Brian in Billy Ball

I got a mention in today’s edition of Billy-Ball…

…But as Lowell would soon learn, this was not Japan, Toto, in the big leagues there are two pitchers in each game and the best may not be from Japan. As I was heading to the game last night I was talking with FOB-B, Brien Reich (the humping for his new book has officially started). Brian had the misfortune of attending Opening Day and watched his Mariners get creamed. Our conversation alternated between what a stiff Jeff Weaver is and what a treat it will be for me to see Felix Hernandez pitch. Oh yeah, everybody seems to have forgotten that the Mariners decided to contest the game last night and actually throw a pitcher against Dice-K, the Red Sox, and their doting fans. FOB-B, Bob of the women’s boutique “Float” who loves his Sox and knows his baseball seemed wary of Hernandez as well as we talked amidst the swarms in front of Fenway.

Billy-Ball is one of the most in-depth and entertaining newsletters/blogs devoted to baseball.  Its written by my friend, Bill Chuck, who is, among other things, a certified baseball genius.  You should subscribe today (and I am not just saying that because I was mentioned).

Dwayne Wade - Digital Marketing Genius?

This weekend the best and brightest of the NBA (and thousands of fans, agents, marketers, corporate flunkies and hanger-on-ers) will converge on Las Vegas for the NBA’s All-Star Weekend.  Perhaps the brightest of all the stars shining on Sin City will be the Miami Heat’s wunderguard, Dwayne Wade.  You are probably familiar with Wade’s greatness on the court - he is a three-time all star (having spent only four years in the league) and led the Heat to the NBA championship last season.  He has endorsement contracts with everyone from Converse, Gatorade and Topps to Lincoln, Staples, and T-Mobile (disclosure: T-Mobile is a client).

But did you know that Dwayne Wade is also working to revolutionize the way sports marketing is done online?  So says BusinessWeek:

The next week, in Chicago, Google reps preached moving beyond “independent sites” such as Wade’s. Those sites, along with charity appearances, TV ads, and video games, make for an “episodic” relationship between the athlete and fans. But digital media allow for brands to be built daily or hourly—what Google calls “dialogue” marketing.

Wade, a Google user himself, liked that concept. So Team Wade gave Google the go-ahead to develop a plan that would make Dwyanewade.com an integral part of fans’ daily digital lives. Wade’s camp and Google are in talks that they hope to conclude by the end of March. The goal? A fully interactive site built by Google with Google Search functions embedded. Fans would get a customized mix of e-mail, sports news feeds, flash games, and promotional messages. Hundreds of Wade basketball videos exist on Google and YouTube, and Stroth wants to link them to Wade’s site. “This notion of user-generated content is unbelievable,” Stroth says. “We want to fuel that.”

Such a Digital Age strategy, Wade figures, will put him a step ahead of rivals such as James and Anthony in the race to be the next Jordan. Talking about brand-building in Miami’s arena, his Sidekick in one hand and a basketball in the other, he shows a flash of the ferocity he brings to late-game heroics. “No question about it,” says D-Wade. “I want to be the No. 1 guy.”

Google couldn’t be more right about the concept of the ‘dialogue’ with online users and Wade couldn’t be smarter than to tap into this concept.  The sports marketing world, though it talks a big game, is painfully behind most of the corporate and entertainment world when it comes to the effective use of new media.  Everyone is struggling with how to give up some control to the user and the NBA (as well as Major League Baseball, the NFL, and to a lesser extend the NHL) are struggling more than most it seems.  The leagues, and the teams, are building glossy websites and stocking them full of blogs and social networking tools.  But few are taking full advantage of the social web.  Nobody, except maybe Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, feels comfortable putting themselves out into the digital space personally to have an unstructured, unfiltered conversation with the fans (where is the virtual equivalent of the late Lamar Hunt shaking hands with fans on opening day of each seaons?).  Rights deals limit, or prohibit, the flow of game broadcasts across the internet (so you aren’t likely to see a really creative mashup of dunks - the modern day mixtape if you will - appear on YouTube anytime soon).   And good luck finding more than a smattering of citizen journalists in the sports arena.

Why not?  The leagues, teams, owners, and players haven’t figured out how to make money from the free flow of information and experiences across the internet.  I’m not sure anyone has, but I can assure you that locking down the rights to everything and controlling how people interact with your sport with such a heavy hand is not likely to win you many friends online.  There are countless other benefits to letting the passion of sports and the experience that people have with player personalities as well as the teams (and the leagues generally) that are monetizable  — and will be through incremental opportunities going forward.  First step for all involved should be to watch and learn from what Dwayne Wade and the folks from Google are trying to do — and then get on the stick and change the way they participate in how sports are marketed and experienced. 

Superbowl Weekend Reading

(I will be part of a team of experts organized by the Boston Ad Club offering thoughts on the Superbowl advertising this weekend.  Some of our comments will be posted on the Boston Ad Club’s Superbowl Advertising Blog.  This post also appears there).

The weekend of the big game has finally arrived!  The Ad Club has pulled together a crack team of advertising and marketing experts to offer comments on the advertising that will play on Super Sunday.  We are making final preparations, reviewing our play book, stretching out, etc.  What’s my role?  I will offer insights and thoughts into the use of new media in relation to the advertising. 

To help set the tone for my part of the conversation, I have pulled together a quick list of articles from the past two weeks about the role that New Media will play in this giant advertising spectacle.  Here is a little weekend reading for you:

New York Times: Colts and Bears and Kevin Federline (February 2, 2007) 

Key excerpt: “Now, thanks to the Internet, Super Bowl commercials are like gifts that Madison Avenue tries to keep on giving. As soon as the game ends, video clips of the spots are posted online, on the Web sites of sponsors like fedex.com; the networks that broadcast the game like cbs.sportsline.com; and Internet media companies, among them ifilm.com, msn.foxsports.com, sports.aol.com and youtube.com.”

ClickZ: A Level Playing Field for Superbowl Ads (February 2, 2007)

Key excerpt: “This year, advertisers buying spots during Super Bowl XLI are frequently posting those ads online before they’re broadcast to try and create buzz. And one group of self-proclaimed “Web 2.0″ companies has formed to create spots that ride the wave of Super Bowl advertising — without actually advertising in the Super Bowl.  Knowing they couldn’t afford a standard Super Bowl ad, six start-up firms challenged each other to come up with Super Bowl-style :30 spots and upload them to a YouTube channel at SuperDotComAds XLI.”

iMedia Connection: Make Sure Your Website is Ready! (February 1, 2007)

Key excerpt: “Almost one third (30 percent) [of people surveyed] will visit the company’s website, and that same number (31 percent) will look for the ad online to view again. Marketers should make it easy for these people to find the ad by giving it a prominent position on their corporate website homepage. Without providing this kind of easy access to the advertisement, marketers will risk losing visitors to those sites clearly dedicated to Super Bowl advertising, such as Google Video or AOL. Along with providing access to the TV ad, these online destinations also provide message boards, voting and other community features.”

AdWeek: Snickers to Extend 30 Second Spot Online (January 30, 2007)

Key excerpt: “Masterfoods plans to extend the life of its 30-second Snickers Super Bowl spot via a microsite that will feature player reactions to the commercial and alternate endings. Up to three such endings will be posted, along with the version that will run during the game…. Masterfoods declined to provide the full spot before the game but a clip of the first five seconds is viewable on the microsite, www.SnickersSatisfies.com, which went live today.”

Washington Post: $2 Million Airtime, $13 Ad (January 31, 2007)

Key excerpt: “The YouTube Effect has crept into television’s mightiest showcase for advertising: the Super Bowl. For the first time, viewers of the biggest football game of the year, Sunday’s Super Bowl XLI on CBS between the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears, will see at least four ads that were created by amateurs, rather than by high-end ad agencies. For advertisers, consumer-created content is a cost-savings bonanza. Advertisers are paying more than $2.6 million for the most expensive 30-second spot in this year’s Super Bowl, up from $2.5 million last year. Just to produce a top-level 30-second ad can easily cost more than $1 million. A commercial produced by an amateur, by comparison, can be had for the price of a plane ticket and a trip to the game for the winner and some post-production cleanup for the ad itself.  For the ad creators, it’s a shot at the big time and an end run around traditional barriers to appearing on advertising’s biggest stage. Indeed, it could be a career starter — more than 90 million viewers are expected to tune in to the Super Bowl.”

And a few more…

Ad Age: Measuing Bowl ROI?  Good Luck (January 29, 2007)

Survey: Sports Marketers Choose New Media Over Superbowl Advertising (January 29, 2007)

ClickZ: Very Different Superbowl Predictions (January 26, 2007)

MarketWatch: Moving the ball, beyond the Super Bowl broadcast (January 29, 2007)

Wall Street Journal: In Web Polls of Super Bowl Ads, Now A Word From the Sponsor’s Sponsor (January 29, 2007)

These are just a sampling of the articles that are out there.  But, I think you get a sense that the media is thinking the use of new media may just be the biggest story around the Superbowl advertising bonanza this year.

What are you thinking?

- By Brian Reich.  Brian is the Director of New Media for Cone Inc.

Michigan vs. Ohio State

The passing of legendary Michigan Football coach Bo Schembechler earlier today has provided extra motivation for UM fans before the big game tomorrow.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with this greatest-of-all rivalries, consider the following email that a friend of mine from college sent me earlier this week: 

MICHIGAN vs. Ohio State

- Wolverines vs. Buckeyes
- Maize and Blue vs. Scarlet and Gray
- “The Victors” vs. “The Buckeye Battle Cry”
- Ann Arbor vs. Columbus
- The Big House vs. The Horseshoe
- 42 Big Ten Championships vs. 30 Big Ten Championships
- Bo vs. Woody
- Block ‘M’ vs. Script Ohio
- Go Blue! vs. Go Bucks!
- 849 wins vs. 761 wins
- 3 Heisman Trophies vs. 6 Heisman Trophies
- ohhowihateohiostate vs. I Don’t Give a Damn for the Whole State of Michigan
- 11 National Championships vs. 7 National Championships
- 19 Rose Bowls vs. 13 Rose Bowls
- The winged helmet vs. Buckeye leaf stickers
- 146 All-Americans vs. 167 All-Americans

TRADITION vs. TRADITION

On Saturday November 18 the #2 Michigan Wolverines travel to Columbus Ohio to play the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes in the 103rd meeting of The Greatest Rivalry in College Football.  It’s the annual battle of the two most tradition-laden programs in the land, and this one’s the biggest one yet.

What have you done to beat Ohio State today?

My Latest Sports Adventure

Thanks to an invitation from my Uncle Gil and Aunt Judy and the incredible support of my wife, Karen, I set out on one of the great sports adventures yesterday.  I woke up and left my home in Cambridge, MA and flew to St. Louis to attend the Seahawks vs. Rams game, followed by Game 4 of the NLCS between the Mets and the Cardinals.  The weather cooperated, the flights were successful, and I managed to pull it off.  Two big games in one day!

I have to believe that every sports fan dreams of this kind of day, but few ever get to experience it.  I have had my share of crazy sports adventures - driving to visit all the major league ballparks in the summer before I went to college, joining my Michigan Wolverines out in Pasadena, California as we captured the 1998 Rose Bowl and a share of the National Championship, the first games ever for the Tennessee Titans, Washington Nationals, Brooklyn Cyclines and for FedEx Field, the home of the Washington Redskins.  But yesterday seemed extra special. 

The Rams and Seahawks are among the best in the NFL - and squared off in a much anticipated contest to determine who is the strongest in the NFC West.  I am also a major Seahawks fan – born and raised in the Seattle.  As for the NLCS, it was only the second playoff game I have every attended.  After a stunning upset of the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS (which followed an historic comeback to steal the AL West from the California Angels in a play-in game after the end of the regular season), I was able to attend Game 1 of the ALCS vs. Cleveland at the Kingdome in Seattle.  I still remember the noise.   

I set out to take notes about my entire journey, but that quickly fell apart.  Here is what I managed to jot down:

4:39am EST:  My alarm went off and my odyssey began.  My wife drove me to the airport, and will pick me up late Monday night when I return home after a day of meetings.  I’m very lucky to have a wife who not only understands my crazy sports obsession but encourages me to live it out (within reason, of course).

5:20am EST: Standing in line to go through security, I noticed a handful of Red Sox hats - not surprising, even though Boston had failed to make the playoffs, their season effectively ending in early September, that’s just the way Boston fans are.  I also saw several Detroit Tigers hats, which made sense with the Tigers stunning victory to capture the ALCS late Saturday night.  No Cardinals hats.  No Mets hats.  No Rams hats.  No Seahawks hats.  I think I am the only person flying out of Boston for this adventure today.

6:25am EST.  I plop down in my seat and open a copy of Sports Business Daily, the reading of which is really a guilty pleasure that I pass off as a work requirement since some of job as an interactive marketing strategist involves sports.  The journal features a Q&A with Joe Buck about his experience covering football on Fox.  Of course, Buck is also the voice of Fox’s baseball coverage during the post-season.  Then it dawns on me – by attending both of these games, I get to be Joe Buck for a day.

8:50am CST: After a cross-concourse sprint, I settle into my seat on the second flight of the morning, this one from Chicago’s O’Hare airport en route St. Louis.  When I boarded the plane, I noticed a father and son both decked out in Rams jerseys.   I struck up a conversation and learned that they had flown up to Chicago on Friday so they could attend Saturday’s Purdue vs. Northwestern game.  They are headed over to the Rams game this afternoon as well.  I hope that kid understands how lucky he is. 

When they learned I was headed to the Cardinals game as well, it became a topic of conversation not only for us, but with the gentleman across the aisle from us.  There is something wonderful about baseball that allows for complete strangers to start a conversation and have it quickly become an in-depth exploration of pitching match-ups and turf conditions.

That’s where my notes tail off…

It turns out, I was not completely alone in my adventures.  A couple folks sitting behind us at the football game were planning to attend the baseball game as well — and given that St. Louis is a small, but devoted, sports town, I assume there were more.  Then, at the baseball game, I met a woman who had driven out from Seattle to attend the Hawks game with a friend (who, for his part, had attended 96 straight Rams home games, despite living in Nashville) before moving over to Busch stadium for the night-cap. 

The Seahawks game was a thriller.  The Rams dominated the first half and went into the locker room with a two-touchdown advantage.  Offense on both sides was pretty impressive, with a highlight-reel catch by Rams receiver Tory Holt, to put the Rams up with just under two minutes remaining in the ballgame, being the thing most people will talk about.  But, the Hawks rallied and pulled out a victory on a last second 53-yard field goal.  My Uncle Gil, who picked me up from the airport and accompanied me to the game, was on-call as the eye surgeon for the Rams in the event that anything happened.  There were no eye injuries to report, but it did afford us a chance to visit the locker room after the game.  It is quite an experience to be in the locker room with players from NFL team – these guys are absolutely huge and have perfectly chiseled physiques.  They were not in a talkative mood after the stunning loss.

We had a quick bite to eat with my Aunt Judy between games and arrived at Busch Stadium around 6:15pm CST, in time to see the Mets finish their batting practice.   We probably could have skipped batting practice, given the display of hitting that the Mets put on during the rest of the game.  Despite the 12-5 pounding that the Mets put on the Cardinals, evening the series at two games each (in a best of seven), the whole experience was great.  The stadium, which I had visited for the first time back in May, is beautiful – and when filled with passionate fans (all dressed in red and waving white towels with Cardinals logos) – and a great place to watch a playoff game.  The fans are smart, though not as passionate as I would have expected – many left as early as the sixth inning when things started to go back for the Cardinals. 

More later…

Stadiums and Neighborhoods

I am a self-styled expert on the issue of sports stadium construction.  More specifically, I find myself studying, writing, opining, and obsessing over new ballparks and other facilities, particularly when there is an element of public financing involved.  I don’t know why, I just geek out over this stuff.

Typically the news coverage of stadium construction focuses on the public battle over funds — half of a community (maybe more) call a public contribution to ballpark construction a shameless waste of tax dollars and demand increased support for local schools, road improvements, etc.  The argument on the other side is that stadium construction spurs economic growth in a community that spills over into increased funding for other public programs.  The jury is still very much out.

Today, the Wall Street Journal takes on the issue with a story about how Ross Perot, Jr.  son of the Texas billionaire and former Presidential candidate, has worked to build “an urban district” with the American Airlines Arena in Dallas as the hub.  They write:

Victory Park is one of a growing number of mega developments to be paired with large professional sports venues. In suburban Phoenix, owner Steve Ellman of the National Hockey League’s Coyotes is preparing to open the first phase of his $1 billion Westgate City Center this fall with the Glendale Arena as its centerpiece and the home of the National Football League’s Arizona Cardinals, complete with retractable roof, across the street. And baseball’s St. Louis Cardinals and the Cordish Co. of Baltimore are planning Ballpark Village, a $650-million urban neighborhood spanning six blocks next to the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

Until recent years, noise and traffic discouraged many people from living near arenas and stadiums. But as the entertainment value of professional sports has grown, sports venues have become selling points. Now they figure prominently in the pitch by many urban centers to “live, work and play” in the same place.

As you read the whole article, you will see that Mr. Perot has faced some pretty significant challenges in building this new community - and is far from out of the woods.  Still, he understands the potential for entertainment and sports to serve as an anchor for a community, a mix of residential and commercial. 

I wrote a paper in college about this subject (”Baseball and the American City: An Examination of Public Financing and stadium Construction in American Professional Sports) that speaks to many of the issues that Mr. Perot and other developers are facing. Much of my research dates to more than seven years ago now, and my analysis focuses mostly on plans to build new facilities in/around New York City, but the paper’s findings remain true today. 

I found is that there are economic, political, and social benefits of building sports facilities as the center of communities, but that public officials have to be careful when investing because of the long-term economic considerations.  Mr. Perot probably doesn’t worry about the community investment piece since the likelyhood is that he will make back his investment fairly quickly.  The City of Dallas does not have that luxury - if they don’t make back their investment, they could face significant problems down the line.

I think that communities need to support the development of ballparks and stadiums, not for economic reasons — in fact, economics are probably the last reason they should look to build them.  Great cities are defined by great experiences and sports provides one of those opportunities for people to have great experiences.  You can certainly have great communities without a new stadium, or the neighborhood that surrounds it, but it will be a very different kind of great community than one that does have one.  Compare and contrast on your own and let me know what you think.

Hey Tommy, I will be watching!

Major League Baseball has launched an ad campaign featuring Tommy Lasorda, former Dodgers manager and baseball ambassador, traveling the country to encourage people to watch the playoffs.  Brandweek explains:

The effort, using the theme “Real fans don’t hide in October. They celebrate it!” was created by McCann Erickson, New York. It includes three TV spots, print, radio and MLB’s most “extensive postseason online media buy,” according to a league official. Spend was put at $10 million by MLB. That includes 12% devoted to the online element, about $1.2 million.

TV will run through October during games on Fox and ESPN, as well during sports and entertainment programming on cable networks. Print includes Sports Illustrated, USA Today and Baseball America. Radio includes ESPN and XM Satellite. Internet buys include AOL, the New York Times Web site and various sports destinations.

In addition…

MLB.com will host “Tommy pages” where fans can get “tough love” advice from Tommy, send e-condolence cards to fans whose teams have been eliminated from the 2006 postseason, and download free TV brackets.

The campaign is targeted towards fans in cities where the teams did not make the playoffs.  I represent three of those cities myself — Boston (where I live), Washington, DC (where I am a season ticket holder), and Seattle (where I grew up — the Mariners remain my team of choice).  I don’t need an advertising campaign to convince me to watch the playoffs, but I applaud MLB’s efforts, and the creativity (and interactivity) that they are using to encourage others to watch.

Will the Mariners Finish in Third Place?

Bill Chuck, a writer and baseball analyst, posted to his Billy Ball blog/email list today one of the most important questions of the year.  Here it is:

3. Will the Seattle Mariners catch the Texas Rangers for third in the AL West (and why does it matter)?

Seattle won the first two games of their weekend series with the Rangers and, even after a loss yesterday, the M’s are just four games behind third-place Texas in the American League West. There are 20 games left in Seattle’s season, and six of the last nine are against the Rangers. There is time for the Mariners to avoid last place and sink the Rangers.

Now finishing out of last for the wonderful people of Seattle would be a nice thing (they have rested in the cellar the last two seasons), the Rangers finishing fourth would probably enhance owner Tom Hick’s threat of “blowing up” his team, rather than fire Captain Queeg (a.k.a. manager Buck Showalter). Many teams would be very anxious to get their hands on Hank Blalock and Mark Teixeira. SI.com reported that the Rangers already have offered Teixeira to his hometown Orioles for Miguel Tejada and Eric Bedard.
 

I don’t ask for much. I understand that the Mariners are a small market team.  I understand that the Mariners play in the weakest division in baseball.  But my wish all year has been that the Mariners would finish in third place and that they would gain national recognition in the baseball community for such a feat.  We have a talented squad and a good fan base.  We are capable of finishing third and I expect nothing less.  I shared this wish with Bill when we had lunch a few weeks back and I am pleased that he would not only make it one of his ‘Five Questions with Three Weeks to Go” but that it would rank as the third most important. 

Thanks Bill.  Go Mariners.   

Roddick vs. Pong

Its US Open Time, and that means lots of creative tennis themed TV commercials.  I was watching the USA Network (don’t ask) and saw one for American Express featuring Andy Roddick vs. Pong in a tennis match.  In a related ad, viewers are invited to see if they could beat Pong in a tennis match.  Log on to http://www.stoppong.com/ and see how good you are.

Oklahoma?

The Seattle Supersonics - the professional basketball team I grew up watching and rooting for, and still follow closely today - has been sold to a group of investors in Oklahoma City.  There is a lot of debate about what will happen next, but all signs point to the team moving to Oklahoma City in a year or two.  I tried to be creative in writing a post that drew on the lyrics from the musical, Oklahoma, but my heart just wasn’t in it.

I am no idiot when it comes to how professional sports work.  I am not going to spend a lot of time cursing Howard Schultz, the Starbucks founder and leader of the ownership group in Seattle, or his colleagues, for making a sound financial choice in selling the team.  I will say this: I had high hopes that local Seattle owners, including a dynamic guy like Schultz (who I met a few years back and told him “I believe in what you are doing with the Sonics,”) would invest the time and money — even at a loss — to bring the team another championship and help elevate Seattle’s reputation as a professional sports powerhouses to the next level.  Maybe I was just being naive, hoping against hope, because they were my team.

Frankly, if Schultz and the others weren’t interested in being civic leaders, then I don’t want them as owners of my team.  I wish professional sports teams were owned and run by people who cared more about sports, and the communities they played in, and not just the bottom line.  I would give my left arm to own a sports franchise, to have the ability to show up at the ballpark or arena every day and live out my childhood dreams.  If I am ever fortunate enough to own a team, mark my words - I will never do to my team and my city what happened to Seattle and Sonics fans today.

To the new owners, here is a tip: Owning a professional franchise is not a good business investment — unless you win championships year after year, create an entertainment property so compelling that you can keep people coming back to throw their money down without consideration for team performance, or sell out to sponsors so the revenue from your team’s activities is not the deciding factor in your profitability, you are probably going to lose money.  But that’s ok if you love sports, love the fans, love the competition, and want to create the best possibly experience for everyone involved.  Here’s another tip: if you do that, there is a good chance you can also make money.

It doesn’t surprise me that the team was sold, and it doesn’t surprise me that the team will be moving to Oklahoma City.  The basketball gods have been warning of this day for a long time.  But I join the long list of fans who will be sad to see the Sonics leave the Emerald City.