Apologies for the slow roll out of the March update, I was under the weather and working around the clock to try to finish the content, so add-ons like the emailer and the blog update are a little behind.

If you haven’t seen this month’s update here are a couple of the highlights:

We have the first (of five) installments of the 2007 Content Series:  Promotion Pills.  Like our 2006 Series (Six from Six) these are a series of game reviews that we use to talk about how you can enhance your own shows.  We report on all the promotions a team is doing, then look at one or two and introduce a way to look at their promotion and perhaps enhance it. 

This month we visited the Erie Otters (OHL Hockey), including two Promotion Pills on how they might consider refining a couple promotions to make them even stronger.

Hopefully the “Pills” make sense, if not I think it will be even more clear how you can use them on your own promotions over the course of the year.  At the end of the year we will release a more complete list so you can take a more comprehensive look at each of your promotions and how you can make them stronger for your fans and sponsors.

Also, we have just leapfrogged to over 600 promotions, contests, premiums and game promotions on the Promotion Database. Take a look at the newest and most powerful tool on Gameops.com. Introduced on January 1st with just over 500 entries, we have continued to add to the list and links.  If you haven’t used this new tool, it’s a must see. Click here for the Promotion Database.

Thanks for your continued support.  As always we love to hear from you.  You can comment on the blog or email us with thoughts, feedback, or requested content anytime.

-Cudo

Today we take a look at how a mascot can connect with fans via myspace.  The WNBA Chicago Sky mascot (The Sky Guy) is an active myspace member.

http://www.myspace.com/chicagoskyguy

This is a rather simple layout with some video, large clear photos and comments.

Two things that this mascot myspace page is doing well. 

1. It uses the MySpace Interests to help define his character, which is an important use of any on-line presense…to define who your character is.
2. Sky Guy created a “Friends of Sky Guy” Group which creates a discussion forum for his friends and fans.  This is somewhat uncommon with the MySpace pages I have seen, but an intersting tool. http://groups.myspace.com/friendsofskyguy

There is some room to improve with some simple layout additions, but this shows what can be done with limited customization and with some substance over style.

–Cudo

If you want to see a team myspace page done very well, look no further than the WNBA Phoenix Mercury.  The page is crisp, often update, has a lot of interesting content, yet keeps a clean professional look.

The blog section is used very well (it’s an underutilzed section on most myspace pages) including team press releases, calls for dancer auditions, and games and contests.  The blog can help keep the rest of the page clean py directing new posts and photos to another section (the blog page).

Some teams fade in an out, but the Mercury seem to be constantly updating the page and have active elements like a countdown to the draft at the top of the page that let you know the team is staying current on the page.

The have a “fan of the month” promotion highlighting their fans and they link to player myspace pages as well (althougth it can sometimes be unclear who is running those pages).

The team also has an extensive list of how to buy tickets (that’s the idea after all) in one box, including game, seaons, and group tickets…as well as seating chart links.  Very well done.

If you want to model your layout, site and content after another myspace page….this is a good place to start.

The one negative (and it is subjective) is they have an “autoplay” song, which means it blasts on as soon as the page loads.  While it is the team’s theme song, I just am not a fan of having music start when you visit a page.

Check this one out:  http://www.myspace.com/phxmercury 

–Cudo

Erie Freeze Chillers

Sorry for the delay in the blog this week.  I have been under the weather and out of the office.

This week I am looking at several MySpace pages done by teams or related groups.  As I have discussed in a couple blogs (myspace blogs) this is a great way for outreach and connection to your fans. 

One example is promotion of a game or event…there are a ton of ways to get the word out, but none as direct or cost-efficient as a Bulletin on a myspace page.  Direct since it goes only to the people on your extended network (aka your friends) and cost-effective since it costs nothing but the time to write the message (and time invested in making your page interesting enough to visit).

A lot of teams are finding this out and connecting their mascot, dance team, booster club, or in-office coordinator with a myspace page.

Our first look is at a dance team for an arena football team in Erie PA, the Erie Freeze Chillers.  This team has a page that looks to be updated frequently with new photos, comments and video.

You can see their page here:  http://www.myspace.com/eriefreezechillers
(note: this page you can see without being a myspace member or one of their friends, although some accounts are set so you can not see all the content without being in their network, that is you have to be one of their friends so see it)

What they are doing really well with the page:

• Lots of photos of their team
• Connections to the dancers own myspace pages*
• Connect to the team fan club page
• Promotes the dance team appearances\
• Promotes upcoming games (countdown to game)
• PushPin Map (Frappr) is a nice way to show where your fans are visiting from
• Great use of the blog to promote specific events

What they might do differently

• Some things are subjective, but the layout could be cleaned up.  The tiled background is distracting.
• Autoplay music (music or videos that play on the page load) can be very distracting
• Teams need to be cautious of what is linked, for example several dancers have their own myspace pages linked to this….including photos that the team might not want associated with their dance team

Overall this is a nice bit of marketing by the Erie Freeze and the Chillers, used primarily to promote the dance team appearances and the football team.  Lots of content, good use of the myspace tools, perhaps it could be tightened up a bit graphically.  The page is pretty new and the team just started playing, so it’s hard to know if they are promoting this in game.  They currently have 116 friends, which is a good starting point. 

As noted in the other blogs about myspace….the Chillers dance team can now quickly send a bulletin to 116 people for a cost of $0.00, can your dance team do that?

-Cudo