The weekend of the Super Bowl this past February, I was quite impressed with how the minor league baseball team in Bridgeport, Connecticut had managed to grab headlines.
The independent minor league team, specifically their marketing department offered quarterback Peyton Manning money for his charity if he shouted out "Bridgeport Bluefish" instead of "Omaha"; something the future hall of famer was doing during the Broncos season.
http://www.bridgeportbluefish.com/blog/post/281/bluefish-ask-manning-to-call-audible-play
Maybe the most creative marketing department in sports, the Bluefish are at it again.
On my Facebook feed, I follow WLW radio in Cincinnati. I still think one of the best radio stations in the country, they are also the flagship station for the Cincinnati Reds, and hometown radio station for fallen baseball legend Pete Rose. WLW posted on Facebook the details of Rose's opportunity to once again manage a baseball team. Rose is able to do this through the Bluefish, who are in no way associated with Major League Baseball.
The Bridgeport Bluefish, in an effort to grab headlines, grab the attention of fans and their money have announced that Rose will manage the baseball team for one game. This is historic, in that Rose has been banned from baseball since the late 1980's for gambling.
http://www.bridgeportbluefish.com/blog/post/398/pete-rose-to-manage-bridgeport-bluefish-june-16
The latest stunt by the independent baseball team probably cost them a few dollars. I'm not sure what Pete Rose's appearance fee is, but I'm pretty sure Pete is not showing up without a pay day involved. The fee will most likely be covered by the sure to happen attendance boost that they will get that night. But this baseball team totally understands the value of a lifetime customer.
Let's say that Rose's appearance boosts attendance by 5,000 for that night. Those additional fans are not likely to be a part of the Bluefish core audience, and I would suspect that many are sampling the product for the first time. If the baseball team can convert even 5% of the crowd that night to return and become loyal customers, what does that do to the bottom line of that organization?
A 5% conversion rate on 5,000 fans would be 250 additional loyal customers. The ball club can then factor in what the typical person spends at the ball park, and then calculate a true ROI. As a regular attendee of minor league baseball in Indiana, I can tell you that I do not go to games alone (which is also a factor for the effectiveness of this campaign), and my family of three usually spends $30-40 on snacks, beer and souvenirs.
You do not have to have a big budget to make a big impact on your company's bottom line. If those 250 converts attended three more Bluefish games with two other people, attendance would grow an additional 2,250 this season. If those groups spent my average $35 at a game, the baseball team would see an additional $26,500 in ball park purchases. And that doesn't even calculate the free publicity and media that this marketing department is consistently generating.
More businesses need to think like minor league baseball teams.
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