Gameops.com Promotion Pills: Promotion Enhancing Drugs
For the third Promotional Pill game review, we head north of the board to Calgary Alberta Canada for a Calgary Stampeders game. It should first be noted that the local refer to the team as the "Stamps", in case I slip and refer to the team in that manner.
We have notes from the game presentation, photos from the game action, video and will conclude the game review with the introduction of another Promotional Pill. These pills help to isolate different elements of a promotion to help find ways to improve them. Our goal is to create Pills that any team can use and apply to their own promotions.
Like the 2006 Gameops.com series Six from Six, this is our 2007 content series. In Six from Six we reviewed six teams and found six things they did well, building a list of 36 tools for you to consider when reviewing your own show. In the Promotion Pill Series we are building another list, this time a list of Pills (or tools) that you can apply to your own promotions to see if there are ways to enhance the value for fans or sponsors. Each Promotion Pill is intended to be broadly written so anyone can apply their affect to their own promotions to find ways to make them more powerful.
You can see the full list of current pills on the Promotion Pill home page.
Game Review:
The Calgary Stampeders took on the BC Lions, and lost 32-27 (Game stats) at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.
The List of Promotions
First let’s look at several of the promotions the RUSH presented at this game. Following the list, we will look at two the promotions and apply our first Promotion Pill to see how they might improve or further enhance the entertainment or sponsor value of the promotion.
Purolator Ball Delivery - Game Ball delivery by the mascot- Kickoff Kid - A sponsored moment where a young fan runs onto the field after the kickoff to grab the tee. There is a short voice over and a graphic on the video board. A simple non-intrusive moment and the young fan sprinting across the field is a fun visual.
- Dance Team Performance - During a longer break the dance team (the Outriders) left their sideline position for a dance on the field.
Note: This performance will be reviewed as part of the Promotion Pill on the second page of this report.
- Video: Golf Tournament Promo Video - A video focused on the dance team's upcoming golf tournament. Short and punchy.
- Commercials - The video board occasionally played standard television commercial spots for sponsors.
- Super Fan of the Game - SUper Drugmart sponsored a fan of the game. This was just an announcement with no live component. It felt like a bit of a lost opportunity since this is so often presented to a fan in the stands or as part of a seat upgrade.
- Stampede Memorable Moment Video - a hertitage piece about the history of the team. It included a n interview with a former player. The piece was slow moving, but was well placed (during a lull in the game). Videos like this are important because they give the whole event and season context. Paying respect to the history makes the current game feel more important, since in theory they may be looking back at today's game in 25 years.
- McDonald Junior Stampeder of the Game Contest - Sign up at local McDonalds to win this spot. They had a nice intro video showing a store and the trip to the game, then went to the live shot of the young fan running with Ronald McDonald to the center of the field and waving.
Note: This will also be part of the Promotion Pill on the second page of this report.
- Scotia Bank Community Clip - A video showing an award presentation for community service.
- Bow Valley College Race - Three select fans (who I believe were students of BVC) raced in the endzone. They had to run from one side of the field with a stack of books, around a large piece of signage and back. The first one back with all their books in the winner. The large signs were B V and C, the letters of the school abbreviation.
Note: This promotion will be reviewed as part of the Promotion Pill on the second page of this report.
- Pizza Hut Family Fun Zone Giveaway - The host gave pizza away in a section.
- Find a Flight Contest - One fan was blindfolded and searched with the help of the crowd for a large plane ticket that was on the field. Fans were encourage to yeah/boo for when the contestant was hot/cold. The fan gave up towards the end of the contest and just started running around, the alert field staff grabbed them and escorted them back to the sideline.
- Dance Team Performance - During a longer break the dance team (the Outriders) performed again on the field. The hair salon sponsor, radio and footware sponsors were also acknowledged via PA and scoreboard.
- Lazy-Boy Guess the Play Contest - A video contest where a fan had to guess what play happened next from a previous game situation (he was three choices A, B, or C) which were described (ie a running play up the middle). This was a very well executed promotion. They used video from a game against the same opponent they were playing during this game (BC Lions), so the contest felt relevant and timely and rewarded the fan for really knowing the details about a previous game. After the fan guessed, they replayed the actual play revealing that he had guessed correctly (and they had picked a play where the home team had scored, which got a reaction from the fans). He won a $100 gift card.
- Tailgater of the Game - They showed video from a pre-game tailgate party (which is a big part of the game day experience). They used is as a tool to promote some team shop items like a BBQ Grill cover.
Read Part 2 of the Promotion Pills: Calgary Stampede Review
In Part 2 we introduce a Promotion Pills and see how the Stamps have or could enhance their show. These pills are designed to breakdown any promotion, ask some key questions to find ways to improve any promotion. During 2007 we will be reviewing five games and introducing our more comprehensive list of pills to help you create a full medicine chest of promotion enhancing drugs. [Read More...]
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