. Other teams, such as the NHL Florida Panthers, have copied this novel approach.
If anyone can get people to see Nets’ games as “More than a game,” it’s these guys. After all, they must be damn good salesman–they sold the rights to present the Nets offseason (Nets Overtime) to Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit in a deal that sources pegged at six figures. Not sure how they pulled this off, but give them props for creating something valuable?? and generating additional revenue from it.
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It’s good to see major brands getting involved in social community/user-generated content, especially when it fits in the context of their brand. Adidas, in keeping with the theme of its “Impossible is Nothing” campaign, has launched the “Start My Story” website, which allows people to create a story about how they overcame their greatest challenge. Visitors can choose to let Laila Ali (Muhammad Ali’s daughter) or David Beckham walk them through the process of creating their story. The site is very catchy and well-designed. I decided to create a story of my own–the time I overcame dehydration and exhaustion to lead my soccer team to victory in a tournament about 10 years ago. A made up story. Hey, I was in a hurry, and didn’t feel like trying to think about a real challenge I’ve overcome. See below for some pictures of the Start My Story site.
Adidas has also partnered with Pepsi to release 500 million startmystory.com Pepsi cans in the U.S.
The important thing to remember with any user-generated, social sharing effort like this is that it has to resonate with the brand. Asking people to share stories like this works perfectly for adidas, but could backfire for many brands, especially if they tried to integrate their product into the story. For example if a soap brand asked people to talk about a time when they were very dirty and needed to get clean and used X soap. I know this is huge news, but most of the time, soap stories aren’t memorable. A sharing effort that involves stories, needs to either be about a brand people really care about (Apple, Harley-Davidson, etc) or should be built around a concept that the brand stands represents (for adidas, overcoming challenges).
What are your thoughts about brands asking customers to share stories about them?
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Store locations. That’s the number one thing every major restaurant or retail chain should have featured on its website. It should be featured prominently and be the first thing I see.
Normally, this isn’t something most people think about. It’s just a given. You go to Target’s website to find the nearest Target. You go to Taco Bell’s website at 11pm because you’re craving a 4th meal like you haven’t eaten in months and NEED to find the closest one.
Today I was trying to find the address of the closest Panera Bread Co. so I went on their website. The first thing I see is a big piece of chocolate cake, followed by Today’s Soups. Their “Panera Locator”is featured less prominently than “Recipe.” Who goes to Panera’s website to get recipes??
Panera Bread is a great restaurant and I’m sure they pride themselves in getting the details right. However, they should definitely feature their store locations more prominently. You might not think that extra second it took to find the location matters, but they might as well get this right, since they do a great job with everything else. Here’s where I’d put their store locator. I also took the liberty to replace “Recipes” with a store finder, since no one really goes to Panera’s website for recipes…
Papa John’s happens to have a great store locator feature. It’s right at the top and easily accessible, like it should be. Take note Panera Bread. Help us find you.
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Check them out here. There are definitely some good ones I’ll be adding to my RSS reader.
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I thought I’d share some great sports marketing blogs I read, and you should, too, if you want to stay on top of what’s happening in the sports business world. Feel free to share any other good ones I should add to my reading list.
Sports Business News
Sports Marketing 2.0
- http://www.patcoyle.net/
- Pat Coyle, Executive Director of Digital Business for the Indianapolis Colts, shares the observations, research and results that will inform the Colts digital strategies.
The Sports Economist
SportsBiz - The Business of Sports Illuminated
Sports Law Blog
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