Unlikely Millionaire

By Pete DeLuca

“The first thing I'm going to do is buy a new fridge.” Those are the words of Louisiana high school teacher Brian Kingrey – winner of the second annual Major League Baseball 2K11 Million Dollar "Perfect Game" Challenge.

The rules seemed simple enough to Kingrey; be the first person to pitch a “Perfect Game” and win one million dollars. It was enough motivation for the 25-year old avid gamer to stop by his local GameStop, trade in his favorite video game (Marvel vs. Capcom 3), and pick up MLB 2K11 – a sport that Kingrey admittedly did not even know the rules to.

After reviewing the matchups, studying the teams, and learning the controls, Kingrey was ready. He determined his best chance of winning the competition was to pitch as the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay against the Houston Astros. Nine-innings later, Kingrey was a millionaire.



Congratulations are in order for Kingrey – but also for the marketing minds at 2K Sports. Over the years, their sales figures consistently finished second to rival Sony’s MLB: The Show. Last year, 2K Sports introduced the “Perfect Game” Challenge and sold 1.09 million copies, while Sony saw sales drop to just over a million units according to Forbes.com. It is still too early to gauge the effectiveness of this year’s promotion, but with a great story like Kingrey’s receiving national attention it’s hard to believe that 2K Sports will be any less successful this season.

Pete DeLuca is Manager of Creative Services at Maroon PR. Contact him at Pete@MaroonPR.com

My Five Guidelines for Life!

By John Maroon

Everyone likes to talk about how complicated the world is today. I would go the other way and say that the world and life is quite simple. For me it comes down to these five things that I try to adhere to (and sadly often fail at) ...

1. Be Nice … When the words were uttered by Patrick Swayze in “Roadhouse” I didn’t realize how powerful they were. Seriously though, this is the key to success and happiness. I am not suggesting being a patsy. But being nice has so many positive results… other people tend to be nice back, it creates a feeling of trust and sharing and, well, life is too damn short to be miserable and unfriendly. Sometimes people who are in a position of some power tend to be curt, short or unfriendly with people. I believe it is because they think it makes them sound decisive and authoritative… it doesn’t, it just makes you sound like an asshole.
   
   
2. Do What You Say You Will Do … Sounds simple enough but we all know people who just can’t do this. Maybe they are just forgetful or disorganized or maybe they are disingenuous. Whatever the reason, don’t we always love being around people who keep their word? It is all about your creditability and who you are as a person.
   
   
3. The Golden Rule … This actually comes from the Book of Matthew in the New Testament, the words of Jesus: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” It is always something to keep in mind, especially when we are having a crappy day or things are tough. Essentially this means, be honorable… share everything and be there for others.
   
   
4. The World is Small… And the older you get the smaller it gets. Follow the above three “rules” and when the world continues to shrink you won’t have to worry about who you treated like crap in a past life.
   
   
5. Let me stress again that I blogged about this because I struggle with it non-stop. But if we can adhere to this I believe that the rewards come back to us tenfold. The universe rewards you for being positive and kind. Plus it makes you feel better and when you do it, life is better. The end.

John Maroon is President of Maroon PR. Contact him at John@MaroonPR.com

Sticks and Stones

By Chartese Burnett

We have all heard the old and familiar saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”, or some semblance thereof. However, the truth of the matter is that words are often times more powerful than actions. Physical bruises and injuries heal in time; but hateful, ugly and derogatory comments cut deeply – and the words sometimes forever stay in the minds of those insulted.

On Monday night during Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, the Chicago Bulls Joakim Noah responded to a fan’s alleged nasty remarks about Noah’s mother with an ugly anti-gay slur. Noah’s remarks were caught on tape. The fan’s words were not (hence the “alleged” adjective). Weeks ago, Kobe Bryant was fined for a similar transgression, after apologizing publicly and went on to demonstrate his real sentiments (not those verbalized) with various efforts to try and prove that he is not intolerant.

I am not sure how I feel about the NBA’s policy towards players hurling slurs on the basketball court, i.e. how much a player is fined or whether or not he is suspended, because there are too many factors involved in weighing in those decisions. David Stern is a brilliant and fair man, so I trust that the NBA Commissioner will make the proper decisions regarding the League, its players and its fans.

What I do know is that verbal abuse should not be tolerated in any setting – workplace, school, or home. Apologies and actions after the fact are acceptable demonstrations of remorse; however, perhaps, exercising control over our emotions, and our tongues, although not always easy, would eliminate so much hurt and the subsequent costly fallout.

Having spent a lot of time in NBA arenas, NFL stadiums and MLB ballparks, I have been privy to a lot of language – both from the players who are pros because they throw their hearts in the game and from the stands by fans who are equally as passionate. At the end of the day – it’s sports, recreation, entertainment, a GAME. It’s not about life or death. I have spent over two decades working in sports, so, there is no doubt about my love of sports, the players who play the games and the fans who support the leagues, teams and entities for whom I have worked.

But let’s not tarnish the game with unfair play. Let’s play fair and shout and even “boo” during exciting games, but let’s keep profanity, racial slurs and anti-gay remarks off the courts, fields and out of the stands. When there are SO many tragic and devastating things happening in this world (tornados, disease and terrorism, to name a few that are plaguing our country), let’s embrace and uphold sports – one of the few things that should unify us, make us laugh and give us something to cheer about.

Chartese Burnett is Director of Non-Profit PR at Maroon PR. Contact her at Chartese@MaroonPR.com

Meet Eve Hemsley and Kate Korson

Eve Hemsley is an Associate Account Executive at Maroon PR. Contact her at Eve@MaroonPR.com

Kate Korson is an Associate Account Executive at Maroon PR. Contact her at Kate@MaroonPR.com

Give a Little, Help a Lot

By Courtney Carey

In hopes of bringing out the altruistic side of people, the online e-commerce business, PayPal, has recently partnered with a site similar to Groupon called Philanthroper. Like Groupon, Philanthroper sends out daily emails to their database notifying the public, not about a discount or sale, but instead about a new or relevant non-profit organization.

Every day, a new non-profit is highlighted and Philanthroper users are asked to donate exactly $1 – no more and no less. The theory behind the act of giving only a dollar is that when a large group of people do a small act of goodness, there is potential for a huge impact. More than just collecting money for charity, the site hopes to inspire people to take on an attitude of giving and make charity a habit instead of a random occasion. If the site can inspire even a portion of the 98 million PayPal users, it would be a huge success.

Philanthroper does not collect any fees, nor does it charge the non-profit organizations to be featured. Due to having to process international credit card fees, PayPal gets 10% of every transaction. Even though 10% seems to be a lot, they make the donating process extremely simple and also heavily assist in matching a large portion of donations.

In my opinion, micro-donations can be extremely effective. While websites such as Philanthroper might not change the mindset of people right away, it serves as a constant reminder to make charitable acts a part of everyday life. Just think – one dollar today will buy you about 1/3 of a tall Starbucks Latte. If people made it a regular habit to give up that sip of coffee and donate that dollar to charity instead, the impact could be huge.

Courtney Carey is Manager of Social Media at Maroon PR. Contact her at Courtney@MaroonPR.com.

The Better Racing Phrase: "And down the stretch they come..." or "Gentlemen start your engines"

By Tim Richardson



Tim Richardson is Executive Vice President of Maroon PR. Contact him at Tim@MaroonPR.com

Worlds Are Colliding Less in Social Media

By Mitchell Schmale

A recent article in The New York Times shed some light on a growing trend in social media networks and the ways that people connect with one another, not with the largest network of contacts possible, but instead with smaller groups of close friends, colleagues and family members.

Path, GroupMe, Frenzy, Rally Up, Shizzlr, Huddl and Bubbla are all the latest in social media platforms that allow people to connect with friends and contacts in private groups ranging in sizes of 50 people or less. The more intimate groups allow information, links or photos to be shared that may not be of interest (or for that matter appropriate) for someone’s entire list of contacts on Facebook or LinkedIn.

As the need to connect more closely with private groups of contacts in the larger world of social media grows, Facebook recently acquired Beluga, to allow the private sharing of photos and messages with small groups of users. As the trend grows, Facebook reported that as of last month, users had already created more than 50 million private groups with an average of just eight members each.

As Facebook continues to encompass contacts from all parts of someone’s life – personal, professional and otherwise – the trend to create social media boundaries among groups will grow. The applications are popular because they allow users to better categorize contacts to help keep worlds from colliding. The applications allow family members, friends, co-workers, clients, and others to be safely separated in appropriate groups where they only see content that they are interested in receiving, as well as avoid the stuff they are better off not knowing about. It sounds like a good thing for everyone involved, even if you end up missing some of the good stuff.

Mitchell Schmale is Vice President of Maroon PR. Contact him at Mitchell@MaroonPR.com