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:

One of the highlights of the 2010 NBA All-Star weekend was a life-sized, 7-foot bobblehead figurine of Dallas Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki. The statue was an instant attraction for fans searching for photo opportunities within the interactive NBA Jam Session footprint and served as an effective way for the Mavericks organization to highlight its franchise player.

The team brought the statue to life for fans by allowing them to purchase $5 raffle tickets for the chance to own it, with 100% of proceeds benefiting the Mavs Foundation.  

Source: DallasObserver.com

Are you looking for new ways to drive ticket sales through social media channels? Are you looking for ways that Facebook can help drive your business?

Rutgers University recently announced that it would be offering a select ticket offer to all fans who sign up for its official University Athletics webpage. The promotion, entitled "Facebook Friday", enables fans who join the Rutgers Athletics Facebook page by Friday, January 29th will receive an exclusive promotional code for $5.00 tickets in the promenade for the Rutgers MBB home game against Notre Dame on Saturday, January 30th.

By creating "Facebook Friday", "Twitter Tuesday", and "Social Media Saturday" offers, teams can create a simple, memorable reminder for fans looking for promotional discounts and exclusive opportunities. It is one thing to continuously offer fans bland offers. It's another to create signature promotional campaigns around select days throughout the week (where one can expect to drive significant impressions and engagement). 

Sports marketers looking for other ways to leverage Facebook should consider checking out a Checkers Facebook Coupons initiative that the Charlotte Checkers recently implemented. The team is featuring printable coupons (positioned as banner ads) that members of the Checkers' Facebook Fan Page can redeem for free merchandise, discounts, and special promotions. However it is important to note that if organizations chose to replicate the "Facebook Coupons" concept, one should ensure that they have the appropriate fulfillment and messaging in place to satisfy fan demand on game day!

Check out the conceptual design of the Checkers Facebook Coupons below:

adidas recently drove awareness and traffic to its flagship store on Orchard Road in Singapore by executing a terrific Stars Wars guerrilla marketing stunt. The exhibition, designed to promote the launch of adidas' 2010 Originals x Star Wars collection, featured approximately 20 Stars Wars characters (led by Darth Vader) raiding the adidas store, purchasing goods, and engaging with consumers while walking the streets of Singapore with branded adidas bags in tow. adidas teamed up with the 501st Star Wars Costume Group to execute the stunt.

Sports properties looking for new ways to drive traffic and buzz at retail should consider ways that they can benchmark adidas' creative Star Wars stunt. For example, properties and retail partners can easily team up to hire a team of actors wearing football equipment (resembling the team's players) running through a mall and into a desired store location during a busy shopping weekend.

Retail partners can even drive team affiliation awareness by featuring actors (in uniforms) doing touchdown celebrations/plays at high-traffic street corners and offer tickets/discounts to passerby consumers. Consider ways that you can leverage mascots and non-traditional characters (e.g. actors in uniform) to drive traffic and awareness to your location. For the price of store appearance by a premier player ($750+ for 90 minutes), retailers can deliver as much (if not more) value with a set of qualified actors performing a unique marketing stunt!

Check out adidas' Star Wars stunt below:

The ECHL's Charlotte Checkers recently promoted their partnership with the Park at Steele Creek living community by creating a humorous "Cribs" vignette that features the apartment of defenseman Ethan Graham. The 8:31 feature does a tremendous job profiling "The Official Off-Ice Home of the Charlotte Checkers" and provide fans with an inside look at the lifestyle of a minor league hockey player. It's refreshing to see teams work so closely with their players to provide unique content for fans (even if we aren't dealing with mansions and luxury automobiles behind the scenes)...

The Checkers feature the Cribs vignette along with a collection of other videos on the team's official YouTube Channel (check it out - a nice benchmark for other minor league organizations). 

Check out the Checkers' Cribs segment below:

Hats off to Thomas Smith and Patrick Stack for continuing to do some great things for the Checkers organization... keep up the great work!

Arsenal FC recently honored the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, the team's official charity of 2009, by creating a terrific "Fundraising Day" promotional spot to inspire fans. The team is dedicating their November 29th match against Chelsea to the cause and Arsenal players and directors will be donating a day's wages to help raise funds for the team's charity - an act that is unheard of in the United States.

The team's humorous "Fundraising Day" campaign spot features four (4) players (Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Andrey Arshavin, and Bacary Sagna) dressed as mascots and roaming the streets in an effort to collect funds for the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. The club hopes that the promotional vignette will help them meet their "Be a Gooner. Be a Giver" '09-'10 campaign goal of raising 500,000 euros.   

Check out the clip below:

Filming the promotional spot proved to be a hit with the team's players:

Sony BMG recently turned to Umbro and five (5) freestyle soccer players to create one of the greatest sports-music experiments of all time. Sony BMG was looking for a unique way to promote a new hit single (Underdog) from the British band Kasabian and decided to do so by creating a real-life version of Guitar Hero using the help of some soccer enthusiasts.

The collaborating parties placed huge target billboard panels (synched up to a Guitar Hero game featuring the new song) on the walls of an abandoned warehouse and tasked the five (5) soccer players with kicking soccer balls at the targets with enough accuracy to strike the right chord. After seventeen (17) attempts, the group achieved an accuracy score of 76! Pretty impressive!  

Check out the Kasabian Football Hero execution below:

Check out a behind-the-scenes look of how the spot was produced:

Source: SportsMarketing.fr

Sports organizations looking for new ways to honor their players, supporters, and staff (past and present), should consider benchmarking the recent efforts of Arsenal FC. The EPL club has recently made a concerted effort (which it refers to as Arsenalisation) to recognize its greatest team contributors and moments.  

The Arsenalisation movement is highlighted by "The Spirit of Highbury", an image erected at the South end of the club's new home, Emirates Stadium, that features a lineup of every Arsenal player and manager that competed for the team when it played at the Highbury (their old venue facility) between 1913 and 2006. Arsenal FC put a tremendous amount of effort into The Spirit of Highbury, as it even called on the likes of Nike and Wieden and Kennedy (W+K) to complete the project.  

The club created the amazing image by blending a range of images from glass negatives to modern digital photography. There are only four (4) players who remain unaccounted for in the image and are featured as silhouettes. Per Arsenal's website, "the Spirit of Highbury now stands as a permanent symbol of the Club's proud history and a testament to the achievements that have stemmed from the efforts of every player, supporter, and member of staff, past and present".

Check out how the Spirit of Highbury was created below:

With the 2010 Vancouver Olympics taking place officially less than 100 days away, many official Olympics partners and ambush marketers are already implementing significant programs to build buzz and excitement for the Games. Here is a quick look at ten (10) of the best in-market branding and activation elements generating buzz across Canada:

As the Minnesota Twins get ready to move into Target Field, their new downtown ballpark, the organization's fanbase has a lot to look forward to. The team is coming off a tremendous 2009 season and has many of its star players returning for another season.

To spark excitement for the upcoming 2010 season, the Twins organization recently released a humorous campaign entitled Twins-portation that features the team moving into their new stadium facility. The spot serves as a great benchmark for teams looking to leverage their past successes, current stars, and future in a single messaging campaign... it's very unique - check it out below: