This week in the #SportsBiz, top news includes Go Daddy taking a new approach to their Super Bowl marketing campaign. Other top news includes Tiger Woods and EA parting ways, record ticket prices for the Boston Red Sox, potentially big numbers for a looming media deal for the WWE and TigerLogic breaking into the sports world with their new social platform dubbed Postano. Read on for more.
Sports Marketing
Go Daddy changes Super Bowl marketing plan
For years now, we have seen Go Daddy commercials during the Super Bowl, all of them relying heavily on sexual innuendo. Go Daddy’s star, Danica Patrick, announced via Twitter that she will, once again, be part of this year’s Super Bowl commercial. One small detail, however, is that the company and their marketing plan has “matured”.
Go Daddy’s Super Bowl ads in past years have relied on Danica Patrick being scantily dressed. However, the company issued a press release on Halloween, explaining their new direction:
“GoDaddy’s marketing has evolved with the company’s overall transformation under new CEO Blake Irving, who is committed to maintaining GoDaddy’s edge, but in a way that speaks inclusively to the customer base and demonstrates the value the company provides to small business and entrepreneurs.”
Danica was also found talking highly of Go Daddy and how they are able to help small businesses:
“I love what’s going on at GoDaddy. Since our last Super Bowl, I’ve been to the new Silicon Valley office and talked with customers who are genuinely grateful for how GoDaddy helps them grow their businesses online. GoDaddy is for the go getter, the ‘little guy’ looking to compete with the ‘big guys’ and I love that.”
As mentioned above, the company was born to give people an easy, affordable way to get their ideas online. Today, they have more than 12 million customers around the world, but the company’s goal is much the same. They help people easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures. And now, they are taking their marketing in a new direction. GoDaddy Chief Marketing Officer Barb Rechterman explained this new direction:
“Hitting the decade mark with our Super Bowl advertising is a milestone worth celebrating, it’s a new beginning and we’re celebrating the go getter. Now, we’ve matured. We’ve evolved. Our new brand of Super Bowl commercials will make it crystal clear what we do and who we stand for. We may be changing our approach, but as we’ve always said, we don’t care what the critics think. We are all about our customers.”
The Super Bowl airs on Fox this year, so be on the lookout for Danica and Go Daddy, perhaps making a “better dressed” appearance.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – autoblog.com
Sports Sponsorship
EA Sports and Tiger Woods part ways
The relationship between EA Sports and Tiger Woods has been running for 15 years, as they have worked together to produce the Tiger Woods PGA Tour video game. Now it appears that EA is ending the long-standing sponsorship. This is according to Eric Fisher of Sports Business Journal.
The sponsorship between EA Sports and Tiger Woods has reportedly netted Woods around half a billion dollars. So why has the tandem gone awry? Perhaps the numbers have something to do with it. In 2008, the game moved 3.39 million units, as compared to this years 300,000.
Another possibility lies in the thought that perhaps Tiger Woods has lost his marketability. It’s notable to mention that EA was one of Tiger’s few sponsors to stick with him through his 2009 scandal.
However, it appears that EA Sports is moving on to better things. A new, next-generation game is being prepared by EA that will not feature the 14-time major champion. Rumors are circulating that a potential replacement could involve Tiger’s younger counterpart, Rory Mcllroy.
EA VP and GM of Golf Daryl Holt wrote that the decision to discontinue the relationship with Woods was mutual.
“EA SPORTS and Tiger Woods have also made a mutual decision to end our partnership, which includes Tiger’s named PGA TOUR golf game. We’ve always been big fans of Tiger and we wish him continued success in all his future endeavors. Moving forward, we will continue to work with the PGA TOUR exclusively to create groundbreaking golfing titles and our partnership remains strong.”
A move like this is a major loss to Woods and an even bigger decision by EA Sports.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – thecontrolleronline.com
Sports Ticket Sales
Boston win World Series and Ticket Sales
In Game Six, Fenway Park clinched its first World Series since 1918. The ticket price in that year was $1.65.
Prices for Game Six of the this year’s World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the St Louise Cardinals were outrageous. Ace Ticket, a storefront ticket retailer, claimed the cheapest tickets 90 mins before the game were priced at $1250, while the average sat at $1,047. James Holzman, the CEO of Ace Ticket and a lifelong Red Sox fan, exclaimed:
“I’m surprised how inexpensive they are. I agree it’s a fair amount of money but it’s $1000 for a lifetime memory and there’s no price tag that you can put on that.”
A Marine Corps veteran – Peter Marleau – was seeking tickets to the game and was offering around $400. But tickets from nearby scalpers were running $900, which is a lot. Marleau made a critical statement:
“I should have bought them online weeks ago. I didn’t think they’d be this expensive.”
Unfortunately, online tickets weren’t any better. TiqIQ.com reported that the average secondary ticket for Game 6 sold for $2,396. The numbers are even more staggering when considering online ticket retailer, StuHhub. Just hours before the game, tickets were being sold at $12,000. At this point, “a fair amount of money” is an understatement.
On Monday night, someone who wanted two of the best seats in the house paid $24,000 on StubHub for a pair in the first row in a dugout box between home plate and one of the on-deck circles.
You can read more here and here.
Photo credit – bostonmagazine.com
Sports Media
WWE looks to score big TV deal
Sports and leagues such as college football, the NFL, MLB, NBA, and even the NHL have been garnering major television deals for some time now. As claimed by Media rights expert Chris Bevilvacqua, WWE is looking to join the ranks.
With WWE’s current television deals nearing expiration, they have a plethora of big-money options. Not only has RAW made USA the number one cable network for seven consecutive years, but both RAW and Smack Down are the number one and two longest-running weekly episode programs in US primetime history. This gives WWE some valuable assets to work with.
With a large live viewing audience and a current deal worth $140 million, the company’s next deal could triple in value, according to Forbes. Nearly 50 million US households have at least one WWE fan, and of the 97 million active WWE fans, 41% are males age 18-34. A market like this can be quite valuable to advertisers.
Potential landing spots for WWE include big-time players like FS1 and NBC Sports. Even Google and Netflix could look to get in on the action, with both companies showing high interest in showcasing sports content.
WWE also has a large social media following, which may be beneficial to sponsors and advertisers alike. The market for WWE looks promising.
You can read more here.
Photo credit – freehdwalls.net
Social Media In Sports
TigerLogic will push fan engagement via Postano
TigerLogic has started a push to make their way into the world of sports. The company’s new social media platform has been dubbed Postano. It will serve schools at the college level by enabling the school’s athletic departments to use fans’ social media posts to help promote the school and its sports.
Postano will easily allow schools to combine photos from Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest or visualize a hashtag campaign across Twitter and Instagram. Content such as video, photos, text, or a combination of all three can be used to promote the school in a unique way. Social content dealing with the school is collected and then transformed by the school to suit its needs.
Early adopters of the social platform include the University of Oregon and Arizona State University. Postano also urges schools to create social media centers, much like what the Oregon Ducks have done. The content collected and altered to match the school’s preferences can then be displayed on scoreboards and other displays.
Postano has created set packages specifically for college sports that include access to the following options: The Postano Social Hub, Postano Command Center, Postano Mobile and Postano Events and Social wall. It also will create customized features for its customers. The mobile platform supports both Apple’s iOS and the Android operating system.
Check out the video below on how Postano works:
You can read more here.
Photo credit – postano.com