Sports Marketing Now (part of the Sports Business Now series) is a weekly web series where we discuss the latest in sports marketing from industry experts. In this episode, we talked with Max Huber of row27 and Josh Duboff of thesportsbusinessexchange.com and touched on:

• The Chicago Cubs are launching a new marketing campaign called ‘Committed‘ which will tell the stories of authentic fans. We discussed how a team that’s had a losing product on the field the last couple of years can focus on the fan to hopefully bring in more bodies to the ballpark.
• Speaking of the Cubs, the Chicago Tribune came out with an article today that suggested that the Cubs may be looking to add a mascot to lure in younger fans. Josh was the UMass mascot during his 4 years at the school and expressed that this was a great idea to emerse the brand into the community and proved beneficial at appearances. Mascots can be leveraged in a number of different ways (did you see the amount of team’s using theirs on Valentine’s Day?) and despite the Cubs rich tradition, it could be a wise move to make a small addition to the team without causing much damage to the legacy of their brand.
• The Pac-12 Conference tournament is this week (March 13-16) and they have rolled out Facebook Cover photos that fans can download and post to their profile that are unique to each school. It’s a practice that is relatively easy to do for teams/conferences and is an excellent branding tool while bringing awareness to the tournament. However, one issue that was brought up was the lack of displayed sponsorship on the image, which could have been a missed opportunity.
• Capital One has a significant partnership with the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament rumored to cost upwards of $35 million per year. While this may seem like a ton of money for a single event, the tournament lasts the entire month of March and has a devoted following – especially online. Digital is an area of focus for Capital One as “86% of people who said they planned to watch games last year said they would devote some time during their workday to check scores or brackets online” according to an article by Kristi Dosh. There is also a social media component to the platform as they will encourage fans to use the hashtag #rallycry and the school with the “loudest and proudest” fans will be featured on Capital One’s social media accounts, adorned in their school colors.

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