Back in June, we alerted you to ESPN’s summer promotion, "50 States in 50 Days." While sounding a lot like promotions we’ve pulled off in the past ("30 Bars in 30 Days") when we kick off a new morning show or big personality, ESPN has not surprisingly taken this to a new level.
Check out their map that shows where they’ve been and where they’re going. This could easily be done for the "Workforce City of the Week" and similar promotions. And their "Best of…" voting by state (see Oklahoma, for example) is a great way to engage Web voting (don’t forget to capture those email addresses), while firing up rivalries and arguments all across the country (Billy Sims or Steve Owens?). They’ve even created a blog focused solely on the 50/50 events.
There’s some great "Retail Radio" ideas here, and it’s impressive for a national network. Local radio has a wonderful opportunity to pull off this type of thing, and we’d better head in this direction. The big players like ESPN are always thinking along these lines.
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Agreed, Fred, this was a great promotion. I especially thought it was effective when they went to the smaller states…like Vermont or West Virginia or North Dakota…where SportsCenter never goes. The people in those states seemed so excited.
It tells me…perhaps we have concentrated a bit too much on “hot zips” and “fishing where the fish are.” If you go where no one ever goes there might be gold to find there too.