• by Karl Greenberg , August 15, 2007

The 20 national sponsors of Major League Baseball have done everything from redesign their home pages, offer consumers the chance to win tickets to World Series Games and even--in the case of MasterCard--dangle a week-long vacation with one fan's favorite MLB team.

But Taco Bell may, in terms of sheer numbers, have everyone beat. The company will give away 100 million collectible soda cups as part of its gambit, offering consumers a chance for tickets to the World Series and other prizes with the purchase of a large soda.

The Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands franchise is promoting both its MLB sponsorship and Pepsi-Cola's Mountain Dew Baja Blast--a lime-flavored version of the drink available only at Taco Bell--by selling it and other Pepsi-Cola sodas in extra-large, MLB-branded cups.

The cups contain codes for a chance at the grand prize of tickets to every World Series game this year. Consumers who buy a large or extra-large soft drink are directed to worldseriesblast.com, where they can enter the game code.

One grand-prize winner will get two tickets for every game of the 2007 World Series; $50,000 cash; on-field access during batting practice at every 2007 World Series game; the opportunity to throw a ceremonial first pitch prior to one game during the World Series; first-class airfare, hotel accommodations and select transportation for the winner and a guest; and spending money.

For its part, Pepsi-Cola, another MLB national sponsor, is promoting via its Mountain Dew Baja Blast Web site, BecomeElPresidente.com, which also has interactive games, videos and trivia. Pepsi is also pitching Diet Pepsi Max via MLB at Supervalu Jewel-Osco stores with a promo called "First Pitch," dangling trips to the World Series, as well as merchandise to consumers of 12-packs of Diet Pepsi Max, a new version of Diet Pepsi introduced this year.

Taco Bell's promotion will also be supported with banner ads on mlb.com, tacobell.com and elsewhere. The effort includes in-store and drive-thru point-of-purchase as well as inserts in Sports Illustrated, USA Today's sports section, ESPN, The Sporting News and lifestyle books like Maxim, Rolling Stone, and Stuff. The promotion will also be supported by public relations efforts, including television, online and radio interviews with Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor.

John Brody, MLB senior vice president for corporate sales and marketing, says Taco Bell's effort is the largest promotion to date by a sponsor.

"Taco Bell is probably embarking on the most aggressive marketing campaign with a partner that we have ever done," he says. The company's efforts started in late July in its 6,500 restaurants. The consumer exposure is huge for MLB. "They serve 45 million customers a week," says Brody.

Sharp Electronics, another official sponsor of MLB, has also launched a major national promotion to tout its Aquos HDTV and is dangling a thousand prizes or so, per the company, including a grand-prize trip for two to attend a 2007 World Series game.

Sharp started pitching its Aquos brand as the HDTV of Major League Baseball earlier this year, with an integrated campaign that includes Sharp Aquos lounges at game venues, mobile marketing tours to stores and games, and ads. Sharp had exhibits during All Star Week at AT&T Park in San Francisco. The company says it is also creating an online portal to promote its new sweepstakes. Relay Worldwide handles Sharp's sports activity.

As part of the sweepstakes, Sharp retailers will hand out eDecoder game pieces. The pieces drive consumers to sharpmlb.com, where they answer baseball trivia and are prompted to use their eDecoders to see if they're an instant winner. The grand prize is a trip for two to a 2007 World Series game.

Many of the 20 official sponsors of MLB have leaped in with both feet, redesigning their consumer home pages with MLB themes, interactive baseball content, games and promotions.

Last fall, MasterCard extended its sponsorship of MLB through 2010 and has been running an integrated promotional and advertising push around its "Priceless" campaign called "MLB Dreams," with a grand prize of a week-long vacation with the winner's favorite team next season.

Plantation, Fla.-based carrier DHL, also a major MLB sponsor this summer, ran its own promotion, the DHL MLB All-Star Fan Sweepstakes, offering a trip for two and tickets to the July 10 All-Star Game. DHL was also title sponsor of an MLB expo in San Francisco around the All-Star game.

Sponsors' activities around high-profile games reflect a strategy at MLB's sales and marketing arm to--as Brody puts it--"eventize" the game, with marketing around key events in MLB's season schedule. He says the World Series is the capstone.

"The MLB World Series is the most traditional event in all of sports. It captures the mind of every baseball fan," he says, adding that the MLB joins NFL as a top draw, with 60% of Americans considering themselves fans. "And MLB fans tune in to watch the World Series, so it makes sense for sponsors to do programs around the series. October is the most important season; it's MLB's 'must-see-TV'."

Others jumping on the World Series bandwagon include Nestle's Baby Ruth, Official Candy Bar of MLB, which has put MLB branding on 50 million wrappers, per Brody. The brand is running a promotion offering season passes and a trip for two to next year's World Series and has redesigned its home page with games, baseball content and a video of a Baby Ruth vendor in the stands making comments about spectators and explaining what Baby Ruth is offering fans.

Procter & Gamble's Gillette is also running a promotion--for its Fusion razor--with a sweepstakes for a trip to the World Series. Per Brody, the company this month ran 53 million FSI coupons offering a $4 discount for the Fusion, supported with POS and Web-based sweepstakes dangling a trip to the World Series.

Major integration of the brand with MLB is the price of entry for national MLB sponsorship. "We don't want to be a spoke in the wheel; we want to be driving marketing efforts," Brody says. "Partners are the enablers for us; they let us reach more customers."

He added that MLB's corporate sales and marketing division is, consequently, not a sales division only. "Our job is not to wait for the phone to ring and wait for partners to pass on information to us. We go out to them actively with marketing programs, ideas and concepts they can leverage," he says. "We are sales and marketing; so we are helping partners come up with best ideas."

There are 16 MLB-themed national commercials running currently. "A few years ago it was only two or three," says Brody.

GM's Chevrolet division, which signed on in 2005, has run three MLB-themed commercials this year that resurrected the "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet" theme of yore. Chevy gave MVP Ichiro Suzuki, center fielder for the Mariners, an '08 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid.

In coming weeks, per Brody, Chevy is queuing up a promo tied to the World Series. Stay tuned.