Super Bowl: Ads vs Football

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February 4th, 2013

Super Bowl is probably known more for advertising than for the game of American football itself. Dan Hanzus justifies why on the NFL website in his article called CBS reportedly asking $3.8M for Super Bowl ad spot. These ads are insanely expensive, this is why!

Suzanne Vranica of WSJ explains why companies pay this record price in her article Costly Super Bowl Ads Pay Publicity Dividend. First, the reach of the game is huge. There were more than 111 million people who watched the game last year. Second, the game attracts free media attention, sometimes even before the game starts.

Companies definitely get even more free publicity after the game finishes. With some many rankings of Super Bowl ads, a company can be sure that ads, successful or not succesful, will go viral and will be discussed until next Super Bowl. One of these rankings includes USA Today Ad Meter, which this year celebrated its 25th anniversary. According to Ad Meter, the most successful commercial this year was a 60 sec (think $3.8M x 2) Budweisers Clydesdale commercial.

Does Fandom Reminds Religion?

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February 1st, 2013

Michael Serazio, an assistant professor of communication at Fairfield University, asks an unusual question Just How Much Is Sports Fandom Like Religion? In his article published in The Atlantic on January 29, 2013, Serazio compares being a fan of a sports team to being a follower of a religion. Serazio mentions that when a person worships some deity, he or she worships himself or herself first. A person’s fandom of any kind is an expression of personality. People have faith in artifacts since early ages, just now artifacts often come from sports.  

If you ever wore a t-shirt of a favorite team on a game day, bought sports branded pillow or blanket, or went tail gaiting before the game, you may understand the comparison. Just think of the SJU Bookstore and all the branded apparel. And then think of all students who wear branded SJU clothes around campus. Does it remind you of worship? To some extent yes.

Besides fanaticism of sports and religion, the idea of not only worship but the war comes to mind. Sports fans of rival teams hate each other which is a very similar (but not so aggressive) way as religion fanatics hate each other. Whether this comparison of fandom and religion is valid or not, sports apparel companies continue to produce “artifacts” and capitalize on fan engagement this way.

SJU wins BIG on Saturday 1/26/13

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January 27th, 2013

Midway through the basketball season, on Saturday, January 26, 2013, Hagan Arena hosted a double-header: women’s and men’s basketball games at 3 and 6 pm respectively. Both Hawk teams won BIG: ladies beat St. Bonaventure 61-44 and men beat Xavier 59-49. When SJU basketball teams win, everyone wins, including Hawks sponsors and organizations featured at each game. Marketing behind the scenes of college basketball is huge, starting with “Hagan” arena, and finishing with particular game day promotions.  

The women’s basketball game hosted Autism Awareness and the featured organization was SJU Kinney Center for autism education and support. In the main lobby, their featured table had brochures and showcased great raffle options. For a small donation, a tote bag, hand sanitizer and bracelet were given as well as a chance to participate in a raffle.

IMAG0568The sold out men’s game was dedicated to Hawks for Margo. This organization was founded after Margo Mallory Ambler, the sister of Hawks’ student-athlete Taylor Mallory, died due to the cervical cancer and is aimed to continue to find a cure for this disease. Their table featured shoe laces and T-Shirts given away for any contribution. Needless to say that the student section 54th Airborne promoted this cause the best: everyone wore one of these T-shirts!

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Both organizations have websites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, so that the marketing connection is not lost and stays with attendants of the game along with game day memories, tote-bags and T-shirts. More sports marketing? Look at the banners in the gym and promotional messages on the electronic score boards, and walk around the tables in the lobby at the next game!

Would You Send a Text Message to Win Tickets to a Basketball Game?

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January 26th, 2013

 16343Lauren Johnson of Mobile Marketer describes Golden Warrior’s mobile marketing strategy in her article Golden State Warriors enlists mobile for fan engagement posted on January 25, 2013. The NBA team from Oakland, CA is using a combination of mobile, digital and social marketing initiatives to connect with sports fans this season.

The recent mobile “White Out” campaign on Jan. 2, promoted on social media as well as traditional marketing, invited fans to send a text message to win tickets to the home game. Golden Warriors’ fans sent 4023 text messages (with 2999 unique ones) to win tickets for a home game!

The question is to learn how to keep text message conversation going in the long term. Once a participant sent a text, he or she was prompted to subscribe to the team’s updates via mobile in return. Only 21% of participants opted out, which means that the team successfully grew its mobile fan database. With mobile becoming the more prominent source of information, Warriors are on the right track to engage more fans. 

Anecdote or Reality? Te’o Case Study on how to Increase Athlete’s Value in Marketplace

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January 25th, 2013

130120151311-manti-teo-layden-single-image-cutIn his article For better or worse, Te’o hoax will alter sportswriting posted of January 20, 2013, Tim Layden of SI observes that sportswriting and marketing of athletes is changing. Layden describes Te’o, the Notre Dame college football player, who told journalists that his girlfriend died, while she never existed in the first place.

Modern sportswriting includes many different story forms including blogs and digital media.  With so much sports information and so many different sources to cover them, “mythmaking” is becoming a common practice. Just look at the Joe Paterno, Lance Armstrong and Te’o lessons – lots of publicity and endorsements in the beginning and what at the end?

Nowadays, sports celebrities are expected to have a story to tell. Stories for athletes are essential to create and increase value of the celebrity in the marketplace and to have more publicity and endorsements. Think of an interview and how we often take “he said” statements for granted. Most times these statements are not witnessed or recorded, they are not facts but anecdotes. What is left for the readers? Beware of anecdotes and read critically.

The Business of the Sports Networking Event on 1/23/13 at Xfinity Live

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January 24th, 2013

Interested in sports? Looking for an internship or a job in sports? Free networking night at XFinity Live on January 23, 2013, was one of the events where you could have scored both: learn more about sports and get an internship or job lead. This regular event attracts sports professionals and students from the greater Philadelphia area to network, have a drink and a talk.

Networking 1/23/13Russell Scibetti of the Business of Sports has been organizing this event since 2009 and last night an evening of networking events took place simultaneously in more than 10 cities in the US and abroad. In the past, Philadelphia networking nights was at the Fieldhouse bar, but now the new place to meet is Xfinity Live, an entertainment venue close to the stadiums in South Philadelphia.

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Along with Xfinity Live, Team Rubicon and Turnkey were key partners of this event. Turnkey, a sports analytics company in Haddonfield, NJ, had the key number of participants as well – ten! Overall, there were more than 80 people in attendance, including one current SJU Sports Marketing student – Shaun Gallagher. One of the event rules is “no resumes”, so lots of conversations and business cards were in the air. You may read more about the event on the Business of Sports website and make a note to come there next time!