Last Friday I had the chance to attend the 2011 Ivy Sports Symposium, which every year offers an impressive array of speakers, informative panel discussions and wonderful networking opportunities. If you haven’t already, search for the Twitter hashtag #ISS2011 to see some of the updates that were shared during the event. During the breaks between sessions, I tried to grab a couple of video interviews to share with you this week, along with a larger event recap post coming soon.

My final interview was with Brandi Connolly, Director of Sports and Experiential at hawkeye. Brandi and I talked about experiential marketing and how it can be a valuable component in a brand’s overall sports marketing and sponsorship strategy.

You can connect with Brandi on Twitter at @brandiconnolly or by email at bconnolly@hawkeyeww.com.

(Please pardon the slightly unusual shape of the video box – I took the video vertically on my iPhone. I’ll stick to landscape for future clips!)

Last Friday I had the chance to attend the 2011 Ivy Sports Symposium, which every year offers an impressive array of speakers, informative panel discussions and wonderful networking opportunities. If you haven’t already, search for the Twitter hashtag #ISS2011 to see some of the updates that were shared during the event.

During the breaks between sessions, I tried to grab a couple of video interviews to share with you this week, along with a larger event recap post coming soon. First up is my interview with Len Perna, President of Turnkey Sports & Entertainment. Len discusses some of the different products Turnkey has put together and how valuable market research can be in the sports industry.

You can learn more about Turnkey on Twitter at @TurnkeySports or by visiting the Turnkey Facebook page.

(Please pardon the slightly unusual shape of the video box – I took the video vertically on my iPhone. I’ll stick to landscape for future clips!)

The NBA is clearly going through a rough period because of the lockout, and with every passing day, more damage is being done between the league and its fans. However, even when an organization has to deal with something as stressful and problematic as a work stoppage, teams must continue to communicate to their fans, keeping them abreast of the situation and offering up as much damage control as possible.

I’m signed up for several team email lists, and I have to say, I’ve been most impressed by the Lakers messages over the past few weeks. Here are a few snippets to show how they’ve stayed in touch with their fans in an honest and direct manner. Each of these messages was “signed” from Tim Harris, Senior Vice President, Operations/CMO.

September 23:

We appreciate your continued patience as the NBA and the NBA Players Association negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Since no such agreement has been reached at this time, the league has postponed player training camps and cancelled preseason games scheduled through October 15th.

Please know that you are a vital part of the Lakers, and we value your support.

We want to assure you that the league’s efforts are focused on reaching an agreement that benefits all parties involved. The NBA’s goal is to secure a sustainable business model that enables all 30 teams to compete for a championship, fairly compensates players, and ensures a world-class experience for our fans.

We recognize that without our fans, there would be no NBA. Your passion for the game is what motivates us, and we do not take your support for granted. The league will continue to work toward a new collective bargaining agreement so that we can get back to enjoying the excitement of NBA basketball.

Thank you again for your support and your continued loyalty to the Lakers.

October 4:

We appreciate your patience as the NBA and the NBA Players Association negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Since an agreement has not been reached at this time, the league has canceled all preseason games.

The league will continue to work toward a new collective bargaining agreement so that we can get back to enjoying the excitement of NBA basketball.

Lakers fans are the passion that drives the team and we appreciate your support and your continued loyalty to the Lakers.

October 12:

We’re sorry to share that the NBA and the NBA Players Association have yet to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. Unfortunately this means the league has had to cancel all regular season games scheduled through November 14th.

Rest assured both sides are working hard to get a deal done so that we can get back to what we all want most, the excitement of NBA basketball. In the meantime, we’ll continue to keep you informed with updates as they become available.

We share your frustration and sincerely appreciate both your support and continued loyalty to the Lakers.

There’s really no way to sugar coat the labor situation that the NBA is going through, so I think the Lakers’ sincere approach and expression of gratitude is a very effective way to communicate to their fans as the lockout moves along. Sending out bad news can be quite challenging from a marketing and PR perspective, but its much better to take this approach than to ignore the situation and not say anything.

Earlier this week, I received an email from Yelp.com (pictured below). If you’re not familiar with the site, it is a great resource to share and look at reviews for local businesses, and they are also getting into the local deals business, so don’t be surprised to see special offers from sports teams through their service. This particular email was focused on promoting local sports bars where you can go watch your favorite teams play.

When I saw the email, I immediately noticed it because the subject line was “Get Yer New York Sports Here!” – for those of you outside the NY metro area that don’t recognize it, that’s the slogan for SportsNet NY (SNY). You can watch one of their newest commercials, and you’ll hear the phrase at the very end. They use it at the end of almost every TV and radio spot they create.

So, what do you think of Yelp’s decision to send an email marketing message that prominently features the slogan of a local sports media outlet? I tried to see if the phrase was trademarked, and my cursory searches did not reveal any results. If the phrase is not trademarked, then it’s probably a great tactic. Of course, if it is trademarked and I just couldn’t find it, using the phrace might not even be legal. Should SNY be angry at Yelp? On one hand, Yelp is benefiting from SNY’s work, but on the other hand, it might help SNY my reminding the reader to watch their programming.

I’m pretty torn on this approach, so I’d love to know what you all think.

I was riding on a subway in New York last night and saw an advertisement that caught my interest. Take a look at the picture below…

If you are from the New York area, you might see this ad and “recognize” the font being used for the word “YES.” If it doesn’t look familiar to you, take a look at this logo:

Now, I know that they’re not exactly the same (e.g. there is a diagonal slant in the tips of the “E” in the YES Network logo that’s not in the Nestea ad), but you have to admit there’s a definite resemblance. The question I have is, was this font choice intentional? Considering the advertisement is running in a New York subway and the popularity of the Yankees and the YES Network in this area, this could be a strategic decision by Nestea or their advertising agency, especially if this is only a local campaign (the argument doens’t hold as much weight if this is part of a national campaign).

It costs a lot of money to use a team’s logo, but designing an advertisement in a way that can still trigger an association in the mind of the reader without including any actual team marks could be a cost-effective option. In many situations, a particular font or word choice can be enough to trigger that association. I’m not saying that’s what Nestea was going for here, but the font choice was definitely enough to make me think of the YES Network, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Today’s post is from guest blogger Brian Gainor, founder of Partnership Activation, a leading resource in sports business that showcases sports marketing and sponsorship trends, best practices, and creative activation tactics. Brian has also been featured as a guest writer for Darren Rovell’s CNBC SportsBiz column.

Sports leagues and organizations are turning to Facebook to offer fans more content, access, and interactivity than ever before. As sports entities begin to fully understand the value of social media, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have become critical channels in the marketing mix to promote messaging, drive participation and interest, and engage fans on a 24/7, 365 basis.

Teams can no longer rely on Wall posts, photos, and shareable videos to drive consumers to frequently visit their Facebook pages and stay for awhile. As a result, it’s important that teams identify and share best practices in the social media space both internally and externally.

Here are 50 creative ways that teams are engaging fans on Facebook outside the traditional elements:

1. Fans Map – FC Barcelona (Find FC Barcelona fans across the world)

2. Real Madrid Avatars – Real Madrid (Fans can create their own virtual avatar)

3. Arsenal “Like the Players” – Arsenal FC (Fans can easily like all the players on the team)

4. Spread the Word - Manchester United (Fans can easily invite their friends to join the Manchester United Facebook Page

5. Fountain Tire Shootout – Vancouver Canucks (Fans can play a virtual hockey game to win prizes and coupon vouchers)

6. 3-Point Play – Boston Celtics (Fans can compete in an interactive stats-related game to earn points)

7. Summer Salute – Team Lowe’s Racing (Fans can post a military salute or message to troops overseas)

8. Polls / Quizzes – NASCAR (Fans can test their NASCAR IQ via a number of quizzes and polls)

9. NBA Ball of Fame – NBA (Fans can click on basketballs to relive famous moments from the NBA Finals)

10. NBA Turnstile - NBA (Fans can “check-in” to NBA games on Facebook to chat with fans, win tickets and merchandise, and earn badges)

11. Support Your Team on Facebook! – NFL (Fans can scroll through an interactive tab to see where their favorite team ranks in popularity and intensity amongst all teams and within conference/division).

12. Shopping – Liverpool FC (Fans can quickly scroll through ultimate shopping ideas and can get easy access to the team’s mobile application)

13. JetBlue FaceOff – Boston Bruins (Fans can access game information, play games, win prizes, and more)

14. Mavs Spirit Photo Upload – Dallas Mavericks (Fans can submit their best photo wearing Mavericks gear for the chance to have it featured on the team’s Facebook page)

15. Fan Zone - New England Patriots (Fans can interact with polls, listen to live broadcasts, post comments, share virtual gifts, play trivia, and more)

16. Share Your Story – San Francisco 49ers (Fans can share why they are a Faithful Fan for the chance to be featured on 2011 season tickets or in a team commercial)

17. Tickets & Promotions – Philadelphia 76ers (Fans can closely follow current ticket specials and promotions using a tab integrated into the team Facebook page)

18. A Date with SFC – Seattle Sounders (Fans can watch video dating profiles of different players on Seattle Sounders FC and partake in a date auction via Ebay.

19. Guess the Kit – Tottenham Hotspur (Fans have to correctly guess what the team’s new kit (uniform) will look like)

20. Broadcast Schedule – Portland Timbers (Fans can easily see which networks will be carrying the team’s upcoming soccer matches)

21. Locker Room – Los Angeles Lakers (Fans can take a virtual tour of the Lakers locker room)

22. Flickr - Milwaukee Bucks (Fans can scroll through photos of the Bucks’ gameday experience posted on their Official Flickr page)

23. U-Stream – Golden State Warriors (Fans can watch a live webcast with a Warriors player each day during Training Camp

24. Trailblazers.tv – Portland Trail Blazers (Fans can watch exclusive interviews, shows, highlights, pre- and post-game shows, and more)

25. AC Milan Jersey – A.C. Milan (Fans can create their own virtual A.C. Milan Jersey (with a custom name and number) and share it on their Facebook wall)

26. Fantasy Manager – A.C. Milan (Fans can create and manage a virtual team of players and compete against friends for the chance to win team prizes)

27. Ice Dancers – Florida Panthers (Fans could vote on their favorite Ice Dancers in a bracket competition that gave away a free cruise!)

28. Stars Text Alerts – Dallas Stars (Fans can easily sign up to receive basic text alerts or student rush text alerts)

29. Leafs on YouTube – Toronto Maple Leafs (Fans can watch a series of YouTube clips directly within a tab on the team’s Facebook page

30. Photo Pick-Up – Phoenix Suns (Fans can have their picture taken by Suns personnel at a game and retrieve it for free on the team’s Facebook page)

31. Match of the Week – Sporting KC (Fans can receive in-depth information about a premier MLS game each week)

32. Meet the Team – Denver Nuggets (Fans can vote for their favorite players on the Nuggets by “liking” them on the interactive Facebook tab)

33. Letter to Fans – Buffalo Sabres (Fans can read a letter sent from the team’s owner Terrence M. Pegula thanking them for their support)

34. Which Cap Are You Like? – Washington Capitals (Fans can take a quiz to see what Washington Capitals player they are the most like and win an autographed jersey)

35. Foursquare – Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Fans can view the team’s Foursquare profile and access tips and insights on whose checked-in at Raymond James Stadium)

36. Draft Party Sweepstakes – Charlotte Bobcats (Fans can sign up on Facebook to win a VIP experience at the Bobcats Draft Party courtesy of Donatos Pizza)

37. Fan Forum – Dallas Cowboys (Fans can participate in an interactive forum where they can participate in a live discussion board)

38. Showcase – Sacramento Kings (Fans can scroll through to see all of the Kings’ hottest merchandise in their online team store up close)

39. Host UpClose Contest – Indianapolis Colts (Fans can upload a video of themselves hosting a sports segment for the chance to fly to Indianapolis and host a segment on Colts UpClose)

40. Scarf Yourself! – New York Red Bulls (Fans can add an official New York Red Bulls scarf to their profile picture and feature it on the team Facebook page)

41. Support – Atlanta Falcons (Fans can post questions/ideas/problems that they have and a Falcons customer representative addresses them for all fans to see on a live discussion board)

42. Give Your All – All Blacks (Fans can watch a series of vignettes where the All Blacks players talk about giving everything they’ve got when they enter the pitch)

43. Fan of the Week – Chicago Bears (Fans can submit a message/photo detailing why they are the biggest fan for the chance to be featured online)

44. A’s Kids Club – Oakland A’s (Fans can sign up for an Oakland A’s Kids Club Membership directly through the team’s Facebook page)

45. WTA Extra – WTA (Fans can easily scroll through high-res images of the top WTA players and also see information about their world ranking and Twitter feed)

46. Giving – Tampa Bay Rays (Fans can read about the Rays Baseball Foundation and make a donation)

47. Fanographies – Cleveland Browns (Fans can submit their Browns story for the chance to win 2011 season tickets)

48. Bulldog Club – University of Georgia Athletics (Fans can read about the Bulldog Club, make donations, invest in educational opportunities, and more)

49. Charity – PGA (Fans can read about the PGA’s new partnership with Darius Rucker and download a song which benefits PGA Tour Charities, Inc.)

50. UStream Live – Colorado Avalanche (Fans can watch broadcasts throughout the season and sign up to receive email alerts every time they take place)

 

I know I write about email marketing a lot, but it is an important way of communicating with your fans. Even with the constant increase in social media usage, email marketing is still the most effective way to reach your customer base with targeted messaging. One way to make those messages stand out even more is to use personalization.

When I mention personalization, most people think about using the customer’s name, such as starting your email with “Dear Russell” or including the customer’s name in the subject line. Both of these can be effective options for increasing open and click-thru rates. However, sometimes the best way to personalize is to use other information you know about the individual receiving the email.

Take a look at this example from the NHL (viewed from my Gmail account):

The important think to note here is the subject line – ‘Vote for “THE CAPTAIN’S GUARANTEE” as the greatest Stanley Cup Playoffs moment in history.’ From my NHL.com preferences, they know that I am a New York Rangers fan, and Mark Messier’s famous guarantee from the 1994 playoffs was an incredible moment for all Rangers fans. This subject line resonates with me in a very personal way, increasing the likelihood that I’m going to open the email and vote for this moment. I’m sure that Bruins, Canadiens and Penguins fans received a very different subject line to encourage them to vote the historic moment that they care most about.

Think of it this way – imagine you are a Rangers fan. Which email would you want to open?

- Subject 1: Vote for “THE CAPTAIN’S GUARANTEE” as the greatest Stanley Cup Playoffs moment in history
- Subject 2: Russell, vote for the greatest Stanley Cup Playoffs moment in history

In this case, personalizing with my name would seem flat. There’s nothing about adding my name that makes me more interested in opening the email and voting. On the other hand, referencing a historic moment that brings back wonderful memories as a Rangers fans drives much more interest in opening this email. In general, I believe that name-based personalization is a much better approach for customer service related communications, while interest-based personalization can have more impact on sales and marketing communications.

Over the past few weeks, the Arizona State Sun Devils athletic department has been releasing videos and teasers about a big announcement they had planned for April 12, 2011.  Before we actually review what happened, we should start by taking a look at what they did to create anticipation and excitement among their fans and alumni:

Clearly, something big was coming, but no official announcements were made until April 12, so fans had to wait. I love how the videos covered the full history of their athletic program, successfully mixing nostalgia and historic moments to more recent highlights and successes. This allowed the videos to resonate with a wide age range of fans, which is very important when you have alumni from age 22 to 102.

When the time came, we finally learned that the Sun Devils were undergoing a complete rebranding, transitioning away from the traditional “Sparky” logo to a new pitchfork-based logo and updating their official colors and fonts. Here is the official “Time to Fear the Fork” video that went along with the announcement:

Behind the scenes, Nike was working with Arizona State for over a year on the rebranding process, which involved changes to all the colors and marks across all sports at the school.  The logo itself was the most significant change, but the introduction of black as an important color for the school’s brand was also very important. For more on Nike’s role in the process, check out this video:

Here is an official statement on the new brand from the school’s weekly “Devil’s Insider” email newsletter:

“The rebranding of Sun Devil Athletics includes adding two colors to the athletics color palette: copper, for its prominence in Arizona history, and black, a long-anticipated return to the Sun Devil attitude. This fall will not be the first time our Arizona State football squads have worn black helmets, as we previously wore black helmets in the 1950s.  We now have a custom athletic font exclusive to Sun Devil Athletics. The font, called Sun Devil Bold, incorporates unique characteristics intended to represent my horns or my pitchfork. Speaking of pitchforks, the official logo of Sun Devil Athletics is now the pitchfork… This exclusive and contemporary mark will be used consistently across all of our Sun Devil teams. Anytime someone sees this logo, they will instantly recognize it as Sun Devil Athletics.”

Putting aside that I’m a bit biased when it comes to Arizona State (I went there for my MBA and worked in the athletic department), I think this is a great move for them. While Sparky has a long history at the school, it wasn’t the greatest logo to build the brand around. They wanted to have a strong, intense brand, but at the same time, Sparky was also their mascot and was very family friendly, which created a conflicting message in their brand. Now, they can continue to use Sparky in the mascot role, where he’s always been a great fit, but their athletic program can be better marketed under the new colors and pitchfork logo. This change should contribute to improvements in merchandise sales, brand awareness,  ticket sales and hopefully alumni contributions.

The decision to rebrand any sports organization is very complicated, as the decision makers need to balance the affinity that their fans have to the current brand against the long-term value of what the new brand could represent. It seems like the Sun Devils really used their time productively not only to decide on what the new brand will be, but in how to create excitement about it and communicate the changes to their fans.

Today’s post is courtesy of guest blogger Amy Skiles, SVP of Business Development for Phoenix Design Works.

Branding the building is a process that usually comes after you’ve branded the team, but actually it presents the first point of engagement with your brand for many of the consumers in your various fan bases.  If indeed, you do plan to allocate resources to utilize your facilities in your branding efforts, it just means that you need to allow a little additional time to go through your primary identity process first, and then proceed to apply your branding program to your buildings or arenas.

But it will be well worth the extra effort, and for those of you who already have your core branding program locked down, you’re one step ahead when it comes to branding your building.

Facilities branding also known as outdoor, display, on site, and campus branding, usually consists of banners, video displays, or manipulation of display and construction materials.  Usually there is a hierarchy of usage that dictates the chosen execution.  For example, Banners usually have a promotional or seasonal theme that indicates that they will go up and come down within a certain time frame, while actual manipulation of metal, wood or stone materials would be reserved for a longer lasting purpose, such as delivery of your core logo branding.

Branding for your building can be thought of as the place where your logo meets your ad – it would be a waste of precious marketing resources to produce banners, billboards of any sort of facilities branding program with one and not the other.

Building branding, no pun intended, really is an area that is unique unto itself.  On the one hand, building branding requires more finesse than other lesser, or at least, smaller brand applications, in it’s visibility, and on the other hand, it becomes the largest ad you will ever do –  Eight foot tall type is simply more commanding than eight point tall type.

Although scale is the most obvious and dominant consideration of a branding program for your building, it’s not the only one.  Time would be other major factor – You have to imagine ahead of time what it will be like for your fans to see your branding and promotional campaign over and over when it is, quite literally, the size of the building.  That’s why there is never a substitute for the development of a proper strategy and a savvy deployment of your branding campaign on this level .  If your messaging is “trendy”, or cavalier, your audience will tire of it quickly, and so will you.  You can actually damage your brand perception in the marketplace, in fact, your marketplace, and spend a lot of money doing it.

Which brings us to our next point – While we are all enjoying the digital revolution in our branding applications,  (We are, aren’t we?) a mistake here is harder to get rid of than replacing the web page.  So if you want to avoid really, really big typos, proof, proof and proof again.

Regarding the point of building branding being the place where your logo meets your ad, this is the part of the process of developing your program where you’ll want to allocate the most time and effort to create your new campaign.

When you’re developing your strategy, you’ll want to consider exactly what you want to communicate to your audience – Is it season tickets going on sale?  An anniversary?  Or the return of your marquee event?  Whichever the case may be, this is the time and place for you to think it through.  And in the process of doing so, you will hopefully come to the realization that you need a big idea.

It’s only fair – A Big Idea for a Big Execution.  The benefits of delivering your messaging within the context of a larger, more provocative concept are many.  For starters, a larger concept can deliver your messaging here and now, but also have the legs to deliver additional messaging further down the road.  Also, a bigger idea will underscore your brand recognition in other media like print, broadcast and the web.  Further, you have to consider the way people think, and the way they interact with your brand.

There is nothing terribly sexy about “Tickets Now 9.99″, but under the heading of “Dare to Bring the Thunder”, “It’s Showtime”, or “Minor Entertainment”, it almost seems as if you’re doing me a favor by letting me buy a ticket… “9.99″ is a product benefit.  ”Major Entertainment” is a brand promise.

If you have an existing campaign in place in other media, then your concerns are what we’ve covered so far, in terms of time and space, as well as to what degree the campaign is dominant or subordinate to your identity. But if you really want to have some fun, launching your campaign on a scale the size of your arena is one of the most exciting things you can do, and provides absolutely tremendous potential return for your brand as well.

There is nothing that is as exciting, or provides as much brand potential, as the combined launch of a new identity and a new campaign in your own arena –  Otherwise known as “Branding the Building”.

To learn more about branding your building and other services that Phoenix Design Works offers, visit www.phoenixdesignworks.com.

In today’s Sports Business Daily, there was an interesting article about a 2K Sports ad for their tennis video game Top Spin 4 featuring Serena Williams that was supposedly rejected for being too sexy. The ad has ended up on YouTube anyway, so before we discuss further, you can see it for yourself:

The decision on whether or not to use a commercial like this comes down to a conflict between two opposing forces. On one hand, you have the fundamental (albeit cliche) idea that “sex sells,” and on the other hand, you have the debate as to what is and isn’t in good taste. Serena Williams is widely recognized as having tremendous sex appeal, which combined with her tremendous on-the-court success has made her into an iconic figure in sports, fashion and pop culture. So the idea of using a sexy image of her seems like a logical option. But does the combination of revealing outfits, poses and grunting turn sex appeal into something trashy? This is where 2K Sports must have ultimately felt this particular spot went too far.

Now I have three other questions to ponder, and I’d love your thoughts…

1. Would this ad have led to more sales for Top Spin 4 than a more conservative advertising approach?
2. Would running this commercial have adversely affected the brand of 2K Sports? Or for Serena herself?
3. Are ads like this a good or bad thing for women’s tennis overall?

I’m still going back and forth on these myself. I think you can make a good argument that this approach would have sold more copies of this particular game, but that short-term spike may not worth the risk of longer-term brand devaluation.

As for women’s tennis, the idea of using sex appeal to promote women’s sports actually came up at the Women in Sports panel at the Global Sports Forum two weeks ago. Even these distinguished panelists seemed unsure about what’s best in situations like this. Some felt that anything that increases the level of media exposure for women’s sports would be a positive thing in the long-term, whereas others were more concerned about maintaining a positive image. If they can’t decide what the best approach is, it’s not surprising that these decisions are so tough.