Baseball Sells 'Spider-Man' Ads on Bases

[WizardOfAz]

Spider-Man is coming to a base near you. In the latest example of a sponsor's stamp on the sports world, ads for the movie "Spider-Man 2" will be placed atop bases at 15 major league ballparks during games from June 11-13.

The promotion, announced Wednesday, is part of baseball's pitch to appeal to younger fans — and make money along the way.

"This was a unique chance to combine what is a sort of a universally popular character and our broad fan base, including the youth market we're trying to reach out to," said Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer. "It doesn't impact the play or performance of the game."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...0040505/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_spider_man_on_base

 

[khilari]

I guess it is an another way to make more money for teams. What is next? I can see them using 'FAT' Umpires as Bill Boards.

 

[Djaughe]

"This was a unique chance to combine what is a sort of a universally popular character and our broad fan base, including the youth market we're trying to reach out to,"

Thats such hogwash. Its all about the money. Like a kid would consider to buy season tickets because they got some webbing on 2nd base.

Real sad.

 

[azdad1978]

What is baseball coming to?

 

[WizardOfAz]

Tell ESPN what you really think:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/polling?event_id=707

 

[AZZenny]

On the one hand, given what cruddy custodians of The Game Bug Sellout and his minions at MLBCorp are, why are we surprised?

On the other hand - I really AM appalled at such a blatant commercialization - like this is going to woo kids to baseball. Sheesh.

 

[SweetD]

:wtf:

This is just sad for baseball.

 

[IndyDevil]

Boston & the Evil Empire will receive $100K for the ads, while every other team gets about $50K....the rich get richer!!

Meanwhile, the Yankees have already set conditions for the placement of the ads at Yankee Stadium - - - the rest of the league gets jammed while George & company not only receive more money, but get to call their own shots!!

 

[Cland]

According to the article you get paid for the amount of ads you have in the stadium. Since the Yanks got their amount scaled down I don't think they will be getting the entire 100,000. I love the fact that the Yanks tried to say no. I wish more teams would have done the same thing. It's just a matter of time before there are ads on their jereseys

 

[IndyDevil]

From ESPN.com:

"We try to work with Major League Baseball," Lonn Trost, the Yankees chief operating officer, told the New York Daily News. "But if we think it's something that's not good for the Yankees and Yankee Stadium, we're not going to do it."

Does this mean any other club can refuse the ads, along with the $$$$ that go with them?? I appreciate the Yankees' stand, but if everyone else has to accept the ads, why shouldn't the Evil Empire??

 

[Brandon_Webb]

There getting mroe advertisments just having this discussion then having them actually on the bases

 

[Ryanwb]

I just heard on KDUS that baseball is backing out....not going to do the promotion

 

[Cland]

I just heard on KDUS that baseball is backing out....not going to do the promotion

Yeah, they aren't doing it.

 

[AZZenny]

Be realistic - BASEBALL did not back out. Columbia backed out because of the tremendous negative reaction. Bob DuPuy said MLB still thought it was a great way to reach out to younger fans, and they will still be doing some of the promotions, just not the bases. Nitwits.

 

[Cland]

Be realistic - BASEBALL did not back out. Columbia backed out because of the tremendous negative reaction. Bob DuPuy said MLB still thought it was a great way to reach out to younger fans, and they will still be doing some of the promotions, just not the bases. Nitwits.

Honestly, I disagree. No way Columbia backed out IMO. They would have gotton a ton of publicity out of this. They were already getting free advertisment every time the ESPN's or sports radio's around the country would debate this issue. The issue would continue to get debated well after the ads were done too. That's yet more free advertisment. There is no way they would give up all of that free advertisement. Why would they care what people think about major league baseball? IMO, the negative reaction was towards MLB, not Columbia.

 

[AZZenny]

From ESPN:
The original plan, as announced on Wednesday, was to have a 6-by-6 inch "Spider-Man 2" logo on first, second and third base during interleague games played June 11 to 13. But, on Thursday evening, the two parties jointly announced that the logoed infield bases would no longer be a part of the deal.

"We saw some of the polls on the Internet that said that 71 and 81 percent of the fans didn't approve of it," Geoffrey Ammer, president of worldwide marketing for the Columbia-Tri-Star Motion Picture Group, told ESPN.com. "Based on this reaction from the fans, we didn't want to do anything to take away from their enjoyment of the game and if that was the case with this element of the promotion, we could afford to do without it."
...
Other parts of the promotion will be unchanged. Movie trailers will be featured on stadium scoreboards, the logos will be placed in the on-deck circles, and fans attending the games will receive "Spider-Man 2" foam fingers and masks. Movie branding will also appear on a ceremonial pitching rubber and home plate -- both of which will be replaced with the standard white variety once play begins.

Executives at Columbia Pictures could have already made their money back in publicity. Sources told ESPN.com that the deal was worth approximately $2.5 million and Eric Wright of sponsorship evaluation firm Joyce Julius & Associates told ESPN.com that Spider-Man II received between $1.8 million and $2.4 million in equivalent advertising time in the first 24 hours after the announcement.

Said DuPuy: "We are pleased to be moving ahead with all other elements of this ground-breaking marketing partnership and will continue to pursue new and innovative ways to market the game and enRage baseball fans around the globe."
emphasis inserted. LOL.