Howard Brodwin's Blog (16)

I’ve just launched a new venture in the sports non-profit space called SportsandSocialChange.org. The goal is to create a resource to serve both sports industry professionals who are looking to include cause marketing in their programming, and the casual sports fan who’s interested in supporting a favorite sport, team or athlete's charitable causes.



Sports related non-profits, charities and foundations are encouraged to enter their information in the Directory, add upcoming events to… Continue

ESPN.com Local - Boston, NY, Dallas and Los Angeles sites are on the way as well...
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=112551

“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.”

— George Lois



There's a great piece this week on Barry Janoff's NY Sports Journalism about several minor league baseball teams and their very creative ways to get more fans to the ballpark.…

Continue

Just spotted this in the trades -- thought I would share.

Sad to see another league folding...





Report: Arena Football to Cease Operations

SportsOneSource Media

Posted: 8/4/2009



The Arena Football League that called off its 2009 season will now cease operations, according to various reports.



On his Facebook page, president of the Tampa Bay Storm, Jim Borghesi wrote: "The AFL will be having a press conference to announce that the league… Continue

This piece was published earlier this week in the Marketing: Sports newsletter at MediaPost.com.

Thought I would share it here as well...enjoy!





Everyone is now the Sports Media

By Howard K. Brodwin



I grew up reading the latest issues of The Sporting News and SPORT, getting lost in the minutiae of the NY Times sports section, and watching Warner Wolf “go to the video tape.” ESPN’s arrival in 1979 signaled a major shift in sports media, and the early… Continue

In the midst of dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the threat of a nuclear-ready North Korea, and election protests in Iran, the Obama administration did find time to take a great step forward to encourage youth participation in sports.



On 6/16, the White House issued a press release announcing a new Office of… Continue

Mashable is reporting on a recent lawsuit filed by St Louis Cardinals' longtime skipper Tony LaRussa against Twitter. Seems someone hijacked his name and began "tweeting" some not-quite-polite comments about the Cards, baseball, etc.



This is another good example of why teams should be proactive in their approach to social media and the fans.



We all know there will always be the overzealous fan who likes… Continue

Check out this new product roll-out for the licensing arm of ESPN. It has a great grassroots spin, and should play well across a wide range of sports over time.



myESPN Highlights, retailing for $24.95, allows fans to showcase their favorite personal sports photos in a "highlight reel," featuring ESPN's Karl Ravech. The product line, which includes DVDs, photo books and posters, will later roll out at other major retailers. This… Continue

I spotted this position in a Public Relations Google Group I belong to -- thought I would share it here in case anyone is interested. The info below is all I know...

PR MANAGER/NY RANGERS:
Obtain non-traditional and "off the ice" media coverage w/ focus on celebrity outreach.
5 yrs exp in ent. w/ established contacts.

Resume to: msghr@thegarden.com
Put "PRNYR" in subject line

A quick piece from the WSJ on how NASCAR is seeing revenues decline in the wake of the turmoil in the Auto industry.
Wrong Track: Nascar Feels Chrysler's Pain

Hurry up and read it before Rupert starts charging 50 cents an article...

Cheers!

The folks at Mashable.com raise a very good question: Can Social Media Get You to Watch the NBA Playoffs?



According to the piece, TNT's commentators will all be Twittering throughout the playoffs, and the network will use Facebook ads and a FB page as part of the social media/marketing push.



Adding the social component is a logical idea, and I'll be watching to see how well they incorporate these… Continue

For those of you who are following the "branding wars" that are going on during the NCAA tourney, here are a couple of good reads:



Sports One Source/SGB have a nice running tally of the footwear and apparel brands that are still alive in the tourney; checkout their "brand brackets" for more details.



Have you noticed the ubiquitous purple/white Vitamin Water… Continue

Announced in midst of several newspapers biting the dust, the granddaddy of business reporting will soon publish daily coverage of the business of sports.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0233328620090302?rpc=44



Will the WSJ offer fair and balanced coverage of the deals and trends in the industry? Will there be an investigative slant at times to help uncover corruption and… Continue

Hitwise, a leading data mining and competitive intelligence service, publishes a great report of what they deem "fast moving search terms" -- terms that underwent major increases in the percentage of share of search volume over the previous week.



This week, they released the top fast moving search terms for the Sports Industry for the week ending 2/14/09 versus the previous week.



1. jeremy lusk

2. tiger woods daughter photo

3.… Continue

Vitrue, a leading social media agency, recently released their first annual ranking of the “Top 100 Social Brands.” These are the brands that are most often discussed across the social media landscape, as measured by Vitrue's technology.



(From the press release)

Vitrue has applied its technology and data capturing capabilities to measure what is being most talked about on the social web. Each day, Vitrue analyzes online conversations on a variety of social networking,… Continue

Nice write up on the PRSA's site about how Shaq and the Suns PR team are using Twitter to connect with fans.
http://www.prsa.org/supportfiles/news/viewNews.cfm?pNewsID=842347787