SPORTS-RELATED PROMOTIONS CAN BE A REAL HOME RUN

Rough Notes, Oct 2004 by Bloss, Bob

Anywhere there's an athletic contest and a business looking for exposure, agents and insurers have an opportunity

Try as they might, baseball's foremost sluggers could not put a dent on a distant bull's eye.

Eight prominent major leaguers stepped up to the plate in the annual Home Run Derby on the eve of midJuly's All-Star Game at Houston's Minute Maid Park. All of them delivered wallops of well more than 400 feet, but no one hit a small target placed and sponsored by MasterCard. Had the sign been hit, MasterCard was obligated to present $1 million to a fortunate ticket holder whose seat number had been chosen at random. Barry Bonds came closest, missing the goal by just several inches. The offer remained in effect for the following night-the All-Star Game itself-if any batter hit the sign. None did.

Even though the sign was in long-distance range of these popular big league power hitters, chances were slim that MasterCard and its insurance underwriter would have been called on to remit the cash prize. However, another firm's offer of $250,000 was a certainty to be collected. Century 21, the Derby's title sponsor, guaranteed a quarter-million dollars toward a residential property for the lucky one of eight persons who were finalists in its national sweepstakes that attracted more than 100,000 entries. Each of the eight, who were on the field during the festivities, represented one of the players participating in the long ball contest. Baltimore shortstop Miguel Tejada won the Home Run Derby; his designated "teammate," Paula Bowen of Renton, Washington, won the Century 21 $250,000 award.

Both of those well-publicized All-Star contests are examples of promotional events connected to athletic competition. By the very nature of these entertaining ventures, the insurance industry's prize indemnifiers are major players. Especially in the second of the following broad categories into which such events generally fall: (1) spectator participation, where a winner is guaranteed (such as the award from Century 21 when Tejada won the home run derby; or perhaps a luckynumber scorecard holder chosen at random), and (2) an event tied directly to an on-field accomplishment (i.e., batters' attempts to reach the million-dollar MasterCard sign).

Insurance's relationship with sports, of course, is nothing new. From local agency sponsorship of youth teams and participation in charity events such as cancer crusade walk-a-thons, to corporate identity at nationally spotlighted golf tournaments and football bowl games, the insurance industry has long been an active partner. This year AIG, in conjunction with the New York Yankees, designated May 15 as Hideki Matsui Notebook Day. Yankee outfielder Matsui is a native of Japan. That day's visiting team, Seattle, features Japanese-born Ichiro Suzuki, a perennial All-Star. The first 18,000 youngsters at Yankee Stadium received spiral notebooks containing a photo of Matsui and a list of popular Japanese baseball terms. AIG, which has a leading insurance presence in Japan, also donated several thousand dollars (and yen) to a Bronx-based Little League and the Japanese Little League Baseball Association. Additionally-and here's another example of a promotion tied to an onfield outcome-$10,000 and equivalent yen were designated to each organization for every home run Matsui might register during the May 15 game. He hit one.

Prize indemnification insurance is issued somewhere virtually every day during the baseball season, usually in several of the 200-plus cities and towns where minor league teams play. While major league clubs conduct "special nights" occasionally, their minor league farm clubs book colorful drawing-card activities nearly every night.

Dave Chase, director of the Museum of Minor League Baseball in Memphis, remembers when a Charlotte, North Carolina, jeweler sponsored an outfield wall display ad featuring an oversized replica of a diamond ring (an obvious baseball tie-in). If a batter blasted a home run through the ring, a lucky seat holder would win a valuable prize. The ring in the display was roughly the shape of the Charlotte team's "O's" logo.

Lou Valentic, senior vice president/executive accounts at K&K Insurance Group, Inc., cites a similar promotion in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. A window glass company placed an actual pane of glass within its advertising signage. If a batted ball shattered that glass a lucky fan won a major prize. Promoters agree that in-park excitement and beneficial publicity are assured if the winner is in attendance at the special event. Sometimes, however, winners need not be present to claim prizes. To build traffic, retailers often require contest entrants only to register on site at their stores.

Occasionally the athlete himself/herself is an award recipient. The aforementioned examples bring to mind a sign on the right field fence at Brooklyn's old Ebbets Field where local clothier Abe Stark's paid ad was inscribed with "Hit Sign, Win Suit." Wily Abe earned widespread notoriety for his business establishment, but probably never bought an insurance policy to cover the risk, nor was he regularly required to deliver new duds to a batter. Because the sign was only about three feet off the ground, balls hit toward it were usually intercepted by alert outfielders!