By Pete DeLuca
Yesterday, while dozens of baseball’s elite prepared for the 82nd annual Major League Baseball (MLB) All-Star Game in Phoenix, a team of former All-Stars and Hall of Famers joined at FanFest to unveil an unbelievable new promotion; the Pepsi MAX Field of Dreams Team contest.
Imagine this – next spring, you and 10 of your closest friends assemble a team to play a baseball game on your home field. The visiting teams’ lineup; Carlton Fisk, Frank Thomas, Rod Carew, Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, Ken Griffey Jr., Ricky Henderson, Randy Johnson, and Greg Maddux.
This has got to be too good to be true, right? It is all a part of Pepsi MAX’s latest creative promotion. From now through August 31, people are encouraged to visit MLB.com/PepsiMAX and “build” their opponent’s roster by voting for their favorite players at each position (you can vote up to 25 times per day). Each vote submitted counts an as entry. From there, four regional finalists are selected and will begin campaigning for a chance to take on this assembled team of legends. The winner and All-Star team will be announced during the 2011 MLB postseason.
"Pepsi MAX is all about creating unique, one-of-a-kind opportunities for MLB fans to help amplify their baseball experience," said Mark Rooks, senior director for Pepsi sports marketing. "With this promotion, we are looking to engage MLB fans by allowing them to tell us who they think some of the greatest living legends of the game are, and to top it all off, we are giving them the chance of a lifetime to play against some of their all-time heroes."
The MLB and Pepsi MAX are also ramping up their online presence; providing interactive statistics, high-definition videos, and background stories of the legends involved. Fans can also enlist the help of active Major Leaguers, opinion polls, and Twitter and Facebook debates to aid their selections.
This is another brilliant promotion from the creative minds at MLB and Pepsi Max. My hat is off to the two companies for continuing to find innovative ways to increase awareness, grow their social media platforms, and reward fans.
Pete DeLuca is Manager of Creative Services at Maroon PR. Contact him at Pete@MaroonPR.com.
Showing posts with label creative marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creative marketing. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Themed Courts and Flashy Fields – The Latest Marketing Tool in College Recruiting
By Katy Fincham
Following in the popular footsteps of University of Oregon, Towson University has thrown themselves full-force into the world of outlandish athletic surfaces, announcing that they are redesigning their basketball court, with the focus on their mascot – the Tiger. According to Rivals.com, the “orange watermark tiger stripes on the floor will provide the signature element in addition to new baseline logos and a new ‘Tiger Paw’ mark at the scorer's table.”
While the basketball court design is a unique way to give the facility a facelift and will certainly be a great addition to their new arena, set to open in 2013, the intriguing part of the court’s redesign is that the University coaching staff believes that it will give their program an edge in recruiting.
"Just like Oregon did last year at the Matthew Knight Arena with their new look, we feel that our new court is a plus for recruiting because kids like things that are unique and cutting edge in design, “said newly appointed Towson men’s basketball coach, Pat Skerry.
And Towson University isn’t the only program that feels this way…
It’s safe to say that the college recruiting process is much more competitive that than the actual sport itself. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), 3.1% senior high school basketball players (less than 1 in 35) end up on teams in college and 6% of high school seniors (1 in 16) will play football in college.
College athletic programs have been trying to find new and creative ways to convince young talent that their school is the school to play for. The usual “powerhouse” programs will always have their name and prestige as an easy sell, but over the past few years, we’ve seen more mid-major schools step up to the plate and use flash and pizzazz to convince young athletes that their program is the one to choose.
Boise State’s football program led the way in the movement of using athletic playing surfaces as an attention generator and recruiting marketing tool. The Broncos’ “Smurf Turf” has been around since 1986, and with the recent success of the small Division I program, recruits have taken notice of both the success of the program, as well as the obsessive national attention over the unique field… National attention = recruiting jackpot.
According to Skerry, Towson’s new-look playing surface “has been a discussion item with the new recruits that the program has signed since his arrival in April.” What has yet to be seen is if this investment turns into Stripes of Success or just another marketing gimmick. Stay tuned…
Katy Fincham is an Associate Account Executive at Maroon PR. Contact her at Katy@MaroonPR.com.
Following in the popular footsteps of University of Oregon, Towson University has thrown themselves full-force into the world of outlandish athletic surfaces, announcing that they are redesigning their basketball court, with the focus on their mascot – the Tiger. According to Rivals.com, the “orange watermark tiger stripes on the floor will provide the signature element in addition to new baseline logos and a new ‘Tiger Paw’ mark at the scorer's table.”
While the basketball court design is a unique way to give the facility a facelift and will certainly be a great addition to their new arena, set to open in 2013, the intriguing part of the court’s redesign is that the University coaching staff believes that it will give their program an edge in recruiting.
"Just like Oregon did last year at the Matthew Knight Arena with their new look, we feel that our new court is a plus for recruiting because kids like things that are unique and cutting edge in design, “said newly appointed Towson men’s basketball coach, Pat Skerry.
And Towson University isn’t the only program that feels this way…
It’s safe to say that the college recruiting process is much more competitive that than the actual sport itself. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), 3.1% senior high school basketball players (less than 1 in 35) end up on teams in college and 6% of high school seniors (1 in 16) will play football in college.
College athletic programs have been trying to find new and creative ways to convince young talent that their school is the school to play for. The usual “powerhouse” programs will always have their name and prestige as an easy sell, but over the past few years, we’ve seen more mid-major schools step up to the plate and use flash and pizzazz to convince young athletes that their program is the one to choose.
Boise State’s football program led the way in the movement of using athletic playing surfaces as an attention generator and recruiting marketing tool. The Broncos’ “Smurf Turf” has been around since 1986, and with the recent success of the small Division I program, recruits have taken notice of both the success of the program, as well as the obsessive national attention over the unique field… National attention = recruiting jackpot.
According to Skerry, Towson’s new-look playing surface “has been a discussion item with the new recruits that the program has signed since his arrival in April.” What has yet to be seen is if this investment turns into Stripes of Success or just another marketing gimmick. Stay tuned…
Katy Fincham is an Associate Account Executive at Maroon PR. Contact her at Katy@MaroonPR.com.
Friday, December 10, 2010
25 Laptops Were Harmed in the Making of this Video
By Pete DeLuca
Once again, Google is pushing the boundaries of creative advertising. Today, the company released a six-minute video promoting their new user friendly notebook, Google Chrome OS.
How is it different from the past? Well, instead of purchasing a Dell computer and spending hours to correctly set up Windows, owners of the Chrome OS notebook sign in with a Google account and (within 60 seconds), have immediate access to an entire web-based operating system. Everything is online and owners have access to a variety of features, including tons of applications and Google’s recently launched Web Store.
The focus of today’s six-minute video is to promote one of the unique features of the product – “cloud computing”.
What you just witnessed was essentially a six-minute commercial – but it didn’t feel like it. There is something fun about watching each laptop get smashed into pieces. It draws you in and keeps your attention. The content is light and Google was able to easily relay key features of their new product to an audience that devoted their undivided attention.
During the making of this video, Google destroyed 25 computers but they may have gained millions in publicity.
Pete DeLuca is an Associate Account Executive at Maroon PR. Email him at pete@maroonpr.com
Once again, Google is pushing the boundaries of creative advertising. Today, the company released a six-minute video promoting their new user friendly notebook, Google Chrome OS.
How is it different from the past? Well, instead of purchasing a Dell computer and spending hours to correctly set up Windows, owners of the Chrome OS notebook sign in with a Google account and (within 60 seconds), have immediate access to an entire web-based operating system. Everything is online and owners have access to a variety of features, including tons of applications and Google’s recently launched Web Store.
The focus of today’s six-minute video is to promote one of the unique features of the product – “cloud computing”.
What you just witnessed was essentially a six-minute commercial – but it didn’t feel like it. There is something fun about watching each laptop get smashed into pieces. It draws you in and keeps your attention. The content is light and Google was able to easily relay key features of their new product to an audience that devoted their undivided attention.
During the making of this video, Google destroyed 25 computers but they may have gained millions in publicity.
Pete DeLuca is an Associate Account Executive at Maroon PR. Email him at pete@maroonpr.com
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