By far the most interesting story of the week for me came out of Chicago, where a White Sox employee (who just happens to be the manager's son) resigned over posts made via his Twitter account.
It seems Oney Guillen, Ozzie's son, was upset over the team's decision to forbid his dad from launching his own website, and he voiced his displeasure via his Twitter account (@OneyRoberto, 533 followers and counting).
The issue had been brewing for months. According to various media reports, during the off-season a consultant convinced Ozzie Guillen that he could make money via social media, such as selling advertising on his own website. He set up a Twitter account (@OzzieGuillen, 43,011 followers and counting), and had planned to launch his own site.
These developments were a surprise to the White Sox. The Sox allowed him to keep his Twitter account, as long as it focused on non-baseball matters. The planned website was to be focused on the White Sox and baseball-related news. The Sox told Guillen he could not launch the site.
Oney Guillen fired back via Twitter, and according to the Chicago Tribune sent the following post, which has since been taken down: "The Guillen family just got screwed over or (bleeped)...but don't worry we have our own way of handling this."
He also said: "I hope the dorks aren't running the organization or else were (bleeped). 3 geeks who never played baseball a day in there life telling expe ..."
Oney Guillen played two seasons in the Minors after being drafted by the Sox in the 36th round of the 2007 draft.
Oney Guillen had also made several other off-color comments on the site, including several replies to Chicago Sun-Times beat writer Joe Cowley (@cst_sox, 3,057 followers).
The Sox reportedly asked Oney Guillen to stop tweeting, and he offered to resign instead.
Then, about 15 hours ago, Ozzie Guillen posted the following on his Twitter site: "Me tocaron donde mas me duele y tengo que estar listo para lo que venga como siempre lo e hecho." According to the Tribune, the post loosely translates to: "They hit me where it hurts most and I have to be ready for whatever is coming just like I've always done."
The funny part to me about this whole story is that if there was ever a segment of the population who you never expected to embrace social media and emerging technology it's baseball managers (with the exception of a few outliers like the Rays' Joe Maddon, aka @RaysJoeMaddon).
Could you ever imagine Bobby Cox checking the weather on his iPhone? Jim Leyland posting a tweet while on a road trip? Charlie Manuel updating his Facebook status?
But I digress.
One would think that teams in the big four leagues would have already established social media policies for their employees, particularly given the episode in Philadelphia in March of 2009, when a part-time stadium operations employee was fired for voicing his displeasure with the Eagles via Facebook when veteran safety Brian Dawkins signed with the Broncos.
It will be interesting to see if this latest episode forces more local sports teams to develop uniform policies to regulate their employees' web postings, and make it clear what is and is not allowed.
Here are a couple of links to articles about the controversy:
Ozzie Guillen In Flap Over Son
Tensions Between Ozzie, Williams Gets Personal
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Subaru’s Sponsorship Strategy Rewards Loyal Customers
As illustrated in an article in today's Detroit Free Press, Subaru has utilized a very simple and intuitive sponsorship strategy to help increase brand loyalty, customer retention and repeat purchases from its extremely loyal customers.
In its existing sponsorship portfolio Subaru has a number of diverse partnerships, from the ASPCA to the American Canoe Association to the Gary Fisher Mountain Bike Team to the Geological Society Of America. The partnerships span sports, cause, arts and culture.
The one common thread: All of the partnerships revolve around organizations and issues that Subaru owners care about.
It’s obvious that Subaru’s owners have told them that they care about issues such as the environment, being involved in the community and the ethical treatment of animals, and their interests include gardening and horticulture, the outdoors and sports like snowboarding, skiing and mountain biking.
Subaru has listened.
The strategy is a bit different than most brands, who usually focus on marketing initiatives (sponsorship included) that attempt to attract new customers and encourage sampling of their brand by non-owners.
But Subaru has built such a loyal customer base, and those customers have traditionally played such a large role in year-over-year sales, that they have placed their focus from a sponsorship perspective on rewarding and retaining existing customers rather than attracting new ones.
Below is a link to the article:
The Secrets to Subaru's Success; Loyal Fans Boost Market Share
In its existing sponsorship portfolio Subaru has a number of diverse partnerships, from the ASPCA to the American Canoe Association to the Gary Fisher Mountain Bike Team to the Geological Society Of America. The partnerships span sports, cause, arts and culture.
The one common thread: All of the partnerships revolve around organizations and issues that Subaru owners care about.
It’s obvious that Subaru’s owners have told them that they care about issues such as the environment, being involved in the community and the ethical treatment of animals, and their interests include gardening and horticulture, the outdoors and sports like snowboarding, skiing and mountain biking.
Subaru has listened.
The strategy is a bit different than most brands, who usually focus on marketing initiatives (sponsorship included) that attempt to attract new customers and encourage sampling of their brand by non-owners.
But Subaru has built such a loyal customer base, and those customers have traditionally played such a large role in year-over-year sales, that they have placed their focus from a sponsorship perspective on rewarding and retaining existing customers rather than attracting new ones.
Below is a link to the article:
The Secrets to Subaru's Success; Loyal Fans Boost Market Share
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Nielsen Reports Winter Olympics Viewership Skewed Female
Check out an interesting report from our friends at Nielsen comparing the viewer demographics for the Super Bowl to the recently completed Winter Olympics.
The report concludes that an estimated 56% of Olympic viewers were female, while 44% were male. Super Bowl viewership was almost the exact opposite, with its audience composed of 54% males and 46% females.
Ratings among female Olympics viewers were nine percent higher than the national average, while ratings among male Olympics viewers were nine percent lower. Female ratings were 11% lower than the Super Bowl’s national average, while male ratings were 11% higher.
What the article fails to mention, a fact that Nielsen published last month, is that the Super Bowl attracted an estimated 48.5 million female viewers, up 4.3 million from last year’s contest.
NBC averaged 21.32 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Feb. 22 and the final day of the Olympics, meaning an average of nearly 12 million female viewers watched the Olympics each night.
Furthermore, over the last five years the total number of females watching the Super Bowl has climbed 17%.
The link to the report is below:
How Different Genders, Ages, Races and Regions Watch the Olympics
The report concludes that an estimated 56% of Olympic viewers were female, while 44% were male. Super Bowl viewership was almost the exact opposite, with its audience composed of 54% males and 46% females.
Ratings among female Olympics viewers were nine percent higher than the national average, while ratings among male Olympics viewers were nine percent lower. Female ratings were 11% lower than the Super Bowl’s national average, while male ratings were 11% higher.
What the article fails to mention, a fact that Nielsen published last month, is that the Super Bowl attracted an estimated 48.5 million female viewers, up 4.3 million from last year’s contest.
NBC averaged 21.32 million viewers for its prime-time programming between Feb. 22 and the final day of the Olympics, meaning an average of nearly 12 million female viewers watched the Olympics each night.
Furthermore, over the last five years the total number of females watching the Super Bowl has climbed 17%.
The link to the report is below:
How Different Genders, Ages, Races and Regions Watch the Olympics
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