Friday, March 19, 2010 at 10:36PM Are you looking for new ways to generate excitement for the game of soccer in large cities? Are you looking to perform a unique soccer stunt?
Check out this unique sky scraper soccer stunt where a player attempts to score an amazing goal!
Friday, March 19, 2010 at 09:43PM Are you looking for new ways to promote non-profit organizations and charitable partners? Are you looking to new ways to create an enticing call-to-action for fans?
FC Barcelona star Lionel Leo Messi recently teamed up with UNICEF, the team's jersey naming rights partner, to create a powerful viral piece designed to drive awareness and participation in support of a good cause. The 22-year old footballer recently signed a 2-year commitment with UNICEF to work on behalf of the world's most vunerable children and created the viral spot to encouage others to join him in his efforts.
The piece is powerful and extremely well done. Check it out:
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 08:18AM Check out this really cool Joga TV piece by Nike that features Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic challenging one another in a skills showdown. It is pretty interesting to see how Nike is beginning to incorporate more and more technology into their productions...
Monday, March 15, 2010 at 08:02AM 
Are you looking for new ways to enhance your hospitality footprint? Are you looking to create an on-site activation plan designed to spur nationalism?
Since 1992, Heineken has created a "Holland House" at each of the Olympic Games for all Dutch athletes, family members, friends, sponsors, media representatives, and VIP guests to enjoy while demonstrating their support for the Dutch athletes during Olympic competition.
The Heineken Holland House, serving as the home of the Dutch Olympic Committee, is an ultimate fan destination for those attending the Olympic Games. In 2010, the Heineken Holland House featured a main hall that hosted 4,000 people every night with various entertainment, including celebratory medal ceremonies and nightly performances by Dutch artists and DJ's. The venue also features a Lodge Restaurant as well as a number of interactive games for all to enjoy.
Check out a behind-the-scenes look at the incredible venue:
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 08:32PM 
A rendering of the JetBlue tailfinAre you looking for new ways to leverage airline partners? Are you looking to bolster your gate entrances with elements that drive awareness for your organization's cornerstone partners?
The Florida Panthers and JetBlue are celebrating their partnership by featuring a 22.5' x 26' airplane tailfin outside the BankAtlantic Center in South Florida. The fixture will serve as a gathering place for fans prior to games, concerts, and related events taking place at the arena. The tailfin will be revealed at a ceremony prior to the Panthers home game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, May 16th in an area the team is calling the "JetBlue Tarmac".
The giant tailfin signifies a non-traditional landmark that teams can consider incorporating at stadium gate entrances to drive greater awareness for their airline partners. With custom airline paint schemes becoming an industry trend, a signature tailfin landmark serves as a great way to tie everything together on-site for fans.
Ad Graphics, a corporate partner of the Panthers organization, built the tailfin off-site and transported multiple pieces to the BankAtlantic Center parking lot in early March to be assembled. Check out how the team built the giant tailfin here.
The Panthers and JetBlue announced a partnership in November 2009 and are further leveraging the agreement with TrueBlue Nights at the BankAtlantic Center, joint marketing promotions, and advertising. On TrueBlue nights, fans can receive a free ticket to a Panthers game by wearing blue or signing up to become a TrueBlue Member.
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 11:50PM Are you looking to feature action sports in non-traditional settings? Are you looking for new ways to incorporate action sports?
Nike continues to revolutionize the action sports space by refurbishing non-traditional areas into ultimate attractions for skateboard/snowboard enthusiasts. Nike recently ventured to the German countryside to create its newest action sports spectacle, "The Farm".
Once the project was complete, Nike invited some of the world's greatest action sports enthusiasts to try out all of the new toys it had to offer... Check out the viral piece below!
Monday, March 8, 2010 at 11:17PM Are you looking to create a viral campaign that emphasizes team unity and focus? Are you looking for new ways to engage fans on one united front?
Nike recently released a powerful viral piece that demonstrates the things the Dutch National Team will need to effectively do during the 2010 World Cup to realize their full potential. The piece, entitled "Bleed as One" is very interesting because it uses some unusual imagery to demonstrate how the team will need to compete as a united front with with resolve and focus, not just their brilliant style of play.
Check out the piece below:
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 11:20PM 
Are you looking to offer new premium giveaways for fans? Have you considered attempting to set a Guinness World Record at your venue?
Sports organizations looking for ways to enhance their premium giveaway nights should take a moment to benchmark the Cleveland Cavaliers' recent Snuggie Night presented by KeyBank. The team took the Snuggie giveaway night to the next level by asking all fans with a ticket to arrive early to the game to partake in a Guinness World Record attempt. The offer was so enticing, tickets were rumored to be going for 10-times face value for the event.
For the first five (5) minutes of the game, 20,000+ rabid Cavaliers fans wore their Snuggie, helping the team set an official record for most fleece blankets of one (1) colors worn in one (1) place: 20,562. While fans put on their cool premium giveaways, so did Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and the Cavs' dance team, who were given custom versions. Even the Cavaliers and Pistons players were given special, large-sized versions of the Snuggie premiums with their names and numbers monogrammed.
What are the chances of setting your own official Guiness World Record? Unfortunately, just 3% of the 60,000 applications submitted on an annual basis are approved and executed. But they can always say no...
Check out a video of the Cavs' Snuggie execution below! Well done, especially to KeyBank on their post-event execution featuring a microsite with pictures, videos, and a sweepstakes offer for fans who weren't able to attend!
A special thanks to Alex Vitanye of the Ohio University Center for Sports Administration for his insights and contributions to this column. Source: Cleveland.com
Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 09:16AM 
Are you looking for new ways to entice fans? Are you looking for the hottest new promotions in sports?
2K Sports recently announced that it is offering a $1 million prize to the first person who throws a perfect game in its new release, MLB 2K10. The skill-based challenge marked a unique way to engage fans and drive a significant amount of buzz around the release of the game on March 2nd.
The simple catch? Entrants must record the entirety of their game, either with a camera aimed at the television or recorded digitally. To ensure legitimacy of submissions, 2K Sports is working with Twin Galaxies, a worldwide sanctioning authority for video game high scores and records... And only one (1) person can win!
The chances of a perfect game happening in the Major Leagues? Just 16 perfect games have been thrown in Major League Baseball since 1901 (during a stretch of 160,000 regular season games).
The company created a special microsite to reveal the details around "The Battle for $1,000,000", which included a set of nine (9) detail instructions:
Check out the promotional trailer below:
Source: Kotaku.com
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 11:16PM Cheerios capitalized on the buzz in Canada surrounding the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games by creating an initiative that provided consumers with an opportunity to cheer on their favorite Team Canada athletes.
In September 2009, Cheerios began selling boxes of cereal with a dotted line around the "Cheer" on the front of Cheerios boxes that consumers could cut out and mail in to demonstrate their support. The Cheer cards were addressed to the Olympic Village with postage covered by Canada Post and were featured on different displays across the city. Check out the final product of the campaign below:
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 10:25PM Are you looking for new ways to build nationwide excitement? Are you looking for ways to activate at global events?
Molson Canadian featured one of the best activation footprints in all of Vancouver for the 2010 Olympic Games. The brand's "Hockey House" was a hometown fixture that turned out to be the best place for hockey fans to watch games and listen to the latest Canadian music in Vancouver. But that wasn't all the brand did to support Canada's efforts to host the Olympic Games.
Check out some of their creative activation tactics below:
Molson Canadian Hockey House
Molson Canadian Digital Guest Book
Molson Canadian Rally Book
Molson Canadian also cheered on Team Canada by creating a "Made from Canada Rally Book", filled with thousands of good luck messages from fans across Canada, that was presented to some notable Canadian official prior to the hockey team's match against Russia. Check it out below:
Molson Canadian 2010 Mural Project
Molson built a mosaic of individual fan photos spanning a 4,000 square foot section on the outside wall of the Kitsilano brewery in Vancouer. The brand collected photos submitted via the site http://www.molsoncanadian.ca/2010muralproject/ to build a surprise Olympic-themed image and message for all consumers visiting the city to see. Check out how they launched the project:
Molson Canadian "Made from Canada" Commercial
Molson unveiled one of the finest Olympics commercials of all-time in 2010. The brand's "Made from Canada" piece does an incredible job screaming patriotism. Check it out below:
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 09:44PM 
Are you looking for new ways to engage fans prior to the season? Are you looking for new ways to drive fan engagement online?
The Los Angeles Dodgers recently teamed up with Channel 1 Media to create a terrific customized online campaign to engage fans prior to the start of the 2010 MLB season. The two parties created a really cool campaign that enables fans to create their own billboard... in a matter of seconds. The initiative, designed to drive fan interest and ticket sales, is a turnkey piece that can be implemented by teams from all leagues.
The campaign is really simple, yet very interactive and fun for consumers. The best part is the fact that it ties directly back to the Dodgers' terrific "This Is My Town" billboard messaging campaign from 2009 and truly lets fans be a part of the action. Channel 1 Media and the Dodgers also did a great job building in social media functionality to help the campaign go viral (see the Facebook, Twitter, and email functionality on the last picture below).
Check it out at http://channel1media.com/dodgers/2010/
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 09:10PM Are you looking for new ways to integrate technological advancements and sports? Are you searching for ways to incorporate non-traditional partners?
As soccer fans gear up for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, BP Castrol Japan is drawing a significant amount of buzz after creating a kicking machine that can kick a soccer ball 200+ kilometers per hour. BP Castrol Japan is leveraging the machine by offering a "Win a Trip to Challenge Ronaldo" promotion where fans from select countries can enter online for a chance to battle Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the world's most powerful shooters, in a head-to-head soccer kick competition.
Castrol signed a six-year agreement in June of 2008 to be an Official FIFA World Cup Sponsor after successfully deriving value out of the Castrol Index, an innovation it created in support of the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament.
Watch the kicking machine in action below:
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 06:34PM Are you looking for the latest and great best practices in the sports marketplace? Are you looking for new ways to leverage corporate partners?
Take a moment to check out the new February 2010 Partnership Activation 2.0 monthly newsletter. If you like what you see, please pass it along to three (3) friends at work.
This month's newsletter features a collection of insights, including:
If you are interested in signing up for the newsletter, please send an email with "Subscribe" in the subject line to newsletter@partnershipactivation.com. In the body of the email, please include your name, company affiliation, and contact information when subscribing.
Check out the February 2010 Issue now... and don't forget to pass it along to some friends!
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 05:05PM 
Are you looking for new ways to engage fans throughout the week? Are you looking to drive online engagement and an incremental number of fans to your organization's Facebook Fan Page?
Rockit Wrigleyville, a new bar and grill located in the heart of Wrigleyville, recently featured a promotion that provided consumers with a chance to have their face appear on a billboard located just outside Wrigley Field. For a chance to win, consumers just had to take their picture in front of the billboard and upload it to the restaurant's official Facebook fan page.
The entrant who posted a photo on the Facebook Fan Page that generate the most "likes" by other viewers was selected as the ultimate winner of the promotion. To drive interest in the offer, Rockit Wrigleyville offered a free $25 gift certificate to each contestant. The winner, John Walters, garnered 82 "likes" for his picture submission.
The low-cost promotion served as a tremendous way for Rockit Wrigleyville to drive buzz in the marketplace (consumers would encourage their friends to check out their photos and "like" them) as well as drive traffic and new fans to the restaurant's Official Facebook Fan Page.
The promotion serves as a really simple way for sports organizations to leverage stadium landmarks and billboards in the marketplace to spur fan engagement and drive traffic online to the official team facebook page via valuable content.
Check out some of the pictures that were submitted here.
Watch a video of the campaign below:
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 04:41PM Are you looking for new, creative ways to promote the game of soccer? Are you looking to feature a non-traditional outdoor campaign in select markets?
Soccer properties looking for new ways to market their organization should consider benchmarking an outdoor marketing tactic Lotto used around the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The company creatively branded the side of an overpass to resemble a soccer goal that fans walked under towards one of the site locations where a World Cup match was being played.
Check it out below:
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 04:27PM
Red Bull recently unveiled a really cool viral piece that features the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team testing the agility and speed of its cars in non-traditional, wintry conditions. The clip, created to celebrate the return of the Canadian Grand Prix, led Red Bull F1 driver Sebastien Buemi and his counterparts to Canada for a test run.
The unique viral piece demonstrates the out-of-the-box thing that needs to become more prevalent in the sport of NASCAR. After all, who wouldn't want to see high-speed racing on ice in the Great North?
Check out Red Bull's creative piece below:
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 03:45PM Are you looking for new ways to renovate areas within your stadium or arena? Are you looking for new ways to build your brand through unique messaging points on game day?
The Arizona Cardinals organization has done a tremendous job turning the walls of University of Phoenix Stadium into giant brand building pieces. The signage inventory can serve as a tremendous way to ingrain corporate partners in a non-intrusive manner. Check out some examples below:
Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 03:26PM 
Are you looking for new, creative ways to leverage the Olympics? Are you looking to promote Vitaminwater products on-site?
Vitaminwater recently featured two (2) unique activation tactics in Vancouver as a means to leverage consumer passion for the 2010 Olympic Games and drive awareness amongst tourists and residents strolling through the city. As a brand within the Coca-Cola family, Vitaminwater launched a full campaign around the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games that encouraged Canadian citizens, including Olympic athletes competing in the Games, to try its product.
Check out their two (2) unique engagement tactics below:
Vitaminwater Bus Shelter Renovation
Vitaminwater teamed up with Cleveland-based ad agency Brokaw to transform Vancouver bus shelters into ski lift seating for consumers to enjoy while touring the city. The unique bus shelter branding was accompanied by signage that read, "It Makes the Daily Routine Feel More Like an Olympic Event", and the minor branding tactic really served as a great way to escape the Olympic clutter experienced throughout Vancouver.
Vitaminwater Mini-Curling
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 09:11PM 
Are you looking for new ways to differentiate yourself in the job search? Are you looking for new ways to integrate social media into the mix?
@LauraGainor (check her out on Twitter!) recently unveiled a tremendous presentation she created for a position with Comet Branding, a progressive Milwaukee-based branding, PR, and social media agency. She created a unique piece that effectively told her story, incorporated new social media technologies, and demonstrated immediate results!
How did she do it?
While touring the city of Milwaukee, @LauraGainor utilized her social media skills to get creative and attract the attention of Comet Branding's @AlKrueger & @SaraMeaney. Laura decided to quietly work on a campaign designed to gauge their reaction from live tweets she posted while checking in at major Milwaukee attractions using the social media gaming tool, @Foursquare. She felt that this would serve as a more effective tactic than simply sending them an email that alerted them of her plans.
Laura also took advantage of using the newly launched Foursquare client, @SquarePik, which now allows you to post a photo of the venue you're at while checking in to gain points. She utilized this medium to grab the attention of Comet Branding by including their poster-sized company logo in each photo.
Laura compiled all of her interactions in a presentation format that told her story and effectively incorporated social media. In her deliverable, Laura featured a video she shot using TwitVideo on her iPhone 3GS and linked to all of her social media profiles (which you can see on the last page of the presentation).
Check out her innovative social media-centric presentation here:
