Case Study: 2003 MLB All-Star
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game made its debut in 1933 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Although it is seen as an exhibition game, over the years it has become an honor for players participating and a fan favorite to watch. Since the strike in 1994, television ratings have declined 33% and are continuing to drop. In 2002, fans were irate when Commissioner Bud Selig decided to end the game in a 7-7 tie after 11 innings. The 2002 MLB All-Star Game also ended with its worst television ratings in history. In an attempt to make the game more competitive and meaningful, as wells as increase ratings, MLB made major changes to the game's format and implemented a full fledged marketing campaign. MLB and Fox Sports created a campaign that would aim at generating more excitement and interest in the Midsummer Classic, which in turn would help ratings. The President of Fox Sports,
* Although the ratings did not meet the desired increase, they matched the previous years, which ended two years of declining ratings. * Each MLB Club also used their own Public Relations campaigns. 5 rating and 17 share, as the year before. * "This Time It Counts" promotional materials were distributed to charitable organizations affiliated with MLB. * The "This Time It Counts" logo was also incorporated into print advertising in Sports Illustrated for Kids and select Krause and MLB publications. Ed Goren, was confident in predicting an increase of ratings of at least 10% from the previous year. * "This Time It Counts" was adopted as the logo/slogan of the campaign, which was developed by Fox and MLB* The official MLB beer sponsor, Budweiser, produced over one million "This Time It Counts" coasters and distributed them to bars and restaurants across the country. Objectives* Make baseball more "attractive to fans", particularly younger ones* Create an interest in the sport* Make the All-Star Game more meaningful than an exhibition game* Give the players an incentive to be more competitive in the game* Create awareness of the game's new formatBudgetThe budget of the "This Time It Counts" campaign was valued at nearly 10 million dollars. Execution* MLB implemented a new format to the All-Star Game for a 2 year trial period. * 45 second promotional spots featuring Fox Sports' Jeanne Zelasko ran on Wal-Mart TV from July 1-15 gathering over 70 million impressions. Bob Costas, HBO and NBC sportscaster, calls the switch "incredibly dumb" and a move that takes "the least typical game of the season. com from late June to July 15th were tagged with the slogan.
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Acceptance Essays
