Are you looking for new ways to drive ticket sales during the month of December? Are you looking for ways to engage fans around the holidays?

The NBA's Memphis Grizzlies created a terrific elf animated video to help drive ticket sales during the Holiday season. The team is hosting the video and details on exclusive ticket packages on the microsite, GrizzHoliday.com.

In the video, the Grizzlies feature stars Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Marc Gasol, and Zach Randolph who use a little holiday jingle to help Grizzlies fans get in the mood to buy some tickets. Check out the Grizzlies' Holiday Gift Pack campaign below and stay tuned for more details on who helped them create this unique ticket sales driving piece!

Source: SportsBusiness Daily

Are you looking for new ways to leverage QSR partners? Are you looking for ways to tie ticket sales drivers into partnership agreements?

The Columbus Blue Jackets recently announced a partnership agreement with SUBWAY Restaurants offering the team's fans an incredible promotional offer. SUBWAY and the Blue Jackets organization are teaming up to offer a "4 Subs, 4 Stubs" promotion that enables fans who purchase four (4) foot-long subs in one (1) transaction to receive a voucher for:

• (4) select Blue Jackets tickets for just $5 each (in the SUBWAY Fresh Seats)
• (4) Blue Jackets/Subway co-branded shirts

The Blue Jackets have designated 250 SUBWAY Fresh Seats for five (5) select games during the 2009-10 season. When the allotted tickets are gone, fans can use the voucher as a $5 discount on select area tickets. Consumers may take advantage of the SUBWAY Fresh Seats at the following games:

• December 14th vs. Nashville
• January 18th vs. St. Louis
• February 4th vs. Dallas
• March 2nd vs. Vancouver
• March 15 vs. Edmonton

The Blue Jackets organization did a terrific job concepting the "Subway Fresh Seats" section - an idea that will most likely be replicated in many other venues. Check back for additional "fresh" ideas from the Blue Jackets soon!

Are you looking for new ways to drive ticket sales? Are you looking for new ways to leverage the globalization of sports?

The Washington Wizards currently feature a cool "Wizards vs. the World" tab under the Schedule drop-down bar on the team's official webpage. The "Wizards vs. the World" tab leads to a creative webpage that features a breakdown of 85 players representing 38 countries currently competing in the NBA. 

The Wizards vs. the World page is designed to sell tickets to consumers interested in seeing their favorite international players/countries represented, versus necessarily coming to see the Wizards play. This ticketing concept could prove to be very successful, especially in a city like Washington, D.C. that serves as a melting pot for different cultures and nationalities.

The "Wizards vs. the World" page gives consumers a one-stop shop to search and purchase tickets to see their favorite international players competing against the Wizards organization. The team even offers a special discount for groups of 15+ through the website. Check it out below:

Are you looking for new ways to demonstrate value to season ticket holders? Are you looking for ways to promote small businesses in the local marketplace?

Sports organizations looking for new ways to provide value to dedicated season ticket holders should consider finding new ways to advertise and promote "their" business. In 2008, the New York Knicks created a tremendous resource - the Knicks Business Alliance - to drive sales/B2B efforts amongst the businesses of the team's season ticket holders.

Teams should consider taking the Business Alliance concept one step further by featuring pillars/LED stadium concourse level signage that touts season ticket holders' business cards or related information. Teams could consider partnering with a financial/insurance/tax services company to execute the initiative (and provide additional benefits/services for all parties involved).

The Firstbank in Colorado recently implemented a similar initiative that has drawn raves of excitement. The bank installed a series of rotating display signage that featured a collection of business cards representing their small business customers with the tagline, "We care about small business" (a team could use the tagline, "We care about our season ticket holders").

Source: CherryFlava.com

Are you looking for new ways to spur ticket sales? Are you looking to leverage a team mascot in a media campaign?

The Utah Flash of the NBA D-League recently called on their mascot, Flash Fox, to pull of an incredible stunt to drive season ticket sales. The team asked their mascot to live atop of a billboard along I-15 in American Fork, UT until the team sold 500 incremental season ticket packages... so he did.

On Friday, October 16th, Flash Fox took residence on a billboard touting the team's "Buy Tickets, Save Flash Fox" campaign and lived there for a full week until the team sold 500 season ticket packages. To pass the time, Flash Fox chatted with fans online, broadcasted his day-to-day actions to fans across the nation via Ustream, and camped out with a tent and a rocking chair.

The Utah Flash did a tremendous job supporting the campaign with a custom microsite (www.saveflashfox.com) that fostered Flash Fox's online fan interaction and linked to official Twitter/Facebook pages that featured frequent posts and video updates. The site featured tickers that detailed how long Flash had been living on top of the billboard and how many tickets still needed to be sold. It also mentioned local companies/persons who purchased tickets in support of the cause. 

When the team successfully sold 500 tickets, it called on the local fire department to help Flash Fox get down and filmed the entire story. Check out a terrific video of the entire campaign here:

Check out some of the media exposure the team received from the campaign:

• Yahoo Sports - http://is.gd/4zBkm
• Fox 13 - http://is.gd/4zBgO

Are you looking for new ways to bump attendance at home games this season? Are you looking for ways to rejuvenate excitement amongst your fans?

Heading into the 2009-10 season, the Phoenix Coyotes are offering a "We Win, You Win" promotion designed to drive attendance at select games tis season. As part of the team's "Join the pack" season marketing initiative, the Coyotes have designated five (5) home games this season where fans can win a free ticket to a future home game if the team wins.

The Coyotes will be distributing a voucher for a free ticket to an upcoming game to fans attending one (1) of the following five (5) Saturday games. If the team wins, fans can redeem their voucher for a free ticket exclusively at the Jobing.com Box Office.

• Saturday, October 24th vs. Los Angeles Kings
• Saturday, November 14th vs. Dallas Stars
• Saturday, December 5th vs. Ottawa Senators
• Saturday, January 16th vs. Minnesota Wild
• Saturday, February 15th vs. Dallas Stars

The team's 2009-10 marketing efforts are designed to strengthen the relationship between the organization and its fan base after a rocky summer of buyout and relocation talks. It will be interesting to see if Coyotes fans respond favorably to the promotion and whether it is a move that will either generate incremental ticket sales or backfire down the road (e.g. fans waiting for another free offer to attend games vs. taking action and purchasing). Nonetheless, it is a creative way to drive interest in the team and fill the seats at the Jobing.om Arena.

Are you looking for new ways to drive interest in partial season ticket plans? Are you looking to create a rewards program for season ticket holders?

Marquette University recently launched an extensive social media ticketing strategy that is cutting edge in the collegiate sports space. The site, www.marquetteminiplans.com, was created to provide fans with extremely affordable mini-plans that offers prize rewards for spreading the word virally with family and friends. The site organizers have developed an impressive scheme to encourage fans to make the site as viral as possible.

How does the site work?

• Fans are asked to create a user name, soak in the excitement of Marquette basketball, and earn prizes for doing so
• The more videos fans watch, the more people they share the site with, and the more tickets they purchase = MORE PRIZES
• Fans receive prize points for a variety of tasks:
  • Signing Up (500 points), Watching a Video (100 Points), Finding a Bonus Video (1000 Points), Passing Along the Site to Friends (2500 Points), Posting the Site on Twitter (2750 Points), Connecting with the Page on Facebook (2750 Points), Submitting a Personal Video (4000 Points), Buy a Mini-Plan (3000 Points), Buy Season Tickets (4000 Points) 
• Just for participating, fans can win a variety of prizes:
  • Commemorative 2003 Final Four Ring (2500 Points), Travis Diener Bobblehead (5000 Points), Fleece Blanket (10,000 Points), Winter Hat (15,000 Points), Mini Backboard and Hoop (20,000 Points), Al McGuire Statue (25,000 Points)

The site offers a ton of information on ticketing plans (in the lower left corner of the screen, in a non-intrusive manner) that enable consumers to explore their options and choose which plans might work best for them (and get rewarded for it).

The site is extremely well done and is a "must-see" for sports business professionals working in all aspects of the industry because it serves as a terrific example of ways to leverage social media to drive your business. Marquette's prize structure (providing fans with points for spreading the site virally and the chance to redeem those points for quality prizes) is a terrific benchmark for brands and sports organizations looking to rewards fans for their call-to-action.

Marquette is leveraging its Twitter page (@MUAthletics) to drive awareness to the page with posts that say, "Watch videos, earn prize points, spread the excitement of #mubb basketball" and "100 reasons to Experience Marquette Basketball. Have fun and let us know what you think".

Are you looking for new ways to drive team buzz online? Are you looking for ways to reward your organization's most avid followers online?

The Utah Jazz recently drove buzz for its '09 preseason home opener against the Denver Nuggets by offering thousands of free tickets to fans who signed up to follow the team on Twitter. On the day of the game, fans that went to the ticket office at Energy Solutions Arena and showed a tweet containing the offer (and proving that they were a follower on Twitter) could receive a free ticket to the game.

Here is a quick breakdown of how the team promoted the offer on Twitter:

Are you looking for new ways to reward fans at the ballpark? Are you looking to create new ticket promotions based on team performance?

This season, the Milwaukee Brewers are running a "Dollars for Dingers" ticket promotion where fans can save $1 off a Loge Outfield ticket (regularly $28) for EACH Brewers home run hit over a 10-day stretch of the season. The promotion offers fans the chance to save a lot of money on their tickets based on the team's performance (if the team hit 28 home runs during the stretch, fans would receive tickets for free).

When the team offered the promotion from June 15 - June 25, the Brewers' power hitters slugged 12 home runs, discounting the price of the $28 loge seats to just $16 ($12 off) during a 2-game July homestand against the St. Louis Cardinals. Earlier this season, the team sold out their Dollars for Dingers ticket inventory in just 30 minutes, demonstrating the strong support the promotion has received.

Look for more teams to showcase discounted tickets based on team performance!