Thursday, February 12, 2009

Chicks Dig the Long Ball

Do you remember the The Nike commericals in the mid 90's. "Chicks dig the long ball" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLECMCargd8) Greg Maddox and Tom Glavine are walking down across the field and everyone was focused on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.... The next thing you see is Maddox and Glavine in the weight room pumping iron... they step back on the field and get noticed by Heather Locklear as they hit balls into the bleachers. All of this was part of bringing fan back to the ball parks after the the strike in 1994. The home run was a big ticket and major league baseball bought into it hook line and sinker. Player across the league became bigger and record home runs were hit. Everyone in baseball could see what was happening. This was part of the effort to restore the game of baseball to bring the fans back to the game and they ran with it. Yes, some players got juiced Canseco would say but it worked!! Baseball fans came back to the ball park in big numbers to see the home run. Major League teams were building new ball parks to make it more accommodating for the fan with better marketing efforts to separate you from more of your money and that worked. The salaries began to sky rocket... Next quote: "Houston we have a problem"....

1 comment:

Marketing Unscrambled, Home edition said...

Mike, It sounds like they have a true love for the game. They would be playing it even if they did not get paid. The pay check helps sure. Most of us are out here in jobs that we do not like, just trying to get by. They have a love of the game. Thank you for the great post.
Dan and Deanna "Marketing Unscrambled"