A great promotion in Lakewood New Jersey:

Next weekend, Bruce and the E Street Band return to New Jersey with a homecoming stand at Giants Stadium. To help gear up, this coming Friday night, July 25, the BlueClaws — Lakewood, NJ’s Minor League Baseball team — are celebrating with Bruce Springsteen Night at FirstEnergy Park. And they’re going all out, wearing these custom BruceClaws jerseys, created with special permission from Minor League Baseball. After the game, the jerseys will be auctioned to benefit the Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean County.

Plus: nothing but Bruce playing over the PA all night, a Bruce-signed baseball raffle, Giants Stadium ticket giveaways, and more. General admission/lawn tickets are currently available at the ballpark ticket windows or by calling 732-901-7000 (option 2). For the general admission seating, fans can bring a blanket or a beach towel to spread out on the lawn overlooking the outfield, however no chairs are permitted.  (all bruce blog)

A perfect example of connecting a promotion through-out your event.  Bruce uniforms, the name change for a night, the music, a charity connection, Bruce item raffles.

Great concept and outreach by the BruceClaws, er, BlueClaws.

Have a great weekend.

-Cudo

Nominated for Best Game Promotion.  Thanks to blog activist and cheese-lover Joel for this blog lead.

If you read our Interview with Shari Sharkins with the Dayton Dragon’s a couple years ago, you know that I am a big fan of their “Roofman” character. A buffoonish superhero character that rescues baseballs from the roof of the stadium.

Like all great game operations and entertainment ideas….they get lifted. Here is the Sacramento Rivercat’s version of Roofman in a local media interview promoting the game.

I love that Roofman (River Cats) not only has his own t-shirt and is part of the promotion….but that he is celebrity enough to garner a live remote.

One of my favorite anecdotes of Roofman (the Dayton version) is that people honestly ask the ticket takers when they enter the park if Roofman will be there for the game. I thought it was a joke, but standing by the gates I heard it more than once.

–Cudo

As we inch closer to our update (no target date given anymore) I am spending a lot of time on YouTube, which is a tremendous tool for content building on the site and for game operation professionals.  It’s like a library of the possible and a way to see how other teams, mascots, dance teams, video board directors and everyone else are approaching their roles.

Embedding these videos is now easier than ever on the site, so there are literally clips everywhere (on the new site, release date pending).  In addition to finding new clips, I am transferring many of the clips we had on our site to YouTube, like this parachute drop.

The parachute drop continues to be a popular option in hockey and basketball.  Gameops.com has blank or imprinted chutes to fit your needs and the best pricing you will find.
Executive Summary of this Blog Post:  YouTube Good, we sell parachutes, and the new site will launch sometime in the undetermined near future.

Stay tuned.

–Cudo

• Blank Prize Parachutes in The Store
• JUMBO Parachutes in The Store (for t-shirt drops)
• Imprinted Chutes info and pricing

I thought this was an interesting blog post about a promotion held by the Detroit Pistons.  I certainly don’t question the validity of the promotion, since I know many promotions are staged in camera-friendly areas or contestants are moved for other production reasons….but it is interesting how the perception of a “fixed” contest or non-random contestant can lead to some negative consequences.

One of the contests … is in the vein of the old street hustle 3-card Monty. On the big screen those in attendance see three basketballs. One of the three basketballs has a logo on it and it is shown to the audience, then turned around. They then begin to bounce around the screen and when they come to rest the contestant has to pick the one which had the logo. A correct answer wins the contestant a $50 Gift Certificate to Belle Tire, the contest sponsor.

At one point I happened to notice [the host] on screen for 3-ball Monty with the contestant standing next to her. I glance around the stadium as I like to see where the contestant was chosen from. She was halfway up the lower bowl in one of the sections in the corner of the arena.

After the girl contestant answered correctly, she was handed her gift certificate. The cameras went back to the game after whatever stoppage of play allowed for the contest in the stands. Erin and the contestant then both came down the stairs to seats on the floor in the corner. The “contestant” was not even seated in the section where she was shown while the contest was in progress. Her seat for the game was near a whole crowd of press passes where I had noticed her earlier.

I am not going so far as to say she was [the hosts] friend, but she certainly was not the fan from whatever section the fans were led to believe she was.

Now the conspiracy theories can be let loose. Why not speculate that this girl was chosen because she or a family member works for Belle Tire? She was a plant. She was only at the game to be in the contest…and answer correctly. Shameless ploy on behalf of the Pistons organization and Belle Tire to get screen time with the logo and look benevolent as they give out a prize for a contest that any average Joe off the street can win, even you or me, even though it is all smoke and mirrors. (from privatjokr.com)

It can be the little things, like how contestants are selected, where they sit, or who they seem to know that can really irritate fans.  Like the fans who complain that they didn’t get a t-shirt during the last t-shirt toss…some fans are just hard to please.

I thought it was worth noting that come of these fans have a larger voice (via blogs, etc) than others….and that negative word of mouth can be hard to combat.

–Cudo

The Omaha Royals have really outdone themselves this time.  The are bringing in Ty Cobb to sign autographs and take photos with the kids.

Of course there is a slight catch:  It’s not this Ty Cobb, it’s this one.

Omaha Royals intern and namesake of the Georgia Peach is being pitched by the team as their special guest for Friday August 15.  Captured by promotions guru Benjamin Hill like this:

It isn’t very often that a team sends out a press release upon hiring a communications intern. But then again, it isn’t very often that a club hires an intern with the name “Ty Cobb.” The O-Royals added this fortuitously named individual to their front-office staff during the offseason, and since then his reputation has continued to grow. Ty Cobb-mania will reach its logical conclusion Friday, when the club stages a night in his honor. The not-quite Hall of Famer will pose for pictures and sign autographs, and it is rumored that one lucky lady will even win a date with him. And no matter what the score, that evening’s contest is sure to be a “Ty” ballgame.

Well played by the Royals, who probably were hesitant to pay big money to promote a game going up against the Olympics.

While dwarfed by the magnitude of the mascot showdown in Fresno, Ty Cobb Night was winning in a Milb.com poll for the best promotion of the week (at the time of this writing) 51% to 19%.

–Cudo

• Local Ty Cobb Night News Story
• Ty Cobb (the intern) also shares a birthday with Ty Cobb (Hall of Famer), and both share a birthday with the Gameops.com Editor.
• Other random note:  I once sat next to the granddaughter of Ty Cobb (Michelle?) on a Southwest Airlines Flight.  She was very nice, however a little frustrated that her grandfather had a surly reputation.  If memory serves me correctly, she also shared a birthday with me and both Ty Cobbs.

Everyone wants to think their wacky and clever promotion will be remembered forever….or do they?

Countdown with Keith Olbermann took a look back at Disco Demolition Night (July 12, 1979) in this clip from a couple years ago. It’s great footage.

On this Friday, here’s hoping your next promotion is memorable…but without the on-field riot.

–Cudo