This year's Masters was far from ordinary. Many contenders were still in the running before the start of the final round Sunday, including some multiple new faces. One of those new faces, none other than runner-up Jordan Spieth. At just 20 years old, Spieth has made a name for himself in the world of golf with his impressive showing this week. It is hard to believe that only a year ago this guy was an amateur; personally, I have never seen a more composed 20-year old in my life!
(Spieth after his playoff win in The 2013 John Deere Classic)
Many are calling Spieth the Derek Jetter of golf, a young guy entering the pros with class. Referring to others around him as Mr. Watson and Mr. Crenshaw, Spieth has a humility and respect that can only be admired. As golf's icons Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods grow older, fans are looking for a new face to put forth their admiration. Spieth could very well be this guy! Spieth said he was "hungry" for more in a post-event interview on Sunday, who doesn't admire that drive? He has already shown a sense of what he could be; he beat out 20 year old Woods first showing in the Masters back in 1996. While Woods drew a crowd with his great performance, he missed the final round cut. Skip forward one year, Woods is the youngest Masters champion in history at 21. Could history repeat itself next year in young Jordan Spieth? I know I am excited to see what happens.
(Spieth congratulating Masters winner Bubba Watson after the final round Sunday)
One thing is for sure, all eyes will be on Spieth as he continues to progress on some of golf's largest stages and build his brand in the gold world. I wish him all the best and look forward to seeing what exciting talent he will bring to the course. It only gets better from here!
Let's all be honest here, who knew WWE still existed? I surely did not. I remember watching the show vaguely as a kid because I grew up with a WWE obsessed little brother, but thought that the dramatic fighting was a dying "sport." Well apparently I was very wrong, WWE is alive and well and reporting some record breaking numbers at that. WWE just announced tonight that WrestleMania 30 broke the record for the Mercedes-Benz Superdome's highest grossing entertainment event. Yup, the event grossed $10.9 million thanks to a sold-out crowd of 75,167 making their way to New Orleans this weekend. The event was also broadcast live in over 100 countries and in 20 different languages.
(an inside look of the Superdome set up for WrestleMania 30, April 6th)
WWE is used to breaking these records however. This year's numbers will mark the 5th consecutive year that the WWE broke the host venue's highest grossing entertainment record. You would think people would be less obsessed with a rigid "fighting" show? But I guess that is not the case. New Orleans mayor, Mitch Landrieu, even said that "WrestleMania has taken its rightful place amongst the most historic events ever held in New Orleans." WOW that is a pretty strong statement by Mayor Landrieu. This is exciting news for next year's host site of WrestleMania 31, Silicon Valley. Let's just say, I might even be tuning into see what all the hype is about.
(Daniel Bryan celebrating his win over Batista and Randy Orton, overcoming the odds and taking home the WrestleMania Heavyweight Championship Title)
You know the previous gross revenue record holder for the Superdome? A three day music festival in 2013 featuring Beyoncé. They literally beat out the QUEEN of pop. Snaps to you WWE, you keep doing your thing.
Well it was a good run, Quicken Loans and Warren Buffett; but after just two full days of March Madness (for real though, complete madness) all 11 million brackets are deemed "imperfect." Honestly though, you have to be some sort of psychic to call Duke, Ohio State, and Cincinnati losing right out of the gate. Also, who would have thought that Kansas, Villanova, and Syracuse would lose the very next round? Okay, I'll be honest, I did call Cuse losing but definitely none of the others. This year is nuts! Only three #1, two #2s, one #3, and four #4s remain in the Sweet 16 (maybe they should call it lucky number 4). No wonder everyone is out before they even felt a slight chance of hope. It only took 21 games for everyone to be eliminated.
(No. 14 Mercer celebrates their 78-71 win over No. 3 Duke)
Enough ranting about how permanently in shock, slightly angered I am at this year's NCAA Tournament, I must take a second to compliment the true marketing strategy of Quicken Loans and all other companies who help feed our love of bracketed competition. Quicken Loans has been trending for weeks as the Billion Dollar Bracket Buzz only grew leading up to the official kick-off. Other companies such as Audi and Best Buy have also taken advantage of competition, by creating there own prize winning brackets. The catch? Just provide them your email so they can forever span you with notifications on their latest products. Many people look past this little check however and these companies have taken advantage of March Madness fans. I know I personally have 4 brackets in multiple groups, why? Because I love the feeling when my team is in the green and I am beating all my friends.
(George Washington's 66-71 loss to Memphis ended the last 3 perfect brackets Friday, March 21st)
I will leave you with one final glimpse of hope! Although Quicken Loans will not be giving away $1 billion this time around, the top 20 scores will each be receiving a hefty prize of $100,000. So do not throw away your brackets just yet fans, it is not the end until Florida wins! (disclaimer: this is the only time in my life I will ever support Florida)
There is a lot of hype generating around this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Tournament, otherwise know as "March Madness." Last year, over $1.5 billion was generated in TV ad revenue for the nearly month long event. Revenues this year are expected to far surpass those of 2013. Large companies are now rallying around the event that brings together college basketball fans from all over the country to cheer on the best 64 teams in the nation.
Anheuser-Busch is famously known for its all inclusive, full brand experience hotels, Bud Light Hotels, that it rents out for Superbowl fans each year. Well that tradition is now moving to March Madness. Anheuser-Busch has rented out a hotel in Dallas for four days around the final rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
(An outside look of the Bud lLght Hotel from Superbowl XLVI)
Other major marketing efforts seen at large scale sporting events are also being implemented into March Madness. Coke Zero and AT&T have teamed up to provide concerts everyday while the tournament is in Dallas. A March Madness specific app has even been created for fans to keep up with all the action taking place.
The tournament is sure to spark a lot of talk and it provides the perfect opportunity for companies to promote their brands for nearly an entire month! That is a winning situation if you ask me, I know I will be watching.
So I was reminded today about one of my FAVORITE things that exist on the internet.. Bad Lip Readings. If you have never seen these, seriously you are missing out! They honestly never get old and they are the ultimate form of free publicity.
Like many great videos on YouTube, they get shared over and over and rack up millions of views. So how does this tie into marketing? Word of mouth! These videos are being shared to all over social media and are reaching people in ways a company just can't do.
So how does this relate to sports? Well Bad Lip Reading makes a variety of different videos, from Twilight to The Hunger Games to my personal favorite, the NFL. This honestly has just made me love sports that much more. You always see athletes on TV talking and yelling, but until now I have never known what they said. Bad Lip Reading is there to help and boy does it! The original video itself has racked up over 50,000,000 views on YouTube and has been shared too many times to keep track of. I personally have shown every one of my friends the video. A new NFL related Bad Lip Reading was released less than a month ago and has already racked up over 18,000,000 views on YouTube. That is a lot of free publicity for the NFL. Fox Sports even posted the latest video on their website, now that is serious. Just think if companies got on board with this and let the people at Bad Lip Reading remake some of their commercials. Boom. More impressions made for your company to people who may have never been reached before (just a thought).
Keep it coming Bad Lip Reading. I just can't get enough. Below I have put up the current NFL Bad Lip Readings for your viewing enjoyment.
So I tend to write a lot about football (bet you can't guess my favorite sport) so I decided to dedicate this blog to something different. In the middle of my next football related post, an ad game on that really interested me. It was Samsung's new ad that included families watching and reenacting highlights of the Olympic Games together. I loved it! It was adorable seeing little kids aspiring to be the next Olympic great. So I decided to think a little more about what social media has really done for this Olympic Games and came up with 3 main things.
1. #SochiProblems
As many of you have seen over the last week or so, Sochi has had a few problems for the arriving guests all over the world and people were not afraid to speak up about it. Sochi Problems became a twitter sensation overnight and has over 341,000 followers! Sochi Problems has definitely created buzz for the Olympic Games but maybe not in the way Russia would have originally wanted.
2. All the Crazy Faces
Maybe my favorite part of all the social media buzz is the snapshots of crazy faces Olympic athletes make mid-routine. I have been cracking up non-stop watching these blow up my newsfeed and honestly it has made me want to watch some events I may normally not be interested in (ice skating) more just so I can catch a glimpse of the next crazy face.
(perhaps my favorite one: Yakov Godorozha of Ukraine)
3. Same Superstars, New Perspective (Sochi Selfies)
Perhaps my favorite part about the Olympic Games is all of the heartwarming, underdog hero stories. I eat that stuff up! Social has allowed for all athletes from decorated medalists to crowd favorites to provide their new fans with raw emotion. Many athletes have tweeted emotions and "instagrammed selfies" to give fans a personal look into the Games. Every year there are superstars, but it makes them that much more lovable when you get to see a little bit of the personality behind the medal!
(A few Canadian curlers after a long day)
As the Olympics comes to a close this weekend, let us salute the good, the bad, and the hilarious of Sochi 2014!
This past week included one of the most exciting times for a college football fan, National Signing Day! This day is the only thing that keeps the ultimate fan breathing during the off-season. Who could blame them? The future fate of a college's success seems as if it lies in the hands of these kids. Coming from a recruiting background, I understand the obsession with tracking of an athlete in hopes that he will sign with your program. At the same time, social media has taken the day to an all new level.
(class rankings after 2014 NSD)
Before the rise of social media, recruiting was kept under the radar with only a few reliable sources available for people to gain access (rivals.com and scout.com). With the increasing release of social media sites, people can now gain information about a player by stalking his Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social site he has presence in. We know the recruits every thought, football related or not, as well as have the opportunity to harass them first hand. This has lead to new rules in recruiting and understandably so; with all the new outlets of communication it makes the recruiting process that much harder to control and keep fair.
(ESPN covered National Signing Day all day both on TV and online)
Football recruits now have to "market" themselves on social media sites in order to please overbearing fan bases; everything is public for fans to see and they definitely take notice. Constant harassment has become common to the top recruits in the nation as signing day approaches each year. Each player is making one of the biggest decisions of his life in deciding where to carry on his football career, yet we make that decision so much harder. This past signing day, top recruit Rashaan Evans picked Alabama over hometown favorite Auburn; fans were furious with his unexpected flip and have been harassing Evans ever since. Don't we think this is getting out of hand? Evans picked the program he felt he should play at and yet instead of being supportive of the player, fans lashed out and have been hateful. However, I do not speak for all fans of a particular program, as many fans do not act in in such a harsh way. Many fans praised Evans for picking the school he wanted and congratulated him; unfortunately the few that have been hateful are the ones making headlines.
(Evans in a recent interview regarding his life post-NSD)
So what is National Signing Day REALLY becoming? Is it "College Football Christmas" or has social media and a few bitter fans made the day a signing recruit's worst nightmare?
Although Malcom Smith is a well deserved MVP for the Seattle Seahawks domination over the Denver Broncos on Sunday, the game was not the event making buzz. Even with the lack luster combination of football and advertising, Sunday's Super Bowl set a record with the audience reaching 111.49 million (surpassing 111.35 million viewers from 2012 Super Bowl against the Giants and Patriots). Fox even stated that the game had more viewers than "any other television program in US history." Pretty anti-climatic outcome for all those viewers if you ask me. However while many considered the ads dull, major corporations turned to a new form of advertising that I had expected to see this year, a tie between social media and traditional marketing.
According to CNN money, 57% of Super Bowl commercials featured hashtags. Many companies made the right choice by getting on the hashtag bandwagon; over 25.3 million tweets related to the Super Bowl happened over the course of the game. Personally, there were two advertising MVPs for this game.
1. Esurance (#EsuranceSave30)
This genius commercial aired just after the game with a simple promise to save people money on insurance. They proved this and generated buzz by promising to give away all the money they had saved by purchasing the first ad after the SuperBowl, a whopping $1.5 million to one lucky tweeter. As of yesterday, over 2 million tweets have included the #EsuaranceSave30. Keep expecting to see this continue until Wednesday night when the winner is revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Esurance did a fantastic job of integrating the traditional Super Bowl advertising with the growing social media outlet. However, does this mean that more people will switch to Esurance? Only time will tell but one thing is for sure, Esurance definitely generated buzz!
2. Chevrolet ("Life")
This is not the traditional ad one would have expected to see at the Super Bowl. Most companies are all about creating clever commercials to be shared over and over between friends and family, however, Chevrolet decided to invoke emotion to get the attention of consumers and I love it! They made us cry, relate, understand their message and most of all they made us want to do more. Chevrolet teamed up with the American Cancer Society and created the #PurpleYourProfile campaign to not only increase brand awareness but inspire "facebookers" to get involved. How could you not take the call to action and purple your profile in honor of World Cancer Day? Better yet, Chevrolet will donate $1 for every purple profile up to $1 million. I felt like part of a group and purpose yesterday when I saw all the purple profile pictures and that was exactly the goal Chevrolet and the American Cancer Society had in mind. Chevrolet raised cancer and brand awareness with perfectly subtle advertising.
There were many other noteworthy competitors, but to me personally these two took the MVP awards. I'll let you be the judge of your favorites.
As I was scrolling through my Twitter news feed last night I came across a very interesting tweet from one of my friends. It said: "Twitter is like one big family watching TV together." Wow. I had never thought of it like that but it was completely accurate. My feed consisted of comments about everything from the Grammys to the final runs of the X Games to The Bachelor Wedding. Even though I personally was watching the X Games, I knew exactly what was going on in the Grammys when Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons killed it on stage and Daft Punk won every award; simultaneously I knew all of Catherine's vows from The Bachelor Wedding. Everyone had an opinion and I knew them all, as if I was sitting right beside them watching each show.
(trends from January 26th)
Today Twitter has become a major source to keep up with the latest and greatest things going on in the world. If something gets trending, you will be sure to know about it within minutes of happening. The reason Twitter has done so well is because of the concept of the "live feed." As it happens, you see every reaction and update in real-time.
My Twitter feed personally is full of game scores, the latest recruiting statuses, and a plethora of coaching changes. This is where I look to get the most updated information when I don't have time to look up full stories online. Every team, agency, venue, and player seems to have an account today; this is how they stay connected with the fan base. This brief interactions with players are more personal than just reading a story or seeing them on TV.
(fans reach out to football player Orson Charles for his birthday)
The sport industry has caught on to the power of marketing through Twitter. I look forward to seeing the continuation of highlights, fan interactions, and quick headlines. Look out for next week when I tie this Sunday's Super Bowl buzz to Twitter.
Yes, Super Bowl Sunday is less than TWO weeks away and the beloved Peyton Manning and his Denver Broncos will be taking on the "rising star" Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. Should be a game for the ages, right? Well many companies certainly think so as they wait patiently all year hoarding their advertising budgets for this monster event. So as we approach the big game, I decided to dive in a little deeper into the event that is not just about the final score anymore.
Over the years, Super Bowl Sunday has become a huge event not only to all sports fans, but to companies with money to spend. There has been a steady rise since the new millennium on Super Bowl advertising that one can contribute to the new age of online media and growth.However, cost is outgrowing the number of traditional TV views over the last two decades. So why would a company spend the estimated price-tag of $4 million dollars this year for a 30 second spot?
Two Words: BUZZ MARKETING
Since the Super Bowl Ads have become part of the main event, they are actually generating more views then the game itself, with over 109 million viewers tuning in for the ads last year. The views do not stop here however. Buzz Marketing comes into play when the viewership continues for weeks and weeks after the commercial aired. Particularly good commercials, like my personal favorite from last year of the Budweiser Clydesdales (click it, you know you want to), are shared among groups and viewed again and again on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. This is where many companies believe that the $4 million upfront cost pays off. Free advertising continues long after the initial viewing through consumer word of mouth; we are literally advertising for the company and it is not going to end anytime soon. As more buzz generates around the ads and the ads themselves become better and better, social media will become a major platform for advertising without the companies spending anymore money. Expect to see some well-known players like Anheusr-Buch InBev, Chevorlet, Coca-Cola, and Audi all back and better than ever for Super Bowl XLVIII (2014 Super Bowl Ad Chart).
So go forth and re-watch some of your favorite ads from 2013 and get ready to find new favorites for the year, I know I will be.
