After talking about the place of promotional towels in professional sports, I was lucky enough to stumble on this video which gives a very brief history of the most famous example of the rally towel: The Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel. The footage of entire stadiums waving their giveaways sure is awe-inspiring. I’m a big proponent of teams providing their fans with ways to get involved and show their support during the game, and the Steelers certainly know what they’re doing in this regard! Check out the video here:

Posted: November 17th, 2008 under Football, Souvenirs, stadium giveaways.
Comments: 1

Giving away stadium promotions does more than give fans an extra reason to show up at the ballpark. Fun stadium giveaways also engage fans in a hands-on manner and let them get involved in the outcome of the game! Back in April, Mets fans at Shea Stadium arrived to receive free promotional towels, a.k.a. “Rally Towels”, that they could swing around to show support for their team. There’s no doubt that thousands of swinging towels certainly has the ability to distract members of the visiting team!

The  towels ended up coming in handy during this extra innings game played against the Phillies almost 7 months ago. The Mets did in fact end up rallying to defeat their division rival in 12 innings with a score of 4-3. Fans got to take home a fun souvenir that provides them with a way to instantly remember the fun they had at the ballpark, and increases the odds of them returning to see the Mets win more exciting games in the future.

Posted: November 13th, 2008 under Baseball, Souvenirs, stadium giveaways.
Comments: none

How about using promotional products to help your favorite team win? Lots of teams understand that providing noisemakers such as promotional boom sticks to their fans can actually give stadium-goers a chance to influence the game! This engages fans and gets them more involved in the action and excited about coming to the stadium. Boom sticks are especially popular at basketball games, as fans go wild attempting to distract free throw shooters on the opposing team. Other items like the Pittsburgh Steelers’ “Terrible Towel” help fans display solidarity and support for their team at both home and away games.

When fans leave, they can take noisemakers and other promotions home as a free souvenir. The multiple imprint options on branded boom sticks also makes them great for co-sponsored promotions, which are popular at many sporting events.

Posted: August 27th, 2008 under Basketball, Football, General, Souvenirs, stadium giveaways.
Comments: none

There’s a great article in the August 2008 issue of Promo Magazine that talks about the use of ballpark promotions — their purpose, their effectiveness, and their future. Richard Tedesco gives great insight into the use of promotional products in sports marketing, and shows how savvy marketers are focusing on creating a comprehensive entertainment experience for fans, instead of expecting people to fill the stadiums and sit there on their butts for the sake of it.

As basketball and football overtake baseball in popularity, sports marketers are faced with a new challenge: How can they create a value-added experience for fans that gives them a great reason to come to the ballpark, besides the game itself? Many baseball marketers admit that its easier for fans to watch the game from the comfort of their couch, so they’re looking for ways to draw fans out of their homes with exciting themes, celebrations, and free giveaways.

Promotional products aren’t viewed as a quick fix for low attendance. Instead, marketers view these giveaways as a way to make fans more comfortable with the idea of coming out to the ballpark, and hope that the entire experience gives them a reason to do it more often. Free giveaways benefit the team and the fans as much as they help the sponsors’ brands. It’s a win-win-win situation!

Posted: August 14th, 2008 under Baseball.
Comments: none