Event Cancellation Coverage

Interesting article from Sports Business Journal regarding event cancellation coverage:

Engagement Not Signage

by Dan Malone

As Home Team Marketing heads into our second decade of existence, it is safe to look back at our first ten years and say that we have learned a number of things along the path to where we are now. These things range from some major like the proper approach to high school administrators when selling our program down to figuring out what types of signs will not blow away in high winds. The subject of “signs” brings me to the point of this post.

One of the keys to our success with corporate partners is that we have learned that they are not just concerned about the placement of customized signage at high school events. Rather, their thinking is now focused on the actual engagement of their product with the attendees of state association events. Whether it is a student athlete, teacher, coach, athletic administrator or fan, the sponsor wants interaction at the events to showcase their product or service. Potential sponsors have challenged the entire market play by saying, instead of telling me how many people saw my sign…how many people are more likely to buy my product now that they have had a chance to experience it at your state tournament event?

Sponsor engagement with fans happens all the time at other levels of sport. You can look at the NFL with their “Experience” at the Super Bowl, the NCAA has “Bracket Town” at the Final Four and PGA often has customized programs at the various courses they travel to. These are obviously huge events in the grand scheme of things, but HTM feels that state association events offer similar, even better, opportunities for sponsors to engage potential buyers. The key, in our opinion, is to make sure this engagement is done the proper way that maintains the integrity of a high school event and is done the right way.

Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide Work Together in Time of Crisis

Incredible story about tragedy bringing communities together.
Follow the link: Tornado-Ravaged Town Unites Around High School Sports.

High School Sports - The Largest and Best High School Audience!

by Sarah

Scarborough Research has to be one of the most helpful tools that I use at Home Team Marketing. Anytime an account executive wants to show just how big high school sports are, we turn to Scarborough. It is great because we can compare the high school audience to the target audience of our client and the two audiences tend to have many similarities. Scarborough is a research tool that measures 77 markets, which combine for a national database. It measures lifestyle and shopping patterns, media behaviors and demographics of American consumers 18 years or older. Scarborough measures 2,000 different categories: anything from how many times have you eaten at QSR restaurant in the last month to what time of the day do you watch TV?  

We are currently in the second Multi-Market 2010 Release for 2010. The Release measures data from August 2009 - September 2010. There are a total of 204,129 Respondents, for a Projected Population of 186,198,451 people. Check out the stats below!

One of the categories we use in every report is events attended within the past 12 months.  There are a possible 492 responses. The results are amazing for Home Team Marketing because High School sports ranks number 3 at 19%, behind the zoo and live theater. The results also show that high school sports are the highest attended sporting event among adults 18+. High School Sports is the best/largest sports audience out there!