• Advertising Age , Tuesday, December 30, 2008 9:45 AM

The recession might prove to be a boon for out-of-home media and event marketing--especially for local sports. As cash-strapped consumers hunker down and people increasing maintain friendships virtually on the Internet, they yearn for the community of local events. Less appealing are the big national events that advertisers gravitate toward.

Richard Luker, chief strategy officer of TBA Global, an event-marketing agency, says people want to do more social networking the old-fashioned way: face to face. Luker is proposing that U.S. marketers divert $30 billion of their $300 billion annual media and marketing budget into ads and promotions tied to local events, such as Minor League Baseball, small-college and high-school sporting venues and local parks.

While Citibank buying naming rights for the new Mets stadium after getting government bailout money does not please consumers, supporting community sports events would go over better, Luker says. Consumers like Major League Baseball, but it is not personal.

Read the whole story at Advertising Age »