• by John Gaffney , November 11, 2002

It’s a logical equation. Sports programmers are spending a ton of money on rights to baseball, football and basketball. Those networks are then offering great value added packages to planners and buyers. And in the final equation planner/buyers are taking advantage and having success. That was the math lesson at last week's Street and Smith’s Sports Marketing Conference in New York City.

All the value added deals for sponsorships and other new technology tricks are making sports marketing work at a new level, according to programmers. The most high profile example is Pepsi’s digital sign behind home plate during the SF-Anaheim World Series. According to OMD’s John McGovern, Pepsi averages a 2.7 percent higher rating for that inserted spot during the game than it did for its run of game 30 second spots.

“Every message you put out in this world is deteriorated by clutter ,” McGovern said. “That doesn’t mean that running a set of 30 second spots is a bad idea. It means that value added is more critical in getting the client away from clutter.”

Programmers also hammered home the point that cross-media deals are being simplified and better executed for their simplicity. ESPN Senior VP John Skipper said Discover will sponsor a NCAA basketball Final Four contest next spring that uses the magazine, internet site and TV spots in driving brand awareness and traffic.

“It still works best when you come back to the big idea,” Skipper said. “It works when you have a great idea for TV and you work in some of your other media properties to help the big idea. It doesn’t work when you’re cramming ideas down someone’s throat.”

Programmers also gave no indication that pop-ups are anything but a star player. “You gotta pay the bills,” said Sportlsine.com CEO Mike Levy. “We don’t call them pop-ups. We call them rich media because that’s how the bills get paid.”