We noted last night that ESPN corporate parent Disney shoved a bunch of hilariously bad references to the college football playoff games on New Year’s Eve into yesterday’s episode of General Hospital. Commenter JortReform noted that even Disney Jr. had been running tie-in promos, and we caught one of them on TV today.…
In what will probably go down as the most effective marketing ploy directed solely at white people since the invention of gourmet mayonnaise, the Indiana Pacers have announced that the team will wear Hickory High jerseys—the very same worn by the fictional high school basketball team in the movie Hoosiers—during a…
If you're like the average American, your experience of major horse races centers on one: the Kentucky Derby. Perhaps you know a bit more about the sport and follow the Preakness and the Belmont as well, putting a bit of money down in the same spirit in which you'd pick a bracket and talking up Triple Crown winners…
Amar'e Stoudemire, himself synonymous with scratched retinas, torn-up knees and uninsurable contracts, was emotionally blackmailed this week by a pushy contractor working for the University of Louisville's marketing department, and subsequently donated $2,500 to that department so it could invest in 1,000 "big heads"…
Evil Enterprises Inc., owners of a website with the URL baseballsevilempire.com which currently will not load due to a malware warning—probably Yankee tampering—recently filed a trademark claim for the term "Baseballs Evil Empire," which was sniffed out and promptly disputed by the lawyers employed by Basbeball's Evil…
Lance Armstrong probably doesn't feel like a grand prize this week. But he is.
Here are the companies that, in the last 10 hours or so, have announced they will end, not renew, or otherwise quietly distance themselves from their endorsement deals with Lance Armstrong.
Things are bad for Lance Armstrong these days. Marketing wizards have been trying to find out just how bad and the answer is "extremely."
It must have been written into the Eagles' contract with the Angry Birds video game empire that cartoon Andy Reid cannot be fat. Instead the Eagles coach is impossibly muscular at a press conference introducing the newest members of the team: Red Bird, Yellow Bird, and, I don't know, the other birds.
What's the saying? If you'll keg stand for something, you'll fall for anything? Promoters of the Preakness Stakes must believe it. Turns out that Kegasus, spokesbeast for the Preakness and the best mascot in all of sports, is a sham.
Griffin, the sure-to-be second pick in Thursday's draft, was announced last week as Subway's newest pitchman. He's in New York today, where he was greeted by a larger-than-life bust lovingly crafted out of barbecue chicken and various sandwich toppings. ("The hair Is peppers and the teeth are garlic.")
If you have trouble understanding what Derrick Rose of the locked-out Chicago Bulls is talking about at this stop on his Adidas promotional tour, subtitles are provided.
Nobody—OK, maybe Craggs—is more skeptical and mistrustful of the University of Maryland/Under Armour marketing-and-football partnership than I am. I'm on the record predicting shame and ruin for the athletic department in its pursuit of buzz and glory.
The Associated Press reports that the dry-goods sales-and-marketing company Nike has provoked a reaction by selling t-shirts designed to provoke a reaction. The shirts include "the phrases 'Dope,' 'Get High' and 'Ride Pipe,'" the AP reports.
Yes, the Knicks have rings, this T-shirt declares. Two of them. From 1970 and 1973. And yes, the NBA store is charging its fans $20 to be reminded of the fact that they've hardly come close since. Available for purchase in orange or blue, shipping and shame not included.
Via Bob's Blitz.
The Texas Rangers have sent out a marketing survey to their newsletter subscribers. Among other things, the front office wants to know if Rangers fans want the team to be "75% Wild West" Texas and "25% Today's" Texas. Or is 50-50 preferable?
The NBA has an exciting new promotion where fans can earn two free tickets to a Washington home game simply by drinking five cups of Dunkin Donuts coffee. Or save up for a sixth cup....and get another cup of coffee!
Ok, really it's rent to own. But if you need a large man with questionable basketball skills to come to your birthday party, bar mitzvah—or you just need some boxes moved—the New Jersey Nets can arrange that.
At best it's a blunt instrument to pound LAND OF THE LOST into every NBA fan's head. At worst it's a weird attempt at subliminal persuasion. But we can all agree that those NBA Playoffs/summer movie crosspromotions are unbelievably annoying.
