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Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category

Red Sox Nation vs. The Evil Empire

May 31st, 2011

John Krasinski and Alec Baldwin go toe to toe for their respective teams in a new commercial by New Era… classic. If you read my blog and follow my Twitter stream, you’ll know I’m on John’s side.

Advertising, Sports ,

Today, I Needed A Dose Of My Ducks…

May 23rd, 2011

It’s my blog and I’ll write what I want to…  😉  Today, after a bit of a gap in posting, I thought I’d take a look back at a great season for my Oregon Duck Football team.  This is a great ‘fan’s perspective’ – hat tip to the guy that created this retrospective.

Sports ,

We Are Timbers – Soccer Goes Social

April 1st, 2011

The Portland Timbers are the second professional sports team to come into my home town (behind our long time resident NBA team, the Trail Blazers).  We are a soccer, er ‘futbol’, hungry community and the fans have embraced our new MLS team with open arms.  Kudos to the Timbers – they’ve ‘hugged back’ with the same enthusiasm.

One of the things this organization did well right out of the gate was to harness the power of these local fans – in a very social way.  Sure, they have a Facebook presence and a Twitter feed.  More importantly they reached out their biggest cheerleader – the community of Portland – and asked them to be a part of their Marketing and Media materials, in the most visible fashion available – billboards throughout the Portland Metro area – through a contest called ‘We Are Timbers‘.

How did it work?  You went to the Timbers store, got your picture taken with various ‘accessories’ (double headed axe, chain saw – to name a few) and had your photo submitted to be considered to make the top 100.  If you made the top 100, your photo was put to a vote by the fans of the soccer club (you had to ‘Like’ the Timbers on Facebook and then ‘Like’ the photo of your friend, colleague, or neighbor that had entered the contest).  There was some stiff competition out there.  Personally, I wish my good buddy Dwight Adkins had made the final four but when you pair axes with baby bjorns he didn’t stand a chance.   Hat tip Timbers – way to get your fans excited about your team and nice job making the community a part of your promotion efforts.

Advertising, Sports ,

Reliving A Magical Season In 7 Minutes

March 2nd, 2011

It’s been a month since my Oregon Ducks played for the ‘Natty’… I’m missing football season already.  Good thing that ‘Addicted To Quack‘ provided me with this highlight reel from the 2010 season!  Looking forward to 13-0 next year…

Sports ,

The Oregon Ducks Go Viral – Return Of The Quack

October 4th, 2010

As you can tell by many of my posts on this blog, I am a big sports fan and specifically a HUGE Oregon Ducks Football fan.  My alma mater has been tearing it up on the grid iron this year – leading the nation in scoring offense and tops in scoring defense as well.  Our team has become famous as much for it’s available uniform combinations (300+ at last count) as it has for it’s ability to score on you in a heartbeat (just ask Arizona State how devastating that offense is).

This week, they’re in the news again – not just for hosting College Game Day at Autzen stadium, but for the second installation of Supwitchugirl’s viral video collection.  Last year, during the Duck’s march to the Rose Bowl they released “I Smell Roses“, which quickly caught fire amongst Duck fans and spread nationally through viral pass along (topping more than 860k views on YouTube).  There was some controversy with their usage of the Oregon Duck mascot in the video, but that paled in comparison to the popularity of the spot.

How do you top that?  Fast forward to 2010 and on the eve of the biggest game (so far) of the year for our beloved Ducks, Supwitchugirl released their second installment entitled: Return of the Quack.  Check it out below… 3 days later, it’s achieved more than 340k views and has been profiled on the Dan Patrick Show.  I’d say they know a little something about making a viral video.

Sports, Video ,

Witnesses No Longer – A Cleveland Monument Falls

July 14th, 2010

Nike has always been well known for creating stunning visual homages for their iconic athlete endorsers.  In recent memory there is none bigger than the tribute to LeBron James when he was drafted by, and started playing for, his hometown team – the Cleveland Cavaliers.  After this week’s ‘Decision‘ to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and form the new ‘Big Three’ (the term originally coined by my beloved Celtics in the Bird/Parish/McHale era), the city of Cleveland decided it had had enough with Nike’s larger than life building wrap and started the process of removing all traces of King James from it’s public edifices.  Athletes come and go – some have more impact than others.  LeBron was a beacon of hope to the economically distressed Rust Belt.  I wonder if he’ll need ‘Witness Protection’ when he returns twice a year to play his former team.

Sports ,

Rising Above The Clutter On The World Stage

June 24th, 2010

Sporting events are one of the largest branding opportunities around.  There is not a more popular sport in the world outside of soccer – it’s truly a global game with an unparalleled fan base. The World Cup takes that to a whole new level.  The brand that is leaving the competition in the dust is not even an official Fifa Partner or World Cup Sponsor, but a company that has winning in it’s very DNA – Nike.  Their campaign, Write The Future, is a prime example of ‘ambush marketing’.  Not an official sponsor, Nike turned to the web for initial distribution of their 3 minute, highly produced spot featuring some of the best ‘Footballers’ in the world.  Greeted with overwhelming praise, this long form advertisement has been deemed by Trevor Edwards (Vice President, Global Brand & Category Management) as “one of the best we’ve ever done.” (courtesy, OregonLive).  The traffic would agree, with the spot having just surpassed 15M views in only two short weeks.  Even Nike CEO, Mark Parker, gave high praise to the campaign:

Our ‘Write the Future’ football campaign is the most complete, innovative and creative project we’ve ever done, and we’ve got more excitement on the ground than anybody else in the game.” (courtesy, MediaPost)

No doubt that Landon Donovan helped extend the fictional narrative into a literal embodiment of the ad with yesterday’s heroic goal in the 91st minute sending the U.S.A. into the knockout round in this year’s Cup.

The campaign goes far beyond the initial video.  As you can see from the graphic above, Nike has invited the fans into the experience – giving them the opportunity to ‘Write The Future’ through social means with the chance to have their headline displayed on one of Johannesburg’s largest skyscrapers (100 will be displayed each night).  What I love about this is that it empowers the fan to be an active part of the campaign and involves them in a meaningful way (very similar to the way we {Intel} included everyday people in our Sponsors of Tomorrow Campaign last year).  This is the human face of advertising.  People naturally want to be included in the celebration.  They want to be heard, and they want a participatory voice in their favorite events and with brands they are passionate about.  Hat tip Nike – you’ve created an amazing campaign and you’ve invited your biggest advocates, your customers, to help Write The Future.

Social Media, Sponsorship, Sports ,

Who Says Futbol Isn’t Popular In America?

June 23rd, 2010

Unbelievable Web traffic today around the World Cup match between the U.S. and Algeria. Personally, I was sitting in our company cafeteria with about 400 of my closest Intel friends watching the dramatic conclusion to the game – which was capped off with a stunning goal by Landon Donovan in the 91st minute.  Amazing.  The whole room erupted and I think more than a few laptops and smartphones hit the floor in all the excitement.  I immediately hit Facebook and Twitter with the excited exclamation of GOOOOAAALLLL!!! which was commented upon almost instantaneously by my friends on the social graph.  I wasn’t the only one.  According to Mashable, who’s staff was watching the net traffic on Akamai’s Net Usage Index, traffic spiked tremendously soon after Donovan put the ball in the back of the net:

In the minutes following Landon Donovan’s game winning goal in the 91st minute of action (which sent the U.S. to the round of 16), traffic spiked to 11.2 million visitors per minute, which moves the event past the 2008 presidential election as the second highest traffic spike of all-time.

Even their Editor in Chief, Adam Ostrow, called the impact on the social web with this tweet:

that goal is so taking down Twitter …

Pretty impressive…and you can see from the chart below, the English have got nothin’ on us.

Social Media, Sports ,

Gooooaaaaal! 2010 World Cup & The Social Web

June 11th, 2010

Arguably, the 2010 World Cup will be the most watched sporting event in history.  What’s unique about this edition of the largest futbol tournament in the world is how it will be activated on the social web.  Try Google’ng ‘World Cup 2010 Social Media‘.  Boom – NINETY EIGHT MILLION results.

I didn’t think that was possible.  This social revolution is not just limited to blogs, message boards, and the random video posted to YouTube.  Quite the contrary – the depth and breadth of how people are sharing – Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Live Streaming – is astounding.  Fifa is getting in on the action, with the latest post on their official Twitter page exclaiming:

People are singing on the streets, fireworks are being set off – a great day for football and South Africa #worldcup

Not only that, we’re in the year of Mobile.  As such, we can expect people to be strolling down the street, driving, or in their next boring staff meeting staring down at their iPhone to see if Wayne Rooney, Landon Donovan, or Ronaldo have placed the ball in the back of the net with a strike from mid-field.

In short, social media has changed how the world watches the most popular sport on the planet.  How will you be tracking your favorite team and players throughout the next month? I’m sure I’ll send a tweet or two with the emphatic #Gooooaaaaal!

Social Media, Sports ,

The New NBA Playoff Trash Talk – Twitter Style

May 17th, 2010

I’m a HUGE NBA fan… and even bigger when my beloved Boston Celtics are involved this late into the post season.  I take every opportunity to poke my friend and social sparring partner, Michael Brito, who moved on from Intel (Boo!) and joined Edelman not long ago.  He’s also an unabashed Laker fan so the poking is warranted.  We’ve been going back and forth over Twitter over the last couple of weeks as our favorite teams navigate their way through the playoffs.  Had I known about Nike Basketball’s Post Season Twitter page, I would have channeled my energy there in an effort to disparage more Laker fans in one fell swoop!  Nice execution – bringing people’s passions for sport to a socially relevant medium.  Hats of to Stamen Design – I worked with them a number of years ago for our Digg Arc visualization – glad they are continuing to innovate.

Sports, Twitter ,