• by Seana Mulcahy , May 10, 2004

Being in the online space, you have to nod your heads when I ask if you think we get slammed for "intrusiveness." To me, the offline world is suffering from microfragmentation of media. For instance, take a look at ads in any major city. No matter where you look there seems to be a logo, tagline, or ad placed. It's a sea of clutter from billboards, to taxi tops, to sidewalks, to wireless devices, to coffee cups to urinals. Now there's a new way advertisers have added to the clutter: Sports marketing.

The fan loyalty of sports is like no other. The history, tradition, and passion are untouchable. If you are reading this, you've most likely negotiated a sports marketing deal in some fashion. Heck, I've done a lot of wireless sponsorships, polling, and half-time reports myself.

You might have heard about the hoopla with McCann Erickson's client Spiderman 2 distributor Columbia Pictures and Major League Baseball (MLB). They negotiated a deal (for about $3.6 Million USD) that was to allow the Spiderman 2 logo to be plastered all over most Major League Baseball fields and the actual bases during the weekend of June 11 through 13.

Shortly after the deal was announced, it began to fall apart. There was such public outrage that sports sites including ESPN.com polled users and got about 45,000 responses. Out of those, a little more than 79% said the plan should be nixed.

The fans seemed to be most outraged by the bases. Many thought red, yellow, and black Spiderman 2 logos on the bases were sacrilegious. Both groups have stated that logos on bases were only a small part of the deal. However, the fans won out.

A day after the announcement, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig eliminated advertising on bases from its marketing deal for "Spider-Man 2".

According to the wire, he said, "It isn't worth, frankly, having a debate about," shortly before a Yankees-Athletics game. "I'm a traditionalist. The problem in sports marketing, particularly in baseball, is you're always walking a very sensitive line. Nobody loves tradition and history as much as I do."

Is product placement out of whack? I've written about this many times before. Are advertisers desperate for placement? Take TV for example. Gone are the days of just a few stations to choose from. Now there are endless options on cable and satellite. The penetration of personal video recorders (PVRs) and on demand cable have made TV customizable. However, users/viewers like control.

We get slammed for usage of pop-ups and pop-unders. And for those of you who read my column, you know I'll dismiss the debate by saying I believe in the fundamentals of old school media: right message, right time, right place.

Are bases at major parks the right place to reach the 6 to 18 year-old market? Is it appropriate? Most advocates say it is, as long as it doesn't affect the play of the game. What about viewership of the game? Will it be a distraction?

When researching, I was informed that baseball is a hotbed for this debate. Seems the question of slapping small patch-like logos on player's uniforms is only a matter of time. The market is said to yield $500MM USD annually. While that's nothing to sneeze at and we all gotta eat, what the heck is going on here? Is nothing sacred? What's wrong with advertising today?